What is the ultimate virus to plague humanity? And is there a vaccine for it?
We, as Catholic Christians, are imperfect. We acknowledge our own sinfulness and are called, as St. Augustine said, to “hate the sin, yet love the sinner.”
Original sin has been so much a part of the history of salvation. Baptism takes away original sin, yet the inclination to sin remains.
Systemic sin among the unbaptized and baptized has been the ultimate virus to plague humanity since the fall of our first parents. Sins such as racism, abortion, human trafficking, theft, false witness, slander, etc., have been evils against the dignity of the human person since nearly the beginning of time.
For us as believers in Jesus Christ, “all lives are sacred,” created in the image and likeness of God as our faith teaches us. In these times – with popular slogans emphasizing the value of life – I’d like to share two key passages from the Catechism of the Catholic Church and Sacred Scripture. The Catechism tells us:
“The desire for God is written in the human heart, because man is created by God and for God; and God never ceases to draw man to Himself. Only in God will he find the truth and happiness he never stops searching for:
The dignity of man rests above all on the fact that he is called to communion with God. This invitation to converse with God is addressed to man as soon as he comes into being. For if man exists it is because God has created him through love, and through love continues to hold him in existence. He cannot live fully according to truth unless he freely acknowledges that love and entrusts himself to his creator.” (CCC 27)
And in Jeremiah 1:5, we read again about the dignity of life: “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, before you were born I dedicated you, a prophet to the nations I appointed you.”
There is hope for all humanity! There truly is a vaccine for all sin, prefigured by the snake mounted on the pole in the desert, as we read in Numbers 21:9. The war against sin – including sin against the dignity of the human person – was fought and won by Jesus Christ once and for all.
Jesus Christ is our vaccine – the answer to overcome all sin. Like St. Paul (1 Cor 1:23), we proclaim Jesus Christ crucified! We have the Good News and are called to proclaim it: “For God so loved the world that He gave His only Son, so that everyone who believes in Him might not perish but might have eternal life” (John 3:16).
Let us continue to pray for each other and all people in these times.
Father Richard Sutter is the pastor of St. Gabriel Church in Charlotte.
Greetings in Christ Jesus, God the Father and the Love of the Holy Spirit be with all of you.
By definition, this greeting is unending. To contemplate God is like holding a rope in an effort to “plumb the depths” of this great mystery. The rope could never be long enough, and we could never carry the weight of it if it were. God is good not to burden us with weights we cannot bear. So what can we surmise of the perceived “unbearable weight” of loss and pain that we suffer? Pain is both felt physically and perceived. Pain can be internalized or utilized for its potential to clarify, define, break down, change, heal, intensify, solidify or orient us to ourselves, one another and God.
Pain is neither the end nor the goal. Rather, it is a necessary part of the journey for humanity. Pain suffered by one is suffered by all who are united in truth, love and hope. Pain has no gender, nationality, sex or creed and thus it can draw us to compassion and empathy rather than divide. Christ suffered the pain associated with denial, hatred and death, but His love conquered sin and death. In Him we are invited to live truly united in the mystery of His Incarnation.
Dolores King is a member of St. Matthew Church in Charlotte, a lay Dominican, and member of the Apostles of Divine Mercy.