Word to the Wise
Tuesday, October 19, 2021 - Tuesday in the 29th Week in Ordinary Time
[Rom 5:12, 15b, 17-19, 20b-21 and Luke 12:35-38]For just as through the disobedience of one man the many were made sinners, so, through the obedience of the one the many will be made righteous. Where sin increased, grace overflowed all the more, so that, as sin reigned in death, grace also might reign through justification for eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. [Romans]
OCTOBER 19 ST. JOHN de BREBEUF, ST. ISAAC JOGUES et al. Jesuit priests and martyrs
St. Paul presents a broad interpretative narrative of God's plan of salvation. Jesus is presented as a "new Adam" who restores humanity to a "righteous" relationship to God through his death and resurrection. St. Augustine would speak of the old Adam's offense as the "original sin" which is washed away in Baptism. Does this mean that we should sin as we want so that "grace" may abound all the more? Chapter six begins after the words quoted above and says, "Shall we persist in sin that grace may abound? Of course not! How can we who died to sin yet live in it?" [Romans 6:1]
An underlying theme is the role of the Mosaic Law. For some, it didn't matter what you did as long as you observed the Mosaic Law. St. Paul's conversion moved him from a strict observer of the law (Pharisee) to seeing Jesus as the center of all life and the model of all life. With baptism, we share in Jesus' death and resurrection, which means our moral life must be lived in accord with that reality. As he says in 2 Corinthians 5, we become a "new creation."
The righteousness offered by Christ and established at baptism has to be maintained by a life lived in accordance with Jesus' teachings. We are called every day to live a life worthy of the gift we have received. Time and time again we have to hold ourselves accountable and ask for forgiveness, especially offered sacramentally in our Catholic tradition. It comes down to a matter of faith and integrity. As an old poster I once saw said it: "If you are arrested for being a Christian, would there be enough evidence to convict you?" AMEN