Word to the Wise
Tuesday, October 24, 2023 - 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, though the obedience of the one the many will be made righteous. Where sin increased, grace overflowed all the more, so that, as sn reigned in death, grace also might reign through justification for eternal life through Christ our Lord. [Romans]
St. Paul unfolds the "big picture" of salvation history by going back to Genesis and the sin of Adam and Eve, the consequences of which were death in both the physical as well as spiritual sense. He sees the Law of Moses as a preliminary guide to prepare for the one who would rectify humanity's collective fallen state. St. Augustine gave us the "original sin" title for this existential situation. Humanity is offered an escape from the collective burden through the life, death and resurrection of Jesus - the "new Adam!" Yes, physical death would still occur but not without hope in eternal life, which did not exist before Christ.
Baptism was adopted by the early Christian community as the physical expression of this deliverance from the "law of sin and death." Since the Second Vatican Council, the importance of Baptism has been highlighted in terms of being a member of the Body of Christ and not so much as getting rid of original sin. The bigger picture of God's saving action in history and its significance may be too much to remember at a ceremony with all its hustle and bustle, but that history continues to unfold in our time as well in the lives of each of us and in the life of the Catholic church. It is not a relic in a museum. The call to be "missionary disciples" (as Pope Francis has proclaimed) is rooted in our baptism in which the New Adam restores us through faith to the right relationship with God. It's a BIG picture and we are all in it. AMEN