During Advent, the priests of the Diocese have been encouraged to preach on the kerygma. In case you missed one of their homilies or wish to reflect on the topic further, we are reprinting similar content here. You can access Part 1 through our online archives.
In my previous article, I wrote about the goodness of creation. Yet, even though we’ve all experienced it in one way or another, we can’t avoid the big question that comes up in response: Why is everything so messed up?! It takes only five minutes of looking at the news to see the horrific amount of violence, suffering, egoism, sickness, and death that plague the whole world.
As Bishop Donald J. Hying of Madison points out in his booklet, Boldly Proclaiming the Gospel, one might argue that there was a time when we put too much emphasis on sin and hellfire, without giving nearly enough attention to the love and mercy of God.
Today, the pendulum has swung too far in the other direction toward self-affirmation, complacency, and a refusal to acknowledge that sin and guilt might actually be a thing.
These attitudes characterize the modern worldview, despite all evidence to the contrary. In fact, we need look no farther than our own hearts. St. Paul said it as well as anyone: “For I do not do what I want, but I do what I hate” (Romans 7: 15). How easily we lose control of our tongues, giving into slander and gossip when that person we don’t like comes up in conversation! Or how quick we are to rationalize our decision to buy more possessions or to avoid giving money — or even talking to — the beggar at the intersection.
All of us fail to love as we would like.
This wasn’t part of the plan
So, what happened? You know the story: Our original parents, Adam and Eve, fell for the sin of pride and grasped at control.
The devil, with a few cunning words, caused them to doubt the providence of God, to believe that He wouldn’t provide for them, and that they instead needed to take things into their own hands.
In fact, this is what he does even to this day, as his many Biblical titles reveal: The father of lies; the accuser of the brethren; the diabolos (literally, “to throw in different directions”).
And we, like our parents before us, continue to fall into the same sin of pride and grasping for control.
This is the mystery of Original Sin.
Before we go on, let’s clarify what that word means.
When we’re talking about the Faith, a mystery is something intelligible but inexhaustible.
In that sense, every human person is a mystery. There’s always more for us to learn about our spouse, our friends, the people around us.
Even though we can grow in our understanding of Original Sin, we’ll never get to the bottom of it, so to speak. But we can use analogies to bring clarity.
One example would be alcoholism. If you or someone you know grew up with an alcoholic for a parent, their whole life is colored by that reality. This person wasn’t complicit in the act itself, but they were born into that state.
In the same way, Original Sin is not something you and I committed. Rather, it’s a “contracted sin,” a state into which all of us were born and which colors our whole experience.
To get a little more specific, the effects of Original Sin are fourfold: Alienation from God, such that we see Him as though through a veil; alienation from ourselves, meaning that we don’t love as we wish, nor do we always control our appetites; alienation from one another, which plays out in marriages, in politics, etc.; and alienation from the created world, where work is marked by toil, and the brokenness of creation comes out in things like violence and natural disaster.
Saved from and saved for
This is the reality that we need to be saved from. But then we should ask . . . Is it only about running away from something? Or are we also running toward something? In other words, what are we saved for?
It’s what I wrote about last week: Living as sons and daughters of God in this life, so that we might be one in Him and with Him for all eternity.
In a sense, it’s about coming back to life, or at least finding new life in Christ. The well-known song “Amazing Grace” says, “I once was lost, but now am found.” We lost ourselves, our identity, when we wandered from God. He wants to restore it to us.
Or look at the Parable of the Prodigal Son: “But now we must celebrate and rejoice, because your brother was dead and has come to life again; he was lost and has been found” (Luke 15: 32).
Without God, we face darkness, emptiness, and sin. With God, we find salvation and meaning, new life and transformation in Him who alone can save us from this state.
If you’d like to get a copy of Bishop Hying’s booklet, reach out to Sarah in the Office of Evangelization and Catechesis at [email protected] or 608-821-3045.