Tuesday of the Twenty-ninth Week in Ordinary Time

Lectionary: 474


Through one man sin entered the world,
and through sin, death, and thus death came to all men, inasmuch as all sinned.
If by that one person's transgression the many died, how much more did the grace of God and the gracious gift of the one man Jesus Christ overflow for the many.


I meet twice a week with men and women in the VA who are struggling with addictions. With them I struggle to attain "freedom for..." and "freedom to...."  I come from a privileged place as a priest and Franciscan; I have the wonderful support of friars, fellow priests, fellow chaplains, friends and family. Some of the Veterans in my group have little or no support; no one seems to care if they live or die. 
I urge them to join a support group of Veterans, a church or a 12-step group like AA or NA. "There is strength in numbers; no one can make it alone!"
But many say they have tried the support group route and found only users-attending-meetings. Some of those groups are court-ordered and the attendees have no real intention of getting clean. Or perhaps my friends saw one or two inebriated persons in the group and decided that was reason enough to condemn the whole group and its program. There are certainly many flawed persons attending AA and NA meetings; and many seriously flawed groups. That's why they're there!
As to the churches, I remember one Veteran who described his Catholic church as "full of hypocrites." I suspect that when he entered the church he had known as a child he realized these old friends and neighbors were now total strangers. There were no former combat warriors among them. They had not killed anyone; they had not been shot at; they had not suffered the death of battle buddies. They were eager to say, "Thank you for your service!" but could not imagine what he had been through and frankly didn't want to hear about it. And yet they are the people who sent him to war in the first place. There is some truth in his accusation of hypocrisy. 

Saint Paul says, "Through one man sin entered the world...." These words remind us no one sins alone; we're all in this together. But sin also isolates from one another, fragmenting families and fellowship. 

Romans 5:12 teaches us in Adam all sinned and if that were the end of it we'd have no hope. But Saint Paul continues, 

If by that one person's transgression the many died,how much more did the grace of God and the gracious gift of the one man Jesus Christ overflow for the many.

It's almost inconceivable that the Lord can forgive and deliver everyone en masse from sin. One by one, perhaps; but everyone? We would not believe it if we had not seen Jesus raised from the dead and revealed to us as the Son of God. More than resuscitated like Lazarus, he was raised, glorified and exalted and has taken his seat at the right hand of the Father. 

No one could expect that much grace; no one could ask such a blessing unless the Father had already given it to us. 

In today's first reading, Saint Paul dwells on this mystery, repeating the formula of sin/grace five times in today's reading. 

1) If by that one person's transgression the many died,
how much more did the grace of God
and the gracious gift of the one man Jesus Christ
overflow for the many.
2) For if, by the transgression of the one,
death came to reign through that one,
how much more will those who receive the abundance of grace
and the gift of justification
come to reign in life through the one Jesus Christ.
3) In conclusion, just as through one transgression
condemnation came upon all,
so, through one righteous act
acquittal and life came to all.
4) 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.
5) 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.

The revelation is so wonderful Paul can't seem to get past his amazement. 

During the Mass and other liturgies, even as we enter the Mystery of Salvation, the Church ritually admits we have sinned. We dare to see how horrible the sin is -- that it requires the death of the Son of God -- and we await an abundance of grace and the gift of justification.