10th Sunday
State Deputies Meeting
New Haven, Connecticut
June 9, 2024
Original Sin: A Really Bad Idea
It is said that original sin is the single most empirically verifiable doctrine of our faith. Looking around us and looking within ourselves, we see ample evidence of the “wound” we bear on account of that first act of disobedience to the will of God. That first act of disobedience shattered the harmony God intended for his creation, the peace he created between himself and the human race, between men and women, within the heart of each person, and with whole of the created world.
From the beginning, God desired a harmony that reflects a deeper unity. Sadly, this lack of that unity we see around us and often within us verifies in our experience of the reality of original sin, and the terrible effects it has on each of us. Often when I run across disharmony and discord, I’ll be heard to say, “I don’t care who knows it, I think original sin was a really bad idea!”
Original Sin Writ Large in Culture
Putting aside gallows humor, the effects of sin are real and they are terrible. And as we read the signs of times in the light of the Gospel, we perceive clear manifestations of original sin in the anger, bitterness, factionalism, and mean-spiritedness so prevalent in contemporary culture. We seek to create what Pope Francis calls “a culture of encounter”, but we do this in what one might call “a culture of mean”! This “culture of mean” is seen in the broader society, but sadly, also in the Church.
There are many opinions as to the source of this meanspirited culture, but as followers of Christ, we recognize that the source runs much deeper . . . back to that moment in the Garden we heard about in our first reading from Genesis. In that first moment of our disobedience, sin entered the world, and with sin, death. From that very moment, the unity that God desires, the unity present at the dawn of creature, is shattered. What see around us are the effects that collapse, the consequences of that sin.
Not Flesh and Blood but Principalities and Powers
There is a word to describe this kind of reality, the reality of a broken unity, something or someone who is divided deep within; the word is, “diabolical”. Such division is the work of the evil one, for the devil cannot create, he can only manipulate and destroy, and in his toolkit of doom, one tactic seems successful time and time again, namely, division.
We see this from the very beginning, from that very moment when he turns Adam against Eve, and Eve against Adam. Our first parents who lived in perfect unity, such that one would say of the other, “This one is bone of my bone and flesh of my flesh”, now turn to blame and accuse. “The women you put here with me—she gave me the fruit”. Our first parents who lived in perfect harmony with God, walking with him in the Garden in the cool of the night, now find themselves hiding from God, naked and afraid.
Not the Last Word
Although original sin may be the most verifiable doctrine of our faith, it does not have the last world. Indeed, the last word belongs, not to sin and division, but to the grace and unity that comes through mercy. In the fullness of time, God sent his Son into the world to restore it, so that, through his obedience even to the point of death, we might have restored to us what was lost by disobedience. Jesus lives in perfect unity with the Father in the bond of love who is the Holy Spirit, and through him, the unity God desired from the foundation of the world is once again possible.
Through Christ no sin is beyond redemption, save despairing of his mercy. If we but trust his power to save, there is nothing from which he cannot save us. Indeed all things are under his power! In the Gospel we encounter Jesus’ manifesting that power by driving out demons, binding up the powers of darkness, and setting free those who were held captive. In doing this, he signals the beginning of God’s reign, the defeat of the prince of lies and the enemy of our human nature who comes only to divide and destroy.
But some refused to accept his power, to acknowledge that it came from God the Father. Rather than rejoicing in his work, the crowd began to claim that Jesus drove out demons by the power of a demon and not by the power of God. As ever, Jesus refuted those who opposed him but also used that occasion to teach us a deeper truth: ‘No kingdom divided against itself can stand.’ If he were to drive out an evil spirit by the power of an evil spirit, his kingdom of goodness and light would be at war within itself. Such a kingdom would collapse; such a kingdom would have no power. No, Jesus cast out demons by the power God so that God’s Kingdom would dawn upon the earth. In Christ, the Kingdom has come. In Christ, what was lost has been restored; what was wounded has been healed, and what was scattered has been gathered together. In Christ, what was divided has once more been united. Through Christ, the unity that the Father desired from the foundation of the world is possible again.
The Principle of Unity
This is the Unity we speak of as Knights. A unity with God, through an obedience to his will, and a living communion with his Body which is the Church, as also a unity with one another as, in the power of the Holy Spirit, we strive to encourage one another in lives of faith and charity.
As Christians and as Knights, we ought to be lovers of unity and agents of unity in all that we say and do. At the same time, we should strive to develop a strong allergy to division. The “culture of mean” in which we live thrives on division and discord, and yes, this culture sadly finds its way into the Church. So among the greatest gifts we can give the Church and the strongest witness we can give to the world is to be people of unity, true genuine unity that finds it origin in Christ. And if we are to have that kind of unity with others it must begin within ourselves. First and foremost, through unity with God by living in his grace, rooting out anything that separates us from him, and, if we find ourselves in sin, allowing the power of his mercy to unite within our heart what is divided, and thus to gather us back to himself when we are scattered by our own failings. How beautiful it is when we find ourselves living the light of God’s love and grace, fully open to receive all that he wants to give. When we live in this way we can look on all things differently. We can truly believe that, as we heard in our second reading today, “Everything indeed is for [ourselves]” . . . all the circumstances of life, good or bad are given to us for our good, that through them, we might come to know better the riches that are ours in Christ Jesus.
The effects of original sin, and the shattering of unity that comes with it are real. But the mercy of God revealed in Christ has conquered all things, restoring that unity God intended from the foundation of the world. As we gather in unity at this Altar, we pray that this sacrament may truly bring about in our hearts an ever deeper unity with God, so that we might live in unity, in peace, and in joy with one another.
Vivat Jesus!