An Overflowing of Grace

St. Paul reminds us in today’s first reading, Romans 5: 12, 15b, 17-19, 20b-21, that “…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.”

Wow! What love God has for each one of us. No way, would a loving, compassionate, kind God allow Satan to take possession of us, to drag us down into a pit of sin and sorrow and death, to control our lives or deprive us of eternal life with the Lord.  No!  God sent His Son out of love for us, to  lift us out  of that pit of sin and sorrow and death, to save us from eternal  death, to teach us to love, not to hate; to be kind to ourselves and others , to return good for evil, to forgive rather than holding others and ourselves hostage in anger, resentment and revenge.  God sent His son to teach us obedience, to transform sin in us into holiness, to set us free to serve the Lord and one another.  Yes, where sin abounds, grace abounds even more because our God is a generous, loving, forgiving, reconciling God. “When I am lifted up from the earth,” Jesus said,  “I will draw everyone to myself”  (John 12:32). That means you and me and all peoples of all nations, all nationalities, all walks of life, those we love and those we hate, those of whom we approve and those of whom we disapprove. God is an inclusive God: all who repent  and believe and accept the free gift of salvation in Christ Jesus are saved by Jesus’ obedience to His Father, obedient to the point of death on the cross. I believe that because God’s love is infinite and unconditional.