"Justified Freely by His Grace" (Romans 3: 22)

In today's first reading, Romans 3: 21-30, we are reminded that the righteousness of God is a reality for all who believe in Jesus Christ, that is, it is manifested "apart from the law and the prophets," though the law and God's prophets give testimony to it.  There is no distinction, St. Paul reminds us, between those who serve and know God's righteousness through the law and those who serve God "through faith in Jesus Christ..., as well as through observance the of the law. "[A]ll have sinned and are deprived of the glory of God."  And all "are  justified freely by his grace through the redemption in Christ Jesus, who God set forth as an expiation, through faith, by his Blood, to prove his righteousness because of the forgiveness of sins...."   To this very day God, those who believe in Jesus Christ are made righteous and justified by Jesus' pouring out every drop of His blood for the redemption of all peoples.

I invite those reading this blog and myself, as well,  to apply St. Paul's message to ourselves personally, hearing St. Paul say to each of us:  Dorothy Ann (Insert your name)        , though you have sinned and are deprived of the glory of God, you "are justified freely by his grace through the redemption in Christ Jesus, who God set forth as an expiation  [of your sins] through [your faith] by his Blood, to prove his righteousness because of the forgiveness of [your] sins."  Jesus, the Righteous One, has justified you and restored "the glory of God" in you, Dorothy Ann (insert your name),  by shedding every drop of His Blood, beginning with His circumcision, His sweat turning into drops of blood in the Garden of Gethsemane, His scourging, His crowning with thorns, His loss of blood on the way to Calvary, nails being driven through His hands and feet, and His side being pierced on the cross.

You cannot, Dorothy Ann (insert your name),  boast of saving yourself--you are saved only through Christ Jesus' obedience to the point of death. St. Paul states: "What occasion is there...for boasting? It is ruled out.  On what principle, that of works? No, rather on the principle of faith....God is one and will justify  the circumcised on the basis of faith (the Jews)  and the uncircumcised (the Gentiles) through faith."  "There is no distinction."  The glory of God is restored in all peoples--every Jew and every Gentile--without any exceptions through the Righteous One, Jesus Christ!

A Covenant from God, our Creator, our Savior, our Sanctifier

In today's first reading, Gen. 9: 8-15, God tells Noah that he is establishing his covenant with humankind. The sign of that covenant--never to again destroy the earth and all that is in it by a flood--is the rainbow.  In the New Testament, the sign of God's covenant is Jesus dying on the cross once and for all: "the righteous for the sake of the unrighteous, that he might lead [us] to God," St. Peter  says to us in the second reading of today's liturgy (1 Peter 3: 18-22).  "Put to death in the flesh," Peter goes on to remind us, "he was brought to life in the spirit. In it he also went to preach to the spirits in prison, who had once been disobedient while God patiently waited in the days of Noah during the building of the ark, in which a few persons, eight in all, were saved through water."In Christ Jesus all are saved.

Jesus took on sin, nailed it to the cross--all sin--so that, through Christ Jesus we may know our holiness in God! When God looks at us He sees the righteous persons we are in Christ Jesus.  He delights in us, as He knows us in Christ Jesus, His Son, who redeemed us in His blood!  Do I know myself--do you know yourself--in that way?  Are we so focused on sin and weakness that we forget who we truly are in Christ Jesus, our Lord and Savior?  Or do we see both our holiness in Christ Jesus and our sinfulness apart from God?   Do we seek God above all?  Do we cling to God, the
Rock of our salvation?