Father Jorge Miró shares with Exaudi readers his commentary on the Gospel of this Sunday, June 9, 2024, titled “Satan is lost.”
***
The presence of evil in the world is a mystery that baffles us. In the world and your heart, there is a fight between good and evil. But where does evil come from? Where does hatred, selfishness, and injustice come from?
The answer to this question is given to us by the Word of God: the origin and cause of evil is sin. Man, tempted by the devil, let his trust in the Creator die in his heart and, abusing his freedom, disobeyed God’s commandment (cf. Catechism 397s).
The doctrine of original sin provides a look of lucid discernment about the situation of man and his actions in the world. Ignoring that man has a wounded nature, is inclined to evil, and gives rise to serious errors in the domain of education, politics, social action, and customs (cf. John Paul II, Centesimus Annus 25).
But after the fall, the man was not abandoned by God. On the contrary, as we heard in the first reading, God calls him and announces to him in a mysterious way the victory over evil and the lifting of his fall. This passage of Genesis has been called Protoevangelium, because it is the first announcement of the redeeming Messiah, announcement of a combat between the serpent and the Woman, and of the final victory of a descendant of her.
Christian tradition sees in this passage an announcement of the new Adam, Jesus Christ, who, through his obedience to death on the Cross (Phil 2:8), makes reparation with superabundance for Adam’s disobedience: where sin abounded, grace abounded superabundantly.
Therefore, we cannot remain either in a defeatist pessimism or in a naive optimism. Jesus Christ has conquered, but we are in need of salvation, which is freely offered to us by Him.
Baptism erases original sin and returns man to God, but the consequences of nature, weakened and inclined to evil, persist in man and call him to spiritual combat.
If we listen to his Word and live in obedience to his will, we will accept the gift of salvation by becoming part of his people. And so, we can be witnesses, knowing that he who raised the Lord Jesus will also raise us with Jesus.
You go up to heaven, going down, as Jesus did; not by climbing, as Adam intended.
The “blasphemy” against the Holy Spirit, of which today’s Gospel tells us, does not consist in the fact of offending the Holy Spirit with words, but in not accepting the salvation that God offers to man through the Holy Spirit (cf. Saint John Paul II, Dominum et vivificantem, 46s).
There are no limits to God’s mercy, but he who deliberately refuses to accept God’s mercy through repentance rejects the forgiveness of his sins and the salvation offered by the Holy Spirit.
Therefore, conversion is the task of each day: May you hear the voice of the Lord today. Do not harden your heart.
Come, Holy Spirit!
“Satan is lost”: Commentary Fr. Jorge Miró
X Ordinary Sunday
Father Jorge Miró shares with Exaudi readers his commentary on the Gospel of this Sunday, June 9, 2024, titled “Satan is lost.”
***
The presence of evil in the world is a mystery that baffles us. In the world and your heart, there is a fight between good and evil. But where does evil come from? Where does hatred, selfishness, and injustice come from?
The answer to this question is given to us by the Word of God: the origin and cause of evil is sin. Man, tempted by the devil, let his trust in the Creator die in his heart and, abusing his freedom, disobeyed God’s commandment (cf. Catechism 397s).
The doctrine of original sin provides a look of lucid discernment about the situation of man and his actions in the world. Ignoring that man has a wounded nature, is inclined to evil, and gives rise to serious errors in the domain of education, politics, social action, and customs (cf. John Paul II, Centesimus Annus 25).
But after the fall, the man was not abandoned by God. On the contrary, as we heard in the first reading, God calls him and announces to him in a mysterious way the victory over evil and the lifting of his fall. This passage of Genesis has been called Protoevangelium, because it is the first announcement of the redeeming Messiah, announcement of a combat between the serpent and the Woman, and of the final victory of a descendant of her.
Christian tradition sees in this passage an announcement of the new Adam, Jesus Christ, who, through his obedience to death on the Cross (Phil 2:8), makes reparation with superabundance for Adam’s disobedience: where sin abounded, grace abounded superabundantly.
Therefore, we cannot remain either in a defeatist pessimism or in a naive optimism. Jesus Christ has conquered, but we are in need of salvation, which is freely offered to us by Him.
Baptism erases original sin and returns man to God, but the consequences of nature, weakened and inclined to evil, persist in man and call him to spiritual combat.
If we listen to his Word and live in obedience to his will, we will accept the gift of salvation by becoming part of his people. And so, we can be witnesses, knowing that he who raised the Lord Jesus will also raise us with Jesus.
You go up to heaven, going down, as Jesus did; not by climbing, as Adam intended.
The “blasphemy” against the Holy Spirit, of which today’s Gospel tells us, does not consist in the fact of offending the Holy Spirit with words, but in not accepting the salvation that God offers to man through the Holy Spirit (cf. Saint John Paul II, Dominum et vivificantem, 46s).
There are no limits to God’s mercy, but he who deliberately refuses to accept God’s mercy through repentance rejects the forgiveness of his sins and the salvation offered by the Holy Spirit.
Therefore, conversion is the task of each day: May you hear the voice of the Lord today. Do not harden your heart.
Come, Holy Spirit!
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