Who does not fear the ultimate agony, so terrible that even Christ Himself trembled? How can we hope in God’s mercy and forgiveness?
Newsroom (03/02/2022 14:31, Gaudium Press) When Adam and Eve disobeyed the Creator, a fundamental disorder was established in their nature, whereby the laws of the flesh and those of the spirit came into conflict.
A veritable whirlwind of afflictions and solicitations for evil arose in their souls, and they became unable, by their own strength, to practice the Commandments steadily.
This is the worst misfortune arising from original guilt, far more terrible than any anguish, trial, disease, or even death: to live in the darkness of sin, having lost the clear understanding of all things and the inerrancy of judgment.
Humanity has gone through millennia in this cursed state, for which there was no remedy. The Scriptures tell of innumerable downfalls of Adam’s descendants: the disasters preceding the Flood, the follies which culminated in the construction of the Tower of Babel, the repeated unfaithfulness of the chosen people to the covenant with the God of Israel.
The proclamation that will sound for all eternity
However, from this terrible condition we passed to the best of situations, thanks to the word of a Virgin. With her mystical and prophetic gifts, Mary idealized in her Wisdom Heart how the promised Savior would be, and took upon herself great love for Him.
She desired to serve Him, as a slave of His Mother, and prayed ardently for His coming. When she received a visit from the Angel to announce to Him the designs of Providence concerning her in the plan of the Incarnation, Our Lady answered: “Let it be done to me according to your word” (Lk 1:38). And with this “fiat!” everything was solved!
In her most pure womb, the Eternal Word became Man, so that we might become children of God.
Generated by the Father from all eternity and identical to Him, the Word is His only Son by nature. This truth so transcends human intelligence, and even angelic intelligence, that we will only assimilate it in glory, by borrowing God’s light.
The faith received in Baptism only supports our intelligence to accept it, but not to understand it. This only-begotten Son, seeing the gates of Heaven closed to men as a result of sin and, above all, considering the offense done to the Father, to Himself, and to the Holy Spirit, wished to repair this injury and, in this way, put an end to the sad situation of humanity.
The offering of an expiatory victim
We know from the pages of the Old Testament that one of the ways to accomplish this reparation consisted in the offering of an expiatory victim.
And there had to be an effusion of blood, for this was the symbol of life. Animals were immolated as a sign of praise, thanksgiving, or petition, but above all to satisfy the honor of God outraged by some sin.
In one of the culminating moments of Sacred History, for example, Abraham is summoned by God to offer his only son, Isaac, as a holocaust. The Lord’s promise hovered over the child, that the patriarch, already advanced in age, would have a descendent as numerous as the stars of the sky and the sand of the seashore (cf. Gen 13:16; 15:5).
Abraham, however, did not waver. Full of faith, he went to the top of a mountain, taking Isaac with him, and just as he was about to cleave the cleaver, an angel stopped him. Finding a lamb caught in a thorn bush by its horns, Abraham took it and presented it as a victim in place of his son (cf. Gen 22:3-13).
However, if we were to gather all the lambs created, from the first one that came from the hands of the Divine Master to the ones that will serve as food for Elijah at the end of the world, and kill them as a holocaust, we would not obtain forgiveness for even one venial sin.
In fact, being an offense committed against God, sin has infinite gravity and can only be expiated by a victim of infinite value.
How, then, can we repair the fault of our first parents and all the others that followed? Only the Blood of a Lamb who was the Son of God would be able to take away the sin of the world.
And so it happened: the very Second Person of the Blessed Trinity became incarnate and offered Himself as an immaculate and perfect Victim for mankind, in an entirely lucid, voluntary, and free act.
Through this satisfaction presented to the Father, the gates of Heaven were opened once again for mankind.
God’s forgiveness
When we remember our past faults or grieve for our future faithfulness, we should remember this proclamation made by St. John: “Behold the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world.”
Then we will be sure that He wants to cleanse us of all our miseries. Jesus offered Himself to be immolated on the Cross and shed the last drop of Blood for each one of us individually.
If Adam and Eve had been faithful, and as a result, the whole of humanity had been born in Paradise, and only one person sinned, Our Lord would have been willing to suffer the Passion in order to save them from eternal damnation.
Therefore, I must trust that if I acknowledge my faults and ask Him for forgiveness, He will purify me and assist me in all difficulties, especially at the moment of death.
Who does not fear the greatest agony, so terrible that even Christ Himself trembled? However, knowing that God became Man and was willing to die for me fills me with hope for forgiveness.
Through His infinite merits, I will obtain mercy and be assisted by the gifts and graces of the Holy Spirit in the final hour.
In order to keep ourselves in this key of abandonment and trust, let us never forget the greatest proof of God’s love for us, after the Redemption: He left us Mary Most Holy, an extraordinary Mother, pervaded with affection and kindness for each one of us, and ready to do anything to sustain us.
Through her intercession, may we never forget our condition as children of God and temples of the Holy Trinity. If we keep this perspective, grace will make fertile the earth of our souls and make a new historical era germinate there, the Kingdom of Mary!
By Msgr. João Scognamiglio Clá Dias, EP.
Text extracted, with adaptations, from the magazine Heralds of the Gospel n. 2017, January 2020.
