Monday, March 17, 2008

Rm 3, 12-19 All have gone astray

(Rm 3, 12-19) All have gone astray
[12] All have gone astray; all alike are worthless; there is not one who does good, (there is not) even one. [13] Their throats are open graves; they deceive with their tongues; the venom of asps is on their lips; [14] their mouths are full of bitter cursing. [15] Their feet are quick to shed blood; [16] ruin and misery are in their ways, [17] and the way of peace they know not. [18] There is no fear of God before their eyes." [19] Now we know that what the law says is addressed to those under the law, so that every mouth may be silenced and the whole world stand accountable to God,
(CCC 401) After that first sin, the world is virtually inundated by sin. There is Cain's murder of his brother Abel and the universal corruption which follows in the wake of sin. Likewise, sin frequently manifests itself in the history of Israel, especially as infidelity to the God of the Covenant and as transgression of the Law of Moses. And even after Christ's atonement, sin raises its head in countless ways among Christians (cf. Gen 4:3-15; 6:5, 12; Rom 1:18-32; 1 Cor 1-6; Rev 2-3). Scripture and the Church's Tradition continually recall the presence and universality of sin in man's history: What Revelation makes known to us is confirmed by our own experience. For when man looks into his own heart he finds that he is drawn towards what is wrong and sunk in many evils which cannot come from his good creator. Often refusing to acknowledge God as his source, man has also upset the relationship which should link him to his last end; and at the same time he has broken the right order that should reign within himself as well as between himself and other men and all creatures (GS 13 § 1).

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