Confronting the Wall of Sin

Confronting The Wall of Sin

First we must identify what this wall consists of.  Sin comes in many degrees of weakness and for each of us can look different from others.  We know that with sin the attraction finds our individual desires that may not look like our neighbors.  But, the ultimate consequence is the same;  A turning away from goodness and God who fashioned each of us after his own image and likeness.  “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness.”  (Gn 1: 26).  The question now is just what is that image and likeness of God?

For many people who have adopted their meaning of God it can be any number of evil conjectures that simply fit their own desires.  The further away from society that non-believers adopt as truth the deeper their identification of God’s statement becomes a license to tell everyone what the truth is according to a reduction of goodness.  

God, in making this declaration, was relying on man to learn how to live according to his truth of loving all his creatures and the attributes that angels knew from their creation.  Did God know that one of his angels already had a desire to take over creation?  Of course he did.  But as with human beings the angels also were given the gift of free will.  They too could use this gift to stay with God and do his bidding as angels, or decide to avoid their reason of creation to go against God’s will and find everlasting rejection from eternal life.

As we know, one Archangel, Lucifer, decided to use this gift and was able to commadere many other angels to follow him.  Their atrocious attitude set the example for humanity to do the same, by their creating evil intentions with a promise of emptiness they could not refuse.  

A false reasoning became the impetus to establish a wall of sin that couldn’t be scaled without God’s grace.  Herein is the theological premise of the Incarnation which was already in the planning of God’s redemption through Christ. 

Recently my article titled, “From the hands of Grace comes the touch of sin” relating to the past scandal of pedaphilia.  However, this reminder from the Catechism of the Catholic Church says the following;  “The presence of Christ in the minister is not to be understood as if the latter were preserved from all human weaknesses, the spirit of domination, error, even sin.  The power of the Holy Spirit does not guarantee all acts of ministers in the same way.  While this guarantee extends to the sacraments, so that even the minister’s sin cannot impede the fruit of grace, in many other acts the minister leaves human traces that are not always signs of fidelity to the Gospel and consequently can harm the apostolic fruitfulness of the Church.”  (CCC 1550).

This wall of sin is always available to ministers and laypeople as well.  Without the Grace from God we are all susceptible to failure.  Grace will always lift us up to reach across any rampart that blocks our path to righteousness.  

Ralph B. Hathaway