Man's Best Friend
A priest came upon a group of boys standing around a dog. "Hey, boys," he said, "What are you doing to that dog?"
"Nothing, Father." One replied. "He's a stray and we all want him. We decided whoever could tell the best lie, could keep him."
At that, the priest launched into a 5 minute homily on the sin of lying. He concluded by saying, "When I was your age. I never told a lie."
The boys stood silent with their heads held down and the priest felt that he had touched the boys' hearts. Then the youngest boy looked around and said, "OK. Father gets the dog."
******
All men are implicated in Adam's sin, as St. Paul affirms: "By one man's disobedience many [that is, all men] were made sinners.": "sin came into the world through one man and death through sin, and so death spread to all men because all men sinned...." The Apostle contrasts the universality of sin and death with the universality of salvation in Christ. "Then as one man's trespass led to condemnation for all men, so one man's act of righteousness lead to acquittal and life for all men." (Catholic Catechism Par. 402)
How did the sin of Adam become the sin of all his descendants? The whole human race is in Adam "as one body of one man." By this "unity of the human race" all men are implicated in Adam's sin, as all are implicated in Christ's justice. Still, the transmission of original sin is a mystery that we cannot fully understand. But we do know by Revelation that Adam had received original holiness and justice not for himself alone, but for all human nature. By yielding to the tempter, Adam and Eve committed a personal sin, but this sin affected the human nature that they would then transmit in a fallen state. It is a sin which will be transmitted by propagation of a human nature deprived of original holiness and justice. And that is why original sin is called "sin" only in an analogical sense: it is a sin "contracted" and not "committed" -a state and not an act. (Catholic Catechism Par. 404)
"Nothing, Father." One replied. "He's a stray and we all want him. We decided whoever could tell the best lie, could keep him."
At that, the priest launched into a 5 minute homily on the sin of lying. He concluded by saying, "When I was your age. I never told a lie."
The boys stood silent with their heads held down and the priest felt that he had touched the boys' hearts. Then the youngest boy looked around and said, "OK. Father gets the dog."
******
All men are implicated in Adam's sin, as St. Paul affirms: "By one man's disobedience many [that is, all men] were made sinners.": "sin came into the world through one man and death through sin, and so death spread to all men because all men sinned...." The Apostle contrasts the universality of sin and death with the universality of salvation in Christ. "Then as one man's trespass led to condemnation for all men, so one man's act of righteousness lead to acquittal and life for all men." (Catholic Catechism Par. 402)
How did the sin of Adam become the sin of all his descendants? The whole human race is in Adam "as one body of one man." By this "unity of the human race" all men are implicated in Adam's sin, as all are implicated in Christ's justice. Still, the transmission of original sin is a mystery that we cannot fully understand. But we do know by Revelation that Adam had received original holiness and justice not for himself alone, but for all human nature. By yielding to the tempter, Adam and Eve committed a personal sin, but this sin affected the human nature that they would then transmit in a fallen state. It is a sin which will be transmitted by propagation of a human nature deprived of original holiness and justice. And that is why original sin is called "sin" only in an analogical sense: it is a sin "contracted" and not "committed" -a state and not an act. (Catholic Catechism Par. 404)
posted by Phil Neary at
9:28 PM
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