I. “Where sin abounded grace hath abounded more” (Rom. v. 20). The weakness of humanity is its strength: its disabilities become the source of its privileges. God in His mercy pities our weakness, extending as it does even into wickedness; and, like tender mothers, He bestows greater love and care on the most afflicted and troublesome of His children. God knows that our tendency to sin dates from before our birth, that the perversion of our character is an inheritance from our ancestors, that our offences are due in some measure to our surroundings, and not entirely to our deliberate malice. The smallest injustice or harshness towards us is utterly alien from His infinite goodness. He makes the broadest and kindest allowance for our deficiencies, and bestows on us still greater favours and aids towards salvation. As far as the dominance of our free will allows, God compels us to come in; and it is only by extraordinary blindness, perversity and obstinacy, that we can be lost. God has adapted the order of His Providence to our needs. Our state of sinfulness becomes our strongest claim upon His mercy, and may even become the occasion of higher glory for us. In the present order, God exhibits His holiness and power, not by rejecting us for our sins, but by sanctifying us in spite of them and through them. Confess yourself an unworthy sinner, admit that you have no claims, and at once you are endowed by the Son of God with His own claims to eternal glory.
II. The measure of our restitution is as the measure of our fall. We fell in another, we are restored in another. If there is hardship in our suffering through another’s sin, it is counterbalanced by the profit we gain from another’s sacrifice. We sinned in Adam, we have made atonement in the second Adam. Mankind form one corporate body, participating in one another’s actions, good and bad. Jesus Christ is as fully a member of that body as is Adam. In accordance with His greatness, He has borne a proportionate share of the consequences of sin; and His infinite merits become the common property of His race, the human race. Jesus Christ has taken up the supernatural portion of Adam’s task, neglected by him; through Christ we are born again to the higher life by water and the Holy Ghost; and even our bodies, now mortal and corruptible by sin, will recover their lost immortality. Be faithful to the new Father of your race. Maintain inviolate the new life He has given you, and avoid the second death of personal sin and eternal loss.
III. St. Paul seems to indicate that our gains surpass our losses, and that we are better off under the Restitution than under original justice. “But not as the offence so also is the gift; for if by the offence of one many have died, much more the grace of God . . . hath abounded unto many” (Rom. v. 15). Sin has not destroyed God’s plans, but enabled Him to carry them out more wonderfully. Our happiness will be greater in that we have been snatched from the jaws of hell. Joy over the repentant sinner is greater than for those who need not penance. It may be that more will now be saved than if Adam had not sinned. All would have had to be tried, even in that case; some would have failed, and that failure might have been irrevocable, like the angels’, because more deliberate, and without our present excuses. Now, the worst may be saved. David became the man after God’s own heart; St. Peter became the Prince of the Apostles; St. Mary Magdalene one of the highest in the love of Jesus. Do not complain of the present facts of life; they all turn to the benefit of men. Do your duty and you will have no reason to regret the fall of Adam. Thank God for changing that fatal transgression into a “felix culpa,” a “blessed sin.” Take courage even from the sight of your sins; with due repentance they will help you to rise to better things. Source.
II. The measure of our restitution is as the measure of our fall. We fell in another, we are restored in another. If there is hardship in our suffering through another’s sin, it is counterbalanced by the profit we gain from another’s sacrifice. We sinned in Adam, we have made atonement in the second Adam. Mankind form one corporate body, participating in one another’s actions, good and bad. Jesus Christ is as fully a member of that body as is Adam. In accordance with His greatness, He has borne a proportionate share of the consequences of sin; and His infinite merits become the common property of His race, the human race. Jesus Christ has taken up the supernatural portion of Adam’s task, neglected by him; through Christ we are born again to the higher life by water and the Holy Ghost; and even our bodies, now mortal and corruptible by sin, will recover their lost immortality. Be faithful to the new Father of your race. Maintain inviolate the new life He has given you, and avoid the second death of personal sin and eternal loss.
III. St. Paul seems to indicate that our gains surpass our losses, and that we are better off under the Restitution than under original justice. “But not as the offence so also is the gift; for if by the offence of one many have died, much more the grace of God . . . hath abounded unto many” (Rom. v. 15). Sin has not destroyed God’s plans, but enabled Him to carry them out more wonderfully. Our happiness will be greater in that we have been snatched from the jaws of hell. Joy over the repentant sinner is greater than for those who need not penance. It may be that more will now be saved than if Adam had not sinned. All would have had to be tried, even in that case; some would have failed, and that failure might have been irrevocable, like the angels’, because more deliberate, and without our present excuses. Now, the worst may be saved. David became the man after God’s own heart; St. Peter became the Prince of the Apostles; St. Mary Magdalene one of the highest in the love of Jesus. Do not complain of the present facts of life; they all turn to the benefit of men. Do your duty and you will have no reason to regret the fall of Adam. Thank God for changing that fatal transgression into a “felix culpa,” a “blessed sin.” Take courage even from the sight of your sins; with due repentance they will help you to rise to better things. Source.
Source: Pages 216 & 217
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