As we
continue celebrating the nativity of our Lord, we are invited to reflect upon
our status before God in the course of time and the essence for the redemptive
act of Jesus.
The Church
according to her tradition teaches that, originally man was blessed with three
gifts, that is to say: holiness, integrity and immortality. God also bestowed
on man special kind of knowledge and freedom from suffering. Humans were also
endowed with supernatural gifts of communion with God as God’s children through
His sanctifying grace. And this is exactly what John confirms in his fist
letter as we have heard in the first reading.
However, still in this particular text John also mentions some
precautions about sin and as we all know, sin is one of the important doctrines of
Christianity. It explains the broken situation where humans find themselves,
the need of redemption by Jesus Christ, how Jesus is the universal saviour and
the role of the Church and the sacraments in the life of Christians. We are born
in a world where sin and evil are inescapable realities. Even though by our own
efforts we may be able to do some good acts, it is evident that we cannot on
our own sustain them, except through the redemptive sacrifice of Christ, who is
the source of all man’s goodness.
St. Paul in
his letters especially (Rom 5:12-21) bridges the gap between the Old and the New
creation when he comparatively relates about Adam the first parent of humans
and Christ the head of the new humanity. Through Adam came sin and death, while
Jesus brought uprightness and eternal life. St. Augustine on the same point affirms
what is written in the Sacred Scriptures that; Christ is the saviour of all
including infants. That is why in the Church there is the tradition baptism of both
adults and infant. However, infants have no personal sins yet they are baptized
for the forgiveness of sins.
Christ is
active in the world from the beginning of creation, unifying, integrating and
ultimately drawing all into the presence of the Father. However, blinded by sin,
we often fail to recognize His activity in our daily life. Hence the need for a
herald in the person of John the Baptist to point out for us the Messiah and our
saviour Jesus Christ, as he testifies “Behold the Lamb of God, behold Him who
takes away the sin of the world."
Gerald
Lubwama
II Year
Theology
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