Trusting In The Blood Of Christ

 

Is the world going mad?  I sometimes wonder.  Yesterday the US Supreme Court ruled that to maintain that marriage is exclusively between a man and a woman is not consistent with the US Constitution.   In response to this, one of the judges who dissented from the majority opinion, Justice Antonin Scalia, condemned the haughty way supporters of gay marriage who regard those who seek to defend "traditional" marriage as somehow enemies of the human race.  But one has to ask: what is happening to the human race?

 

Abortion, manipulation of newly-conceived human life, euthanasia, gay marriage, permissiveness, governments becoming more tyrannical every year, debased culture, despite all the euphoric statements of a brave new world dawning upon us, hopelessness is growing. Suicide is increasing, our young are lost.  One has to ask, is the world falling apart?   Some think that this is the greatest of all ages.  Now it seems we can do what we like and there is nothing to stop us - we may even kill another person if their existence limits our ambitions or desires.  Yes, things have got out of hand, but then again, what do you expect in a joint run by fallen human beings? 

 

We are sinners, and as sinners we are capable of dreadful things, murderous things.  For a long time prevailing opinion has seen human beings as majestic, good, pure, ethereal - yes we can be; but we can be downright bad too.   Often denied and now ignored, the doctrine of Original Sin is not only true, but easily proved in a twinkling of an eye.  The world is as we have made it.  So it's no surprise we end up in such times - these times come when men and women turn their backs on the source of all goodness: God himself.  Rebellion against him and the laws he has laid down for right living have landed us in a mess.  At the moment many do not see this as a mess - well, just give it time.  As with every bad idea foisted on us by the rebels, bad things happen and then they cause more problems by trying to deal with the bad things in a way that is easy and consistent with their ideas.  And then what happens? A bigger mess.

 

These human beings, sometimes they are more trouble than they are worth! Or are we?  Well, Our Lord didn't think so.

 

When I was in seminary one of my classmates, a very late vocation, once said: "Well, Christ didn't die for nothing".  Now that got me thinking, and what a wise thing to say.  As we survey the desolation we can say that to ourselves - Christ saw this, and even this is somehow wrapped up in his compassionate Heart and was factored in to the sacrifice he made for us.  So friends in the US, do not lose heart, Christ did not die for nothing - he died because of this.  We may well be saying that in a couple of weeks here in Ireland when our government passes the death penalty for unborn children. All of this and even more besides was the cause of Christ's death, and that death was more than enough to expiate for a million more crimes, and more again.  And in that death we see a hope that will clear this mess away and offer us salvation.  No matter how bad things get, we always have the Blood of Christ, and we must trust in that.

 

As followers of Christ we must testify to this, and live the hope Christ has won for us in his death.  Will the world or the rebels understand us?  Probably not - not even people within the Church understand the true nature of the Gospel of Christ's sacrifice - but that should not stop us.  If we hold firm, then we will be saved, and perhaps help bring a few others along with us.