Tuesday of the Twenty-ninth
Week in Ordinary Time
(Romans 5:12.15b.17-19.20b-21; Luke 12:35-38)
Sexual abuse of minors by Catholic priests in the United
States has more than sinful and scandalous; it has been horrendous. About three thousand priests over a period of
fifty years have been accused of such crime, according to the Church’s Promoter
of Justice at the Vatican. Could any
good come out of such a cesspool? Now it
is safe to answer, “Yes.” The Church’s
response has been thorough and effective.
If at one time the Church was lax in supervision, now it is
exemplary. The checks that it has set up
seem to have made it a model for curtailing the evil. It can be sighted as an example of what St.
Paul means in today’s reading from his Letter to the Romans that “where sin
increased, grace overflowed all the more.”
Paul is writing of human sinful nature the history of
which dates back to the first man and woman.
Even with the aid of the Hebrew Law, humans were caught in a vortex of
evil. Then Jesus came to stem the
downward thrust. He not only lived
righteously but died to make manifest the egotism at the root of sin. His death, however, left no trace of personal
disgrace as he rose in glory, the first instance of a blessing that encompasses
all his followers.
The Holy Spirit has given the Church a resiliency to
overcome scandals like sexual abuse a decade ago. The Spirit works through each of us. It urges us to abide by the norms that have
been set up and to always examine our consciences so that we might act with
prudence. With the Spirit’s guidance the
Church has become the template for sexual temperance.
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