Our destiny is to a life of the greatest intimacy with God Himself. This union between the soul and its Creator was established when God raised our first parents to the supernatural state. But by sin, they revolted against God, and the bond between heaven and earth was broken. It needed a man-God to heal that rupture, and it is now, by the Passion and merits of our divine Saviour, that we can once again become children of God, and share in the divine life.We received that life in baptism and, if it is our misfortune to have forfeited that life by sin, Our Lord gives it back to us through the merits of His Precious Blood every time we receive absolution.
Now we realise how absolutely essential it is for us to avoid sin if we are to preserve the most precious gift God has given to man. If you knew the gift of God . . . (Saint John 4:10). God grant that Our Lord’s words to the woman at the well may never become a reproach to us.
All the evils in the world are nothing compared to one sin, for one grave sin robs us of the divine life. In order to understand something of the gravity of sin, think of what it means. What Christian would dare to enter a church furtively and violate the Tabernacle, scattering the sacred Hosts from the dishonoured ciborium? Even if we thought of such a thing, would we have the unhappy daring to do it? Surely, even the most lukewarm Christian would not dare to commit such a sacrilege to the Body of Our Lord. Yet what does sin in fact do? Does it not banish God from our hearts, and deliver us over to the power of Satan?
~ Dom Jean-Baptiste Porion ~
