Blog:Salvation is for the "childlike"? Matthew 11:25: Difference between revisions
Blog:Salvation is for the "childlike"? Matthew 11:25 (view source)
Revision as of 19:11, 1 August 2024
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When Satan tempted Adam and Eve to "be like God," it was not just the Tree of Knowledge they shook, they rearranged the family tree: they would no longer be God's children. Satan, himself not of the image of God, and thus not a child of the Father, jealously, spitefully, tried to disconnect us from our Father. But God won't have it. While handing out merited punishment (the "curse"), he bestowed upon Adam and Eve the glory of father- and motherhood (the "blessing"). And then he set us off on our long course back home, prodigal sons and daughters of the Father. | When Satan tempted Adam and Eve to "be like God," it was not just the Tree of Knowledge they shook, they rearranged the family tree: they would no longer be God's children. Satan, himself not of the image of God, and thus not a child of the Father, jealously, spitefully, tried to disconnect us from our Father. But God won't have it. While handing out merited punishment (the "curse"), he bestowed upon Adam and Eve the glory of father- and motherhood (the "blessing"). And then he set us off on our long course back home, prodigal sons and daughters of the Father. | ||
Salvation, then, is the return to childhood of the Father. God doesn't owe us our abandoned inheritance, but he wants us to ask for it back. As our Deacon taught the other day, St. Thomas called it "congruent merit" that we merit but do not deserve salvation, for which we become worthy only through and by Christ. In Matthew 11, Jesus isn't telling us to be simpletons, he's telling us, rather plainly, now that I can see it -- like scales falling from the eyes -- that we must accept and act like we have a -- the Father. | Salvation, then, is the return to childhood of the Father. God doesn't owe us our abandoned inheritance, but he wants us to ask for it back. As our Deacon taught the other day, St. Thomas called it "congruent merit" that we are due<ref>For "merit," see [https://www.usccb.org/sites/default/files/flipbooks/catechism/488/ CCC 2006-2011]</ref> but do not deserve salvation, for which we become worthy only through and by Christ. In Matthew 11, Jesus isn't telling us to be simpletons, he's telling us, rather plainly, now that I can see it -- like scales falling from the eyes -- that we must accept and act like we have a -- the Father. | ||
== Flying on both wings == | == Flying on both wings == | ||