Get back?

If we say that this way of atonement is wrong, we are back in the garden presuming to name right and wrong, good and evil. - Fr. Richard John Neuhaus, Death on a Friday Afternoon


Our associate pastor, Fr. Satish, gave a really wonderful homily tying together today's three readings from Mass, and they're not exactly related to this thought from Fr. Neuhaus, yet they are.

Fr. Neuhaus has addressed the difficulty some have with the Father demanding the sacrifice of the Son in order to redeem humanity.  I recall the scripture passage that Jesus quotes in Matthew 9, 13: I require mercy, not sacrifice.  Jesus did not die on the cross to satisfy a vengeful God who required it of him. Rather He gave himself freely to this plan of salvation in mercy and love, embraced it as he left the throne of glory to become one of us.  As God did not ultimately demand the sacrifice of Isaac, he accepts - rather than demands - the sacrifice of his son for our redemption.

We insist on naming right and wrong, good and evil, for ourselves.  Perhaps if we stop being so defensive of our own ideas we might find the grace of God more easily and less offensive to us.