WHO’S YOUR ANCESTOR?
A
child asked her mother one morning, “When I asked dad where humans came
from, he said we came from apes. When I asked you, you said we came
from Adam and Eve. Who’s telling the truth?”
The mother replied, “Dad was talking about his side of your ancestry. I was talking about my side of your ancestry.”
In today’s First Reading, Paul contrasts the different fruits of the
human race of Adam and the New Adam, Jesus Christ. As descendants of
Adam, we all share in the malice of original sin. Through Adam, sin
entered the world. Through the New Adam, Jesus Christ, grace, justice
and salvation came into the world.
We are all biological descendants of Adam insofar as we share the same
humanity. But we don’t necessarily have to endow the same patrimony to
later generations. As adopted sons of the Father, made possible through
Jesus Christ, the New Adam, we are called by vocation and participation
to make grace, justice and salvation our little contribution to the
world.
Biologically we cannot break away from our identification with Adam. We
are all his descendants. But with the New Adam’s grace, we can break
the chain of sinfulness and infuse the world again and again with the
blessings of goodness and holiness. Adam is our biological ancestor. The
New Adam, Jesus, represents the proud side of our spiritual ancestry. Fr. Joel O. Jason
REFLECTION
QUESTIONS: What are you blessing your immediate community, family and
the world with — the patrimony of Adam or of the New Adam?
Lord
Jesus, in You we have become children of the Father. Bind us to You
always and make Your patrimony to the world ours as well. Amen.
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