From: Romans 5:5b-11
Reconciliation Through Christ's Sacrifice, the Basis of our Hope
[5b] God's love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who
has been given to us.
[6] While we were yet helpless, at the right time Christ died for the
ungodly. [7] Why, one will hardly die for a righteous man--though
perhaps for a good man one will dare even to die. [8] But God shows
His love for us in that while we were yet sinners Christ died for us.
[9] Since, therefore, we are now justified by His blood, much more shall
we be saved by Him from the wrath of God. [10] For, if while we were
enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of His Son, much more,
now that we are reconciled, shall we be saved by His life. [11] Not only
so, but we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through
whom we have now received our reconciliation.
Commentary:
1-5. In this very moving passage God helps us see "the divine
interlacing of the three theological virtues which form the backing
upon which the true life of every Christian man or woman has to be
woven" ([St] J. Escriva, "Friends of God", 205). Faith, hope and charity
act in us in turn, causing us to grow in the life of grace. Thus, faith
leads us to know and be sure of things we hope for (cf. Hebrews 11:1); hope
ensures that we shall attain them, and enlivens our love of God; charity,
for its part, gives us energy to practise the other two theological virtues.
The definitive outcome of this growth in love, faith and hope is the
everlasting peace that is of the essence of eternal life.
As long as we are in this present life we do have peace to some
degree--but with tribulation. Therefore, the peace attainable in this
life does not consist in the contentment of someone who wants to have
no problems, but rather in the resoluteness full of hope ("character")
of someone who manages to rise above suffering and stays faithful
through endurance. Suffering is necessary for us, because it is the
normal way to grow in virtue (cf. James 1:2-4; 1 Peter 1:5-7); that is
why it is providential (cf. Philippians 1:19; Colossians 1:24) and
leads to joy and happiness (1 Thessalonians 1:6).
"A person who hopes for something and strives eagerly to attain it is
ready to endure all kinds of difficulty and distress. Thus, for
example, a sick person if he is eager to be healthy, is happy to take
the bitter medicine which will cure him. Therefore, one sign of the
ardent hope that is ours thanks to Christ is that we glory not only in
the hope of future glory, but also in the afflictions which we suffer
in order to attain it" (St. Thomas Aquinas, "Commentary on Romans, ad.
loc.").
A person who lives by faith, hope and charity realizes that suffering
is not something meaningless but rather is designed by God for our
perfecting. Perfection consists "in the bringing of our wills so
closely into conformity with the will of God that, as soon as we
realize He wills anything, we desire it ourselves with all our might,
and take the bitter with the sweet, knowing that to be His Majesty's
will [...]. If our love is perfect, it has this quality of leading us
to forget our own pleasure in order to please Him whom we love. And
that is indeed what happens" (St. Teresa of Avila, "Book of
Foundations", Chapter 5).
5. The love which St. Paul speaks of here is, at one and the same time,
God's love for us--manifested in His sending the Holy Spirit--and the
love which God places in our soul to enable us to love Him. The Second
Council of Orange, quoting St. Augustine, explains this as follows: "To
love God is entirely a gift of God. He, without being loved, loves us
and enabled us to love Him. We were loved when we were still
displeasing to Him, so that we might be given something whereby we
might please Him. So it is that the Spirit of the Father and the Son,
whom we love with the Father and the son, pours charity into our
hearts" (Second Council of Orange, "De Gratia", Canon 25; cf. St.
Augustine, "In Ioann. Evang.", 102, 5).
6-11. The friendship which reigned in Paradise between God and man was
followed by the enmity created by Adam's sin. By promising a future
redeemer, God once more offered mankind His friendship. The scale of
God's love for us can be seen in the "reconciliation" which the Apostle
speaks about, which took place on the Cross, when Christ did away with
this enmity, making our peace with God and reconciling us to Him (cf.
Ephesians 2:15-16).
The petition in the Our Father, "Forgive us our trespasses as we
forgive those that trespass against us", is an invitation to imitate
the way God treats us, because by loving our enemies "there shines
forth in us some likeness to God our Father, who, by the death of His
Son, ransomed from everlasting perdition and reconciled to Himself the
human race, which before was most unfriendly and hostile to Him" ("St.
Pius V Catechism", IV, 14, 19).
Source: "The Navarre Bible: Text and Commentaries". Biblical text
taken from the Revised Standard Version and New Vulgate. Commentaries
made by members of the Faculty of Theology of the University of
Navarre, Spain. Published by Four Courts Press, Kill Lane, Blackrock,
Co. Dublin, Ireland.