by Br. Antony Maldonado, O.S.B.

       After the fall of humanity, God immediately devised a plan to save humankind from the power of sin.  Even though all the failures, disobediences and rebellions of his people that can be found in Scripture, God never wavered from his goal.  The motive behind God’s actions was love.  Out of love God created humans and the intrusion of sin in the world did not sever the bond of love between God and his creatures.

     The plan of salvation was first mentioned right in the Garden of Eden, when God declared that the offspring of the woman would crush the serpent's head.  It continued with the deliverance of God’s people from slavery and the giving of the Law at Mount Sinai.  It had a brilliant age with the preaching and admonitions of the prophets, who also foretold the coming of the Messiah.  Its culmination was Jesus’ life on earth.

     All three persons of the Trinity have been involved in the process.  The Father’s loving creation and the promise of salvation.  The Son’s redeeming mission:  his teachings, sufferings, death and resurrection.  The Holy Spirit’s inspiration of the prophets, the miracle of the incarnation, and, later on, the sanctification and strengthening of the early Church in its work of evangelization.  God’s investment of love in the destiny of humanity is infinite.  That should be kept in mind lest we fall into the Evil One’s trap of thinking that we are unimportant.  If God’s intention in sending his Son into the world would have been to judge it and not to save it, the plan of salvation would have been unnecessary.

     But again, that does not assure the salvation of each one of us.  We can turn our backs on all that love; then God’s plan would not fulfill its end on everyone.  We have to believe and so return that love.

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