Sins Crying to Heaven for Vengeance

The Christian response to sin is always necessary, but it need not be dire. For even before we turn back to God, he draws near to us, the sinner. And, if we allow him, God can use even our failings and faults to his glory and for our good. Romans 8:28 says that “all things work for good for those who love God,” and St. Thomas says this includes even our sins, for “God makes all things work together for their good to the extent that if they deviate and stray from the path, he even makes this contribute to their good.” God’s power to create from nothing is the same power able to bring good (a real something) out of sin (a privation, a nothing).

 

For when we rebel against the Lord, his grace can still use those moments to have us rise from our sins in greater humility and cautious awareness of how self-centered we really are. This renewed awareness should result also in a greater wisdom in knowing our constant need for God’s grace to persevere in the good. As Aquinas continues: those who sin and repent “return to themselves more humble and wiser; for they fear extolling themselves or trusting in their powers to persevere.” 

The Four Sins Crying to Heaven for Vengeance 

• Willful Murder (including abortion): “Then the Lord asked Cain, ‘Where is your brother Abel?’ He answered, ‘I do not know. Am I my brother’s keeper?’ God then said: ‘What have you done? your brother’s blood cries out to me from the ground’” (Gen. 4:9-10). 
• The Sin of Sodom: “So the Lord said: The outcry against Sodom and Gomorrah is so great, and their sin so grave, that I must go down to see whether or not their actions are as bad as the cry against them that comes to me. I mean to find out’” (Gen. 18:20-21). 
• Oppression of the Poor: “You shall not wrong any widow or orphan. If ever you wrong them and they cry out to me, I will surely listen to them” (Exod. 22:21-22). 
• Defrauding Laborers of Their Fair Wage: “You shall not exploit a poor and needy hired servant, whether one of your own kindred or one of the resident aliens who live in your land, within your gates. On each day you shall pay the servant’s wages before the sun goes down, since the servant is poor and is counting on them. Otherwise the servant will cry to the Lord against you, and you will be held guilty” (Deut. 24:14-15). 

Despite what skeptics may charge, our Catholic faith never shirks from the problem of evil. 

What it refuses to do, however, is to place the blame at the top with God or at the bottom with material things themselves. God is good, and so is everything he has made. The problem of evil lies in the middle: with we who are free to use our will to choose good or evil, life or death (cf. Deut. 30:19).