“May they all be one. Father, may they be one in us, as you are in me and I am in you”…

Do you know the roots of the word Catholic? Its comes from the Greek katholike, and means – for all.

I’m sure that you remember the great rallying cry of the French guards known as the “Musketeers”. They used to cry: All for one, and one for all! That loyalty tied the Musketeers together. The safety, the life, the fate, of each individual guardsman depended upon the actions of his fellow soldiers. All for one, and one for all – wasn’t just a motto. It was a lifeline.

St. Paul in his letter to the Romans reminds us that there are two sides to an “all for one” existence. For human beings, Paul recalls: sin came into the world through one man… and so death spread to all, because all have sinned. In other words the consequences of Adam’s “one for all” actions were universally deadly. Adam’s transgression, his sin of disobedience to God and looking out for himself, spread throughout the human race like an unstoppable virus. Through that “one for all” act each new generation has been born carrying that deadly virus. And today we know how powerful some virus could be, don’t we?

But Paul also declares that it was Adam’s “one for all” action that serves as a “type”, a template for The one who was to come. In the free gift in the grace of one man, Jesus Christ, a new act of “one for all” transformed a sure death sentence into the offer of salvation and life. Though the First Adam’s trespass led to condemnation for all, the Second Adam’s righteousness leads to justification and life for all. Jesus Christ’s obedience to God’s word and will led him to the ultimate “one for all” action on the cross for our sake and salvation.

Why am I sharing with you this thoughts? It is just because the outrageous gift of Christ’s “one for all” sacrifice demands each of us to incarnate in our lives the other half of that Musketeer motto – “all for One”…