Welcome to the 33-day preparation for total consecration to Jesus through Mary, right here on the Catholic Sprouts podcast.

Before we begin, let's pray.

In the name of the Father, Son, Holy Spirit, amen.

Mary, Mother of Jesus, be a mother to us now, and bring us to your son.

Amen.

Welcome back to day 18 of this 33-day preparation for consecration to Jesus through Mary here on the Catholic Sprouts podcast. We are nearing the end of the second section where we

investigate what it means to be human.

We've already talked about the fact that humans, all of us, were created in the image and

likeness of God, that we are part of God's family through baptism, that we have the ability

to seek, know, understand, and love God, that we are sinners, that we are called to be humbly confident

in our God. And today, we are going to reflect on the fact that as humans, as followers of

Jesus Christ, we are forgiven and redeemed. Now, let's all just pause and think about something for a moment.

Since the beginning of time, since Adam and Eve were in the garden, humanity has been fallen.

We are sinners. And sin builds up and becomes a wall between us and God. Each time we sin, we are basically

creating a debt between us and God. We need to make up that debt, almost pay back what we have taken.

But we've sinned so much that there's no way for us to pay that bill on our own.

So we back in the Old Testament, God set up a system to wash the people clean of their sins.

And this system was animal sacrifice.

The priests would sacrifice an animal,

and it was the blood of that animal

that would correct the relationship

between those people and God.

...