Agnus Dei, qui tollis peccata mundi

It’s pretty common at this time of year to contemplate the crucifixion, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ in terms like “The Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world.” While this is true and that was His mission, set for Him before time began, it really doesn’t mean anything to me. The fact is, I can’t begin to understand what the sins of the world means. I know what sins are, and it doesn’t take a Biblical scholar to know that the world is utterly depraved, and has been since Adam let his wife get tempted, instead of standing in the gap for her. But the scale is too big to get my head around. One death is sad, a whole family dying is a tragedy, but 100 million deaths is just a statistic. (That’s the estimated total lives lost in World War II, civilian and military, all countries)

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