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13 DENVER CATHOLIC | SEPTEMBER 2022 thing effortlessly, and the high point of all of creation is the human person. The human person, God tells us in Genesis, is destined to be divinized. We were made to long for something beyond ourselves, because we were made for it. It's written into our hearts. We were made to be loved and in love with God. But in the Old Testament, we also learn what always happens in our lives: that the reality of what we were created for has been funda- mentally stunted. The Evil One, Satan, rebelled against God because Satan was envious of us, and put himself at war with each one of us (Wis 2:24). He envied that God created us to be divinized. So, he set about to enslave us. And he did enslave us when Adam and Eve chose, of their free will, to doubt God and sin against God. Satan captured the human race out of envy. In Genesis 3, we learn of the first lies of Satan to Adam and Eve, lies that he continues to tell each one of us: "God is holding out on you. God is lying to you. You will be happier doing what you want, rather than what God asks of you. God doesn't love you." Satan, the ultimate vil- lain, captured each one of us into the slavery of sin and death we cannot escape. Sin becomes a power over us, one we cannot escape, and each one of us knows we cannot escape death. It is the ultimate story of suffering — there is no way for us to escape the suffering of sin and death by ourselves. But God revealed himself to Israel, "He who is," the one "abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness" (Ex 34:6). The Old Testament reveals God as the Father of Israel, he who never breaks his covenants with them, never stops forgiving their unfaithfulness to him. He chooses them out of "his sheer gratuitous love" (Deut 4:37, 7:8, 10:15 as quoted in CCC 218). Yet, still, the human race is trapped in the slavery of sin and death, under the capture of Satan, hope- less, but longing for, waiting for, a savior. But Isaiah the prophet cries out in this story, with the announcement that the Lord says, "Can the prey be taken from the mighty? Or the captives of a tyrant be rescued? For thus says the Lord, even the captives of the might shall be taken, and the prey of the tyrant be rescued, for I will contend with those who contend with you… and then all flesh shall know that I am the Lord your savior, and your Redeemer, the Mighty One of Jacob" (Is 49). The prophets cry out as heroes in this story reminding us that we can be saved, and we will be saved. God will redeem us. ⊲