Embedded Files
This is Day 58!!
We’re still in the midst of looking at and examining Original Sin
So one of the things we ended with in Paragraph 405…
(SQUIRREL!! 😉)
Now we ended with Paragraph 406 yesterday, talking about the differences, Pelagianism
You don’t really need God’s grace
Or the heresy of Pelagianism
Heresy of the Protestant Reformation, which would talk about that human nature is completely corrupt
So either you don’t need God’s grace because you’re pretty much intact
OR…
You absolutely do need God’s grace in the sense because you are depraved
NOW…
The Catholic world view is IN BETWEEN THAT
That we ABSOLUTELY do need God’s grace
Not because we’re DEPRAVED, but because we’re DEPRIVED
What that sets us up for is a SPIRITUAL BATTLE
Paragraph 405 says, “Baptism, by imparting the life of Christ’s grace, eases original sin and turns a man back toward God, but the consequences for nature, weakened and inclined to evil, persist in man and summon him to spiritual battle.”
That’s what we’re going to talk about a little bit today
Paragraph 407 begins with the words, “A hard battle…”
That’s the recognition that every single one of us
We find ourselves born into a situation
Born into the condition where because of that first sin…
Because of the fact that we’ve lost that original justice…
That ORIGINAL RIGHTEOUSNESS before God…
We’ve lost that ORIGINAL HOLINESS
We’ve even lost…(SQUIRREL!! 😉)
That with that first sin,TRUST died in the human heart
To live a life of TRUST…
To live a life of LOVING OBEDIENCE to the Father…
We have to FIGHT FOR THAT TRUST
IN FACT…
WE KNOW THAT GOD FIGHTS FOR US!!
That’s part of what the mystery of the Passion of our Lord is
That his life, death and resurrection, and ascension into heaven is PART OF THAT BATTLE FOR US
Paragraph 407 highlights this fact
That because of that first sin, the Devil, the Evil One, has acquired a certain domination over human beings
Even though we still remain free as human beings
AND THAT’S THE MYSTERY
We belong to the power of darkness in captivity
AND YET…
Here is the Lord Jesus who has DEFEATED the powers of darkness
AND YET…
We still experience the consequences of this death
The dominion of the Evil One in this world
WE HAVE TO BE AWARE OF THIS!!
Paragraph 407 says, “Ignorance of that fact that man has a wounded nature inclined to evil, that can give rise to serious errors in the areas of education, politics, social action, and morals.”
HOW WE EDUCATE PEOPLE!!
HOW WE DO POLITICS!!
HOW WE DO SOCIAL ACTION!!
HOW WE LOOK AT MORALS!!
(Really??? You don’t say??!! 🤔 😉)
Think about this…
If we forget, or ignore, or don’t even know the fact that we have a wounded nature, then we could be inclined to think, “Oh, then I’m fine”
In that case, whatever I WANT must be fine
If I’m made good, then whatever I want must be good
OR…
If I’m made good and God doesn’t make junk
Then everything that I’m inclined to, everything that i’m attracted to or drawn to must be fine as well
BUT…
The FULL STORY is we are made GOOD BUT BROKEN
We are INCLINED TO EVIL
We have to be on guard against even our own hearts
That’s one of things that is at risk if we forget the reality of Original Sin
BUT…
Today we’re going to hear about more things
Paragraph 408 says, “The consequences of original sin and of all men’s personal sins put the world as a whole in the sinful condition aptly described in St. John’s expression, ‘the sin of the world.’”
What does that mean?
We find ourselves in a place where we have to FIGHT
Not only against ourselves…
Against our broken human nature…
But also against this “the world”
Meaning the fact that we have a fallen HUMAN NATURE and human beings create CULTURE
THEREFORE…
We have FALLEN HUMAN CULTURE as well
That’s one of the ways that this expression, “The Sin of the World” can be understood
The last section we’re going to read today is only three paragraphs long, from paragraph 410 to 412
YOU DID NOT ABANDON HIM TO THE DOMAIN OF DEATH
We get that from Eucharistic Prayer IV in the Roman Rite
IT IS INCREDIBLE!!
“Even after we sinned, even after we disobeyed, Lord God, you did not abandon us to the domain of death. But in your mercy, you came to the aid of all of us.”
Paragraph 410 says: “After the fall, man was not abandoned by God. On the contrary God ( Fr Mike said MAN calls him…but according to the Catechism, it should be GOD calls him… 🤔)calls him and in a mysterious way, heralds the coming victory over evil and his restoration from the fall.”
EVIL DOES NOT HAVE THE LAST WORD!!
Yes we have broken hearts
Yes we have broken relationships
This universe that is good and beautiful remains broken
AND YET…
WE ARE NOT ABANDONED IN OUR BROKENNESS!!
THIS IS SO VERY IMPORTANT TO US!!
Paragraph 412 says, “But why did God not prevent the first man from sinning?”
Why did God not prevent Adam or Eve from sinning in the first place?
And there’s an answer
In fact, we get TWO ANSWERS from St Leo the Great and from St Thomas Aquinas
BUT…
In order to hear that answer, you’re going to have to listen to what we have to say today
OH MAN YOU GUYS!!
Let’s say a prayer and launch into today’s reading!!
Fr. Mike’s Prayer: “Father in heaven, we give you praise and glory. Thank you so much. Thank you so much for bringing us to this day. We ask you to please send your Holy Spirit to enlighten our hearts. Send your Holy Spirit that we can belong to you fully, not just for twenty minutes every day. But to let every minute of everyday belong to you Lord God. We find ourselves in a hard battle, and yet you have not abandoned us in the middle of the battle. You are with us in the midst of this battle, and so we just call out to you. We call upon the name of your son Jesus Christ to send your Holy Spirit to be with us, to guard us, to fight in us and to fight for us. In Jesus’ name we pray, Amen”
So here we are today, finding ourselves near the end of this section about Original Sin
Tomorrow we’re going to go over the bullet points
It’ll be MCNUGGET DAY once again
BUT…
Because of Original Sin we find ourselves in A HARD BATTLE
And one of the things we need to remember when it comes to original sin is we cannot forget that WE ARE GOOD, BUT BROKEN
Because if we forget this…
(SQUIRREL!! 😉)
You know, there was one of the thinkers of the more recent era was Jean-Jacques Rousseau
His idea is that we would be born as blank slates
So you could find the noble savage
Someone who hasn’t been corrupted by their society
They haven’t been corrupted by civilization or modern human beings
And you find them and they’re a tabularasa
They’re a blank slate and they’re noble savage where it’s only CULTURE that corrupts a person
Paragraph 408 says, “This expression, the sin of the world, can also refer to the negative influence exerted on people by communal situations and social structures that are the fruits of men’s sins.”
BROKEN PEOPLE CREATE BROKEN STRUCTURES!!
So people who are unjust in ourselves we can create social systems that are also unjust.
But…
The sin…
The personal sin…
The brokenness…
THAT CAME FIRST!!
And that was what created SOCIAL SIN
But people like Rousseau and others, they would say, “No, No, No. It is our SOCIETY that created the brokenness. So if we can just tweak or fix society, then we can fix the brokenness.”
And the Church has a more sober, more realistic view
WE ARRIVED BROKEN!!
We were made good
BUT…
Because of Original Sin, we come on the scene as human beings now…BROKEN
And because of that brokenness, we create more brokenness
We can also create good things
There’s beauty
There’s justice that we can fight for
We can still love
That’s the thing…
It’s always holding these things IN TENSION
And that is just the challenge every one of us get to experience
BUT…
If we forget the fact that there is original sin
Paragraph 407 says, “Ignorance of the fact that man has a wounded nature inclined to evil gives rise to serious errors in all these different areas of life.”
And so we have to keep an eye on that Original Sin
If we FORGET original sin…
Then the REDEMPTION that was given to us by Jesus Christ is kind of rendered somewhat MEANINGLESS
If we weren’t dead in our sins
Then Christ dying for our sins is kind of like, “Well hey Bro, thanks!”
This is NOT a “Hey, bro!” to the Lord himself
This is “OH MY GOODNESS LORD!!”
IF YOU HAD ABANDONED ME…
IF YOU HAD NOT COME AND DIED FOR ME…
IF YOU HAD NOT COME AND LIVED IN HUMAN NATURE…
AND RESCUED US FROM SLAVERY TO THE EVIL ONE…
WE WOULD BE DEAD IN OUR SINS!!
WE HAVE TO, HAVE TO UNDERSTAND…
WE CAN NEVER EVER FORGET…
THE REALITY OF ORIGINAL SIN!!
AND THE FACT THAT CHRIST HAS TRANSFERRED US FROM THE POWER OF DARKNESS TO HIS OWN GLORIOUS KINGDOM!!
We’ve been brought in through Baptism
We are brought in to that new kingdom
Paragraph 409 says, “This dramatic situation of ‘the whole world which is in the power of the evil one’ makes man’s life a battle…”
THAT IS A REALLY ENCOURAGING WORD!!
WHY?
Because if life was a CRUISE SHIP and all of a sudden you were under attack, that would be really difficult
It would be crushing
But if life is a BATTLESHIP and you’re under attack, you kind of expect that, don’t you?
(YOU SUNK MY BATTLESHIP!! 🤣 Bill & Ted's Bogus Journey (1991) - You Have Sunk My Battleship! Scene (6/10) | Movieclips
Where if I thought “I’m out on this field for a picnic, why are all these people shooting at me?”
That’s CHAOTIC
But if I’m on a battlefield
I know why these people are shooting at me
I expected this
To know that life is a battle doesn’t contribute to having a negative attitude toward life
IT HELPS US!!
It helps us have a PREPARED ATTITUDE
It gets our hearts READY FOR BATTLE
And so as Gaudium et Spes says in Paragraph 409, “The whole of man’s history has been the story of our combat with the powers of evil, stretching, so our Lord tells us, from the very dawn of history until the last day. Finding himself in the midst of the battlefield man has to struggle to do what is right, and it is at great cost to himself, and aided by God’s grace, that he succeeds in achieving his own inner integrity.”
THAT IS REMARKABLE!!
The struggle to do what is right, it’s a GREAT COST
This is just the Church reminding us
IT IS GOING TO COME AT GREAT COST TO YOU
BUT ALSO…
YOU WILL HAVE GOD’S GRACE!!
You’ll be able to succeed at achieving your own inner integrity
WHICH IS INCREDIBLE!!
WHAT A GREAT PROMISE!
WHAT A GREAT REALITY!!
That we can experience this inner integrity in our lives today
NOT ON OUR OWN…
BUT…
With God’s grace and with great cost to ourselves
Paragraph 410, “After his fall, man was not abandoned by God.”
In Genesis 3:15, there is what is called The Protoevangelium
THE FIRST GOSPEL!!
Evangelium..Gospel..Good News
Proto..first
So the Protoevangelium is Genesis 3:15, in which the Lord God is speaking to the serpent
And He says:
“I will put enmity between you, the Evil One, and the woman, between your offspring and hers. They will strike at your head while you strike at their heel.”
This is one of the translations of this
But here is God’s PROMISE
And the passage in Genesis announces THE MESSIAH, who is going to have a battle between the serpent AND also the woman
The Church has an ancient, ancient tradition
Fathers, Doctors of the Church have seen that WOMAN announced through the Protoevangelium as OUR LADY
AS MARY!
And she’s called THE NEW EVE
You know, St. Paul refers to Jesus Christ as THE NEW ADAM
And the Church Fathers and Doctors of the Church refer to our Lady as the New Eve
Because not only is she the one in so many ways, who crushes the head of the serpent
BECAUSE OF HER SON JESUS!!
BECAUSE OF GOD’S GRACE IN HER LIFE!!
BUT…
Here is this powerful, powerful affirmation of the Immaculate Conception in Paragraph 411, “Mary benefited first of all and uniquely from Christ’s victory over sin: she was preserved from all stain of original sin and by a special grace of God committed no sin of any kind during her whole earthly life.”
And that’s part of the doctrine of the Immaculate Conception
That at the moment of HER conception, Mary was preserved from all stain of original sin by the FUTURE merits of her son’s life, death and resurrection
And she also had A SPECIAL GRACE FROM GOD
Because of that, she committed NO SIN DURING HER WHOLE EARTHLY LIFE
There is this recognition that in the Protoevangelium, as God is PROMISING that there will be enmity between they Evil One and between the woman
Between the offspring of Satan and the offspring of the woman
That Satan’s head would ultimately be crushed
AND SO
Just like in Genesis Chapter 2 and 3, there’s the FALL TEAM!
You have Adam and Eve as the FALL TEAM
They disobey God
In the NEW TESTAMENT, you have the REDEMPTION TEAM
You have the NEW ADAM, JESUS, and the NEW EVE, MARY
Who OBEY God and by OBEDIENCE
By TRUST
They restore what was lost in the fall
WHICH IS INCREDIBLE!!
At the same time, the last question this section of the Catechism asks is
Paragraph 412 says, “But why did God not prevent the first man from sinning?”
God COULD have done this
Why didn’t he just step in?
Why didn’t God show up early and get in the way between the serpent and the woman?
Why didn’t God just do something?
The answer, of course, is going to be a MYSTERY
But St Leo the Great and St Thomas Aquinas show us
And the answer is MORE
The answer is GREATER
St Leo the Great says, “Christ’s inexpressible grace gave us blessings BETTER than those the demon’s envy had taken away.”
Something BETTER there
Something MORE there
St Thomas Aquinas said, “There’s nothing to prevent human nature being raised up to something greater, even after sin, that God permits evil in order to draw forth some greater good.”
Remember…
One of the reasons why we know that we believe
We have FAITH
We declare that God ALLOWS evil in the world, is to PRESERVE OUR FREEDOM
So that we can truly LOVE
And secondly, because we BELIEVE
We TRUST that God allows sin because he knows he can bring about a GREATER GOOD
And that’s every, every Easter
We sing THE EXSULTET
And we sing, “Oh happy fault that earns so great, so glorious a redeemer…”
St Paul also says, “Where sin increased, grace abounded all the more.”
So I know that’s an ARTICLE OF FAITH
That’s an area where we just have to lean into this and say, “Oh, really God? Is it true that you could have stopped the sin from happening? You could have stopped the evil from happening? But you didn’t because you knew you would bring about a greater good. If that’s the case, then PLEASE HELP ME TO TRUST YOU!”
THAT IS SO CRITICAL!!
THAT IS PART OF THE BATTLE!!
IT IS A HARD BATTLE!!
THIS LIFE IS A HARD BATTLE!!
Part of that is not just the battle against evil
And the battle against the brokenness
And suffering in the world
It also means it’s a battle of TRUST
And also, it’s a HARD BATTLE to be able to say, “OK GOD. I HEAR WHAT YOU’RE SAYING AND I’M GOING TO TRUST YOU. I HEAR WHAT YOU’RE DECLARING TO ME, AND I’M GOING TO TRUST YOU. I WISH THAT YOU HAD TAKEN AWAY ALL SIN, BUT YOU DIDN’T. I WISH YOU TOOK AWAY ALL SUFFERING, BUT YOU DIDN’T. YOU DID TRANSFORM IT, THOUGH. YOU MADE SIN ABLE TO BE FORGIVEN. YOU MADE SUFFERING ABLE TO BE REDEEMED AND TRANSFORMED TO SOMETHING MORE POWERFUL.”
SO THAT IS PART OF THE BATTLE!!
MAN OH MAN!!
THAT IS REAL!!
And that might be the battle where you find yourselves today
It might be the case that you find yourselves in the middle of that battle that just says, “OK God, maybe things aren’t the worst they’ve ever been in my life, but can I still trust you?”
Or maybe this day is the day where it’s this is the worst season of your entire life and on this day God is saying “I know, and I haven’t abandoned you to this.”
And maybe today is a day where you’ve lost loved ones
Or maybe a season where you’ve lost loved ones, or you’re losing them right now
It’s a day they need to be reminded that in the midst of that brokenness
In the midst of that suffering, God did not abandon you to the domain of death
BUT…
He came in MERCY to the aid of ALL
He’s coming in Mercy to our aid and to my aid as well
That’s why we need each other
That’s why we need to pray for each other
Fr. Mike is praying FOR YOU!!
Please pray for Fr, Mike and for each other!!
I cannot WAIT to see you tomorrow!!
Scripture References & Reflections
- compiled by Andrew Adamany
Bible Translation - RSVCE
CCC 407 "The doctrine of original sin, closely connected with that of redemption by Christ, provides lucid discernment of man's situation and activity in the world. By our first parents' sin, the devil has acquired a certain domination over man, even though man remains free. Original sin entails "captivity under the power of him who thenceforth had the power of death, that is, the devil". Ignorance of the fact that man has a wounded nature inclined to evil gives rise to serious errors in the areas of education, politics, social action and morals."
Hebrews 2:14
"Since therefore the children share in flesh and blood, he himself likewise partook of the same nature, that through death he might destroy him who has the power of death, that is, the devil,"
CCC 408 "The consequences of original sin and of all men's personal sins put the world as a whole in the sinful condition aptly described in St. John's expression, "the sin of the world". This expression can also refer to the negative influence exerted on people by communal situations and social structures that are the fruit of men's sins."
John 1:29
"The next day he saw Jesus coming toward him, and said, “Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!"
CCC 409 "This dramatic situation of "the whole world [which] is in the power of the evil one" makes man's life a battle:
1 John 5:19
"We know that we are of God, and the whole world is in the power of the evil one."
1 Peter 5:8–9
"Be sober, be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking some one to devour. 9 Resist him, firm in your faith"
CCC 410 "After his fall, man was not abandoned by God. On the contrary, God calls him and in a mysterious way heralds the coming victory over evil and his restoration from his fall. This passage in Genesis is called the Protoevangelium ("first gospel"): the first announcement of the Messiah and Redeemer, of a battle between the serpent and the Woman, and of the final victory of a descendant of hers."
Genesis 3:15
"I will put enmity between you and the woman,
and between your seed and her seed;
he shall bruise your head,
and you shall bruise his heel.”
CCC 411 "The Christian tradition sees in this passage an announcement of the "New Adam" who, because he "became obedient unto death, even death on a cross", makes amends superabundantly for the disobedience, of Adam.
1 Corinthians 15:21–22
"For as by a man came death, by a man has come also the resurrection of the dead. 22 For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ shall all be made alive."
1 Corinthians 15:45
"Thus it is written, “The first man Adam became a living being”; the last Adam became a life-giving spirit."
Philippians 2:8
"And being found in human form he humbled himself and became obedient unto death, even death on a cross."
Romans 5:19–21
"For as by one man’s disobedience many were made sinners, so by one man’s obedience many will be made righteous. 20 Law came in, to increase the trespass; but where sin increased, grace abounded all the more, 21 so that, as sin reigned in death, grace also might reign through righteousness to eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord."
"Furthermore many Fathers and Doctors of the Church have seen the woman announced in the Protoevangelium as Mary, the mother of Christ, the "new Eve". Mary benefited first of all and uniquely from Christ's victory over sin: she was preserved from all stain of original sin and by a special grace of God committed no sin of any kind during her whole earthly life."
Luke 1:28–29
And he came to her and said, “Hail, full of grace, the Lord is with you!” 29 But she was greatly troubled at the saying, and considered in her mind what sort of greeting this might be."
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