Day 59: Summary of The Fall (413-421)
MCNUGGET DAY IS A GOOD DAY!!
And I’m not talking about chicken mcnuggets (BUT I AM!!!! 😉)
I’m talking about Catechism Mcnuggets
This is the last part of the section on the Father
And on Original Sin
This little mcnugget day
Tomorrow we’re going to talk about the Son
Hasn’t it been incredible to be able to cover things like….
(SQUIRREL!! 😉)
Remember back when we talked about the theology of God in Himself
We get to say, “OK! GOD IS ALMIGHTY!”
The reality is we can get to know God AS HE IS
And to know God FOR WHAT HE DOES
WHICH IS JUST INCREDIBLE!!
WHAT HE DOES reveals to us WHO HE IS
When I grow in knowledge of someone, I grow in my capacity to be able to love them
In my ability to be able to love them the more I know them
Where it’s just, “OK, God, keep revealing things about yourself. KEEP REVEALING YOURSELF!! Not just so I can have a collection of data points or information. But because I want to KNOW you better in order to LOVE you better. I want to KNOW you better in order to be able to TRUST you better and to FOLLOW you more closely.”
That’s what we’ve been doing
Hopefully that’s what it’s been like for you
It can be slow going at times
BUT…
More and more, we have an accurate view of who God is and what His plan is for our lives
And also even the wounds that come against us
Like talking about Original Sin
Then it seems like this gives us hope for the present and hope for the future
“Ok, God, I know that you’re not going to abandon me. God, I know that the fact that it is a battle, I’m not to be surprised by that!!”
This is LIFE in which it is DIFFICULT and BROKEN
BUT…
IT IS BEAUTIFUL AND WORTH LIVING!!
Yes, I find myself in a place of DISTRESS, but I never find myself ABANDONED
You might find yourself in a place of DISTRESS, but you will never find yourself ABANDONED
TODAY
In this “In Brief”, the MCNUGGETS, from Paragraphs 413 to 421
We’re going to hear a summary of everything we’ve been talking about
That God didn’t make death
That Satan and the other fallen angels rebelled against God in a definitive way
There’s no going back
Satan wants US to share in their brokenness
Satan wants US to share in their rebellion
AND YET…
Even though God made us in complete goodness
Original holiness
Original justice in a state of rectitude, as the Catechism says today
That state of right relationship with God
We ABUSED our freedom
We have REJECTED God
And that abuse led to taking away, losing original holiness
Losing original justice
Losing some of those powers that God had given us as part of our human nature
AND YET…
We remain GOOD
NOW, BROKEN
And we hold, therefore, that original sin is transmitted now by PROPAGATION
The original sin is transmitted through the propagation of the human nature through the human species
AND YET…
The victory that Christ has won over sin has given us GREATER BLESSINGS than those that sin has taken away from us
WE HAVE HOPE!!
EVEN IN THE MIDST OF ORIGINAL SIN!!
EVEN IN THE MIDST OF OUR BROKENNESS!!
WE HAVE HOPE!!
This is a 50,000 foot overview of what we’ve been diving in to deeply for the last week or so
Let’s Pray!!
Prayer by Fr. Mike: “Father in heaven, we know that we can trust you. We know that you do not abandon us to the domain of death. You do not abandon us to the power of the Evil One. We know that we can trust you, even when we say, God, can you just take us out of this situation? Can you remove us from the battle? You don’t. Instead, you do something more incredible. You enter into the battle. You didn’t take us out of the fight. You enter into the fight. You didn’t take us out of suffering. You enter into our suffering. Thank you for being here with us. Thank you for being here with us on this day. And we know that you will be with us every day until that great day when you will be all in all. In Jesus’s name, we pray. Amen”
So there it is, a McNugget Day
If there’s ever been an “In Brief” at the end of a section that has been more comprehensive, we have not had it yet!
This starts from the VERY BEGINNING
GOD DID NOT MAKE DEATH!!
GOD DOES NOT DELIGHT IN THE DEATH OF THE LIVING!!
If you want to read an incredible, incredible book of the Bible
They’re all pretty remarkable!
But the Book of Wisdom is often overlooked by so many people
We get so much about this CRITICAL QUESTION of “What happened?”
DOES GOD NOT CARE??
NO NO NO!!
The Book of Wisdom makes it EXPLICITLY CLEAR
GOD DID NOT MAKE DEATH!!
HE DOES NOT REJOICE OR DELIGHT IN THE DEATH OF THE LIVING!!
How did it happen?
Wisdom 2:24, “It was through the Devil’s envy that death entered the world…”
THAT IS SO REMARKABLY IMPORTANT FOR EVERY SINGLE ONE OF US TO REALIZE!!
GOD ONLY GIVES GOOD!!
GOD ONLY GIVES LIFE!!
GOD IS LOVE!!
GOD CANNOT BE ENVIOUS!!
GOD CANNOT CREATE EVIL!!
So how is that?
Remember the analogy of the sun
The only thing that comes off the sun is light and heat because that’s all it is!
BUT…
GOD IS LOVE!!
GOD IS LIFE!!
GOD IS GOODNESS ITSELF!!
GOD IS BEING HIMSELF!!
Death and evil and lies just can’t come from God because those are all DISTORTIONS
Those are all PRIVATIONS
AND YET…
Go back to the envy of the Devil
They rejected the Lord
They rejected God in a FREE AND DEFINITIVE WAY
Do we pray for the Evil One?
Do we pray for the enemy?
Do we pray for the Devil?
And the answer is essentially NO!!
Because their choice is DEFINITIVE
There’s no going back, as far as we know.
So there’s that!
AND YET…
They try to associate us, human beings, in their revolt against God
We have three enemies, according to Scripture
THE WORLD
THE FLESH
THE DEVIL
The world, again, THE BROKEN WORLD
The flesh, meaning OUR BROKEN HUMAN NATURE
The Evil One who WANTS TO GET US TO REBEL AGAINST GOD LIKE HE REBELLED AGAINST GOD
It is the HEART of those who reject things that are beautiful
Who reject things, that love that’s freely offered
They don’t want other people to experience the beauty either
They don’t want other people to experience that love that’s freely offered either
It’s the difference between a THIEF and a VANDAL
The difference between someone who STEALS SOMETHING and someone who VANDALIZES SOMETHING
If you STEAL something, it’s because you want to have it
If you VANDALIZE something, it’s because you don’t want ANYONE to have it
And here is the Evil One, The Devil, who is a THIEF
YES!!
HE STEALS!!
HE KILLS!!
HE DESTROYS!!
But also in this strange strange way, he, in some ways, vandalizes, right?
You think like, “OK, Evil One, Devil, if you don’t want the Lord, OK, go your way!!”
But there’s this darkness there that exists in us too
Because we experience this brokenness
There’s this darkness in the Evil One that says, “I don’t want it, and I don’t want YOU to have it either”
We have to be on guard ourselves against that.
Because that lives inside of you and that lives inside of me as well
Because that’s ORIGINAL SIN
Paragraph 418 says, “As a result of original sin, human nature is weakened in its powers; subject to ignorance, suffering, and the domination of death; and inclined to sin (This inclination is called ‘concupiscence.’)”
Remember, the $25,000 word of being inclined to sin is called CONCUPISCENCE
EVERY ONE OF US HAS THAT!!
Just because I WANT something, doesn’t mean that it’s GOOD for me
Doesn’t mean that I should CHOOSE it
Just because I’ve always been a CERTAIN WAY, it doesn’t mean that that’s ACTUALLY GOOD
Remember…
EVERY HUMAN BEING IS GOOD!!
BUT…
EVERY HUMAN BEING IS BROKEN!!
WE ALL HAVE THIS INCLINATION TO SIN!!
if we lose sight of that reality, then we will make excuses for ourselves ALL THE TIME
We have an inclination to sin, and we have to fight against that
That’s part of the battle of earthly life
Paragraph 420 says, “The victory that Christ won over sin has given us greater blessings than those which sin had taken away from us…”
Remember…
St Leo the Great and St Thomas Aquinas both had said “GREATER BLESSINGS BETTER BLESSINGS”
THE GIFTS THAT GOD GIVES BECAUSE OF SIN ARE GREATER THAN THE GIFTS THAT HE GAVE WITHOUT THE SIN!!
This is hard for us to understand
St Paul said in Romans 5:20, “Where sin increased, grace abounded all the more”
Gaudium et Spes in Paragraph 421 says, “Christians believe that the world has been established and kept in being by the Creator’s love; has fallen into slavery to sin but has been set free by Christ, crucified and risen to break the power of the evil one…”
THAT IS JUST A WORD OF HOPE!!
How amazing is this?
Tomorrow we get to start this next section of
I BELIEVE IN THE SON
Remember,we’re following, in this first pillar and we’re following the Apostles’ Creed
“I believe in God the Father Almighty, creator of heaven and earth”
We’re going to start tomorrow in “I believe in Jesus Christ, his only beloved Son”
So that’s what we get to do tomorrow
You guys, it’s been a journey, hasn’t it?
Fr. Mike would love to be able to hear what it’s been like for you for these first two months here
WHAT HAS IT BEEN LIKE??
Is it like showing up for class every day?
Has it been a situation where it’s been like, “Oh my gosh, my mind is being open!”
My heart’s being open
Or has it been kind of, “I feel like I’m waiting in the dark”
Because we have BIG IDEAS
And the Church has been revealing to us in these first paragraphs in the Catechism some REALLY REALLY BIG IDEAS
And it can be a challenge
As we get more and more deeply into the Catechism, our hearts will continue to grow
And so, that’s Fr. Mike’s prayer for you
So, let Fr. Mike know I would love
I don’t know how you’d let Fr. Mike know these things, but please know that if this has been one of those where it’s like “Yeah, I’m waiting for the heart to kick in”
Or…
“I’m waiting for that love to kick in”
“I’m waiting for the joy to kick in”
JUST KNOW
IT’S COMING!!
IT’S COMING!!
Because here you are, BEING FAITHFUL!!
Here we are, as part of this community, people journeying through the Catechism this year
It’s remarkable because Fr. Mike doesn’t know if we could do this without each other
LITERALLY
FR. MIKE COULD NOT DO THIS WITHOUT YOU!!
So, let’s keep praying 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!!