By JOE SIXPACK
Once upon a time (I love stories that start that way), a great king wanted to honor an old childhood friend. He gave his friend a large estate and a princely title. By his royal decree, the king made it so his friend and all his descendants would enjoy the princely title, estate, and wealth in perpetuity. Imagine suddenly being created a prince!
But rather than being forever grateful, the new prince and his wife became proud. They tried to establish their own kingdom and rebel against the king. They failed in their rebellion, but the king mercifully spared their lives. However, the king took back all he’d given them and they became mere subjects again.
When the children grew up, they realized they could have had title, land, wealth, and the respect of the entire kingdom . . . if only their parents had obeyed the king. They were sorry for what their parents did and held no ill will toward the king, because they understood the reason for the king’s punishment. As children of disobedient parents, they willingly accepted the punishment deserved by their parents.
But the king had a very kind and gentle son who loved the children of the disobedient parents. He loved them so much, in fact, that he went to live with them. The son begged his father to give back to those children what they’d lost. For the sake of his son, the king restored all that the children had lost for their parents’ disobedience.
In a nutshell, this story is the salvation history of man. Man in his original state was perfect. God created Adam from dust and breathed life into him. Then He created Eve from Adam’s rib. He set them up in Eden — Paradise. Adam and Eve were given dominion over everything — the animals, the land, the elements…everything. They were commanded to be fruitful and multiply, which they did and which is how the entire human race came to be.
Paradise was remarkable for Adam and Eve. God gave them many wonderful gifts. The greatest gift God gave Adam and Eve, our first parents, was the gift of sanctifying grace; that is, a sharing in His divine life, which made them holy and gave them a right to Heaven.
Among some of the other gifts God gave our first parents were superior knowledge, control of their passions by the use of reason, and freedom from suffering and death. By giving them superior knowledge, our first parents had dominion over all the Earth. (With superior knowledge they had no reason to fear the animals of nature, nor anything else in the natural world, because they knew how to subdue it.) By giving them control of their passions by reason, Adam and Eve weren’t driven by the desires of the flesh. (Control of the passions by reason means they pro-created based on God’s command and reason, not lust.)
Having freedom from suffering and death means they were intended to live forever — that when they had lived on Earth as long as God intended, rather than die He would simply take them to Heaven to be with Him.
God only gave them one rule to live by. He told them they couldn’t eat the fruit from the tree of good and evil. But they disobeyed God. They still lived on Earth, so they lived by faith. Although our first parents were created holy, they still had their God-given free will, which means they could choose between good and evil. When the Devil tempted them, they knowingly (with superior knowledge) and willfully (with free will) disobeyed God.
Because of their sin, our first parents lost sanctifying grace and the right to Heaven. They lost their other gifts too, becoming inclined to evil and subject to ignorance, suffering, and death. This means that original sin, which has been passed down to us from Adam, causes us to enter the world, from the moment of our conception, with the absence of sanctifying grace and the right to Heaven. Original sin also causes us, as it did Adam and Eve, to be inclined to evil and subject to ignorance, suffering, and death.
However, original sin doesn’t make our human nature totally corrupt. Our mind can still know truth and our will is still free. Therefore, we can still do good and avoid evil, but with greater effort and God’s help.
The remedy for original sin is the King’s Son who came to live with us — Jesus Christ, the God-man. He died on the cross to redeem us from sin and restore sanctifying grace to us. The ordinary means of removing original sin is through Baptism.
The effects of original sin, however, continue to stay with us. These effects may be partly remedied by reading Scripture, religious instruction (like reading this column), prayer, devout reception of the sacraments, voluntary penance, and obedience to God’s law . . . all of them.
Let me urge you to read the Bible every day. You don’t have to read a lot. Just spend ten minutes a day in Scripture. I’d recommend you begin with the four Gospels and Acts, which I think you’ll find exciting, then move on to other books. I always recommend the Book of Tobit in the Old Testament. This little-known book would make a great modern movie!
Religious instruction can be done from reading this column, but you really should go further. If your parish doesn’t have anything in place for continuing adult education, there are lots of good Catholic book publishers like Ignatius Press and TAN Books. There’s also a course you can get on JoeSixpackAnswers.com.
When it comes to prayer, develop a daily regimen of prayer. Begin with at least some morning prayers (I always start with the Fatima daily offering) and a few prayers throughout the day, ending with an examination of conscience and act of contrition before bedtime. You can gradually advance into a deep conversation with God on a daily basis.
When it comes to devout reception of the sacraments, you might need to make some adjustments there. Devout reception of the sacraments would be to do as the Church recommends. It’s disturbing to see nearly everyone go to Communion at Mass, but hardly anyone taking advantage of Confession. The Church recommends that we go to Communion once a week, but says it’s better to go every day. She also recommends that we go to Confession at least once a month, but says it’s better to go once a week. Combine doing the two as the Church suggests and you’ll discover benefits that can’t be put into words.
Also remember to do penances on your own. When you want a cup of coffee, for example, put off having that cup for five minutes. Then tell God you’re offering up that legitimate desire as a gift to Him in reparation for your own sins and the sins of the world. The effect this has on your thinking, your soul, and your relationship with God is amazing.
If you have a question or comment you can reach out to me through the “Ask Joe” page of JoeSixpackAnswers.com, or you can email me at Joe@CantankerousCatholic.com.
Hey, how would you like to see things like this article every week in your parish bulletin as an insert? You or your pastor can learn more about how to do that by emailing me at Joe@CantankerousCatholic.com.
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