AMAZING GRACE

FALLING INTO SIN

 IN THE GARDEN

Adam and Eve before they sinned had special gifts not necessary to human nature. These were called Preternatural gifts and include infused knowledge, integrity, and immortality of the body.

Before original sin, man was in a state of “original justice.” Had Adam and Eve not sinned they would have passed this state of “original justice” down to their descendants.  After Adam and Eve committed “original sin,” they lost “original justice” and the preternatural gifts for the entire human race, their descendants.

God gave Adam and Eve the ability to live a life that was more than human, that was divine, with the Spirit of God dwelling in their souls. (Sanctifying Grace)  But Adam lost that gift of divine life for himself and all his descendants. We are born physically alive but spiritually dead.

Adam’s fall from grace left all his descendants with a darkened intellect, a weakened will, and disordered affections and appetites. Man’s passions are no longer ruled by right reason We are now inclined towards anything our imagination paints as pleasurable, without regards for what is good for us by God’s design.  (Concupiscence) We also inherited from Adam and Eve pain, suffering and death.

Saint Paul states very well the conditions of Concupiscence,” I do not understand. For I do not do what I want, but I do what I hate….now it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells in me….The willing is ready at hand, but doing the good is not….For I do not do the good I want, but I do the evil I do not want….ROMANS 7:15-20

FALLING INTO GRACE

Just as we fell into sin, we fall into Grace. When things are so bad and we are so miserable, frustrated, and desperate and there is no one else to turn to, we fall on the mercy of God and plead with Him to be our Savior and restore us in relationship. Grace is a supernatural gift of God, first infused in us at our Baptism for our eternal salvation.

CATECHISM OF THE CATHOLIC CHURCH

CCC 1997 Grace is a participation in the life of God. It introduces us into the intimacy of Trinitarian life By Baptism the Christian participates in the grace of Christ, the Head of his Body. As an “adopted son,” he can call God “Father,” in union with the only Son.

CCC 2000 Sanctifying Grace is a habitual gift and the supernatural state of being infused by God, which permanently inheres in the soul; but may be lost in commission of mortal sin.  It is a vital principle of the supernatural life. It is called sanctifying grace because it makes holy those who possess the gift by giving them a participation in the divine life.

There is also a Grace called Actual Grace, a temporary supernatural intervention,  that can strengthen our minds and wills to choose the good that will help maintain Sanctifying Grace and lead us to our destiny in Heaven. Actual grace is a transient divine assistance that we can pray for that enables us to obtain, retain, or grow in supernatural grace and the life of God.

The call to salvation depends entirely on God’s gratuitous initiative, for he alone can reveal and give himself. It surpasses the power of human intellect and will. Grace is favor, the free and undeserved help that God gives us to respond to his call to become children of God, adoptive sons and daughters, partakers of the divine nature and of eternal life.

Jesus gave a loud cry and breathed his last. The veil of the sanctuary was torn in two from top to bottom. When the centurion who stood facing him saw how he breathed his last,  the centurion said, “Truly this man was the Son of God!”  Mark 15:37-39

 REFLECTIONS

The mistake many of us make at the beginning of the spiritual life is to try “go it alone”. After falling into sin, sin that has separated us from our God, a darkness we can no longer endure, we reach a point when we can no longer rely on our own resources. So, humbly, we fall back on God’s mercy. We discover again what it means to trust in God, to fall back on the power and love of Christ. My Jesus Mercy!

Adam and Eve were driven out of the Garden, out of Paradise, away from the Tree of Life.  But before they were sent forth, God gave them the First Gospel, the first Good News. He promises he will save them. The Second Eve [Mary] will be obedient, undoing Eve’s disobedience; Genesis 3:15  Her seed, Jesus Christ .will crush the head of the serpent. Man will receive a greater Tree of Life from the wood of the Cross with greater gifts flowing from it.

Salvation flows from the New Tree of Life, the Cross! From the new Tree of Life will come the Eucharist, the Eternal Bread from Heaven.  Jesus promises, ‘If you eat this Bread and drink my Blood you have Eternal life.’ This is the new spiritual food flowing from Christ’s pierced side, blood and water, great symbols of the Eucharist and Baptism.  Eternal life is once again available from the pierced side of Christ.

Baptism restores God’s life to our souls, but it doesn’t take away the tendency to sin. It doesn’t restore to us the clarity of mind, the strength of will, and the rightness of desire that Adam and Eve had in the beginning. The Sacrament of Reconciliation forgives sins committed since Baptism and restores or increases Sanctifying Grace. God has dealt to every man his measure of faith.” Romans 12:3 The grace of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord,” Romans 6:23

“We are not, the sum of our weaknesses and failures; we are the sum of the Father’s love for us, and our real capacity to become the image of his Son.” Saint John Paul II

Our real capacity! What a challenge lies in those few words!  St John Paul is clearly implying that, under ordinary grace, each one of us has the capacity to become a saint. That will demand radical change!

The poet W.H. Auden once brilliantly observed: “We would rather be ruined than changed. We would die in our dread than climb the cross of the moment and let our illusions die.”

What truly frightens us is the capacity we have – the remarkable capacity – to become transformed from being poor sinners into radiant, brave and faithful disciples for Christ. The capacity we possess, each one of us, in spite of all our weakness, to become the image of the divine Son.

It is precisely in the discovery and acceptance of the Father’s love for us, in trusting in that love, in falling back on that grace, that our lives begin to be transformed by the power of God.  Those of us who felt helplessly weak, now begin to find themselves capable of acts of courage and generosity. Let us all work to fill that capacity up, to live in the image of Jesus, Our Savior, and our destiny.

CONCLUSION

 FIRST VERSE OF AMAZING GRACE

Amazing grace, How sweet the sound that saved a wretch like me.
I once was lost, but now I am found, Was blind, but now I see.

 PRAYER OF FIRST CENTURY MONK

Lord, whether I want it or not, save me because dust and ashes that I am I love sin. But you are God almighty, so stop me yourself. If you have pity on the just, that’s not much, because they are worthy of your mercy. Show the full splendor of your mercy in me. Reveal in me your love for men and women, because this poor man has no other refuge but you.

SIN BLOCKS GRACE

REPENT AND BELIEVE IN THE GOSPEL!