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| The Denunciation of Adam & Eve by George Watts |
Harmony between God and the soul: Adam and Eve conversed
familiarly with the Most High who used to walk with them at twilight in
Paradise; He often left His footprints in the sands of their garden.
Harmony within man himself between his body and soul:
The senses were active but
they were submissive to reason and will; concupiscence existed but it was just
concupiscence not evil concupiscence; the powers of desire were not inordinate.
Harmony all about man, between him and nature: The animals
were subject to him and were not hostile to him. Inanimate nature did not
refuse its secrets to his work, which was but a joyous extension of his
activity and not as it has become in part at least — fatiguing labor. “You
shall eat your bread in the sweat of your brow.”
Then
came the Fall. Immediately this beautiful balance was destroyed. Man revolted
against God. The result: Man’s senses rose up against right reason, and against
the will enlightened by faith; nature and all about man turned hostile. There
would be wild beasts and venomous creatures among the animals; the earth would
resist his toil and the labor of generations to come, revealing its treasures
only with discouraging parsimony and at the cost of fearful toil and sweat.
What
should be most profitable for my meditation is the consideration of the revolt
in man himself, his lower powers against his higher powers. From then on, man
would have to struggle against the triple and fatal inclination, which was born
in him:
An inclination to take an exaggerated possession of the goods of the
earth, the fruit of concupiscence of the eyes:
Man will rush after all that
glitters. How many crimes have been committed because of an unregulated love of
money!
An inclination to seek after excessive carnal satisfactions contrary
to true discipline of the senses and the commands of God. What crimes have not
the follies of lust produced!
An
inclination to pride: Man, proud of
his liberty, but not sufficiently concerned about keeping it in dependence on
reason and the Divine Will, runs the risk of forgetting the majesty and
sovereignty of God and the prime duty of obedience to the Master of all.
How
can one struggle effectively against this triple and dangerous inclination?
Do violence to self, declare
spiritual writers with good common sense. First and foremost among them in
suggesting this technique is Saint Ignatius of Loyola. Choose the counterpart:
poverty, chastity, obedience.
Religious
men and women make it the matter of a vow. Their lives serve as an inspiring
example to draw forward those whose lesser courage or less demanding vocation
have kept in the common way of life.
I shall hold religious life
in high esteem. Although my vocation is different, I shall learn to live in a wise
spirit of detachment from created things, of chastity according to my state,
and of obedience to the Holy Spirit.
Link (here) to the full article by Fr. Raoul Plus, S.J. entitled, Christ in the Home
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