By Suzanne Haugh

Staff Writer

ATLANTA—“Do pretend animals grow?” asked the three-year-old girl, holding a Beanie Baby lion swaddled in a cloth diaper.

In her question lies the realization for one older than she of the gifts given to humanity by its creator—the gift of intellect and free will—to exercise choice, to grow not only as our bodies are programmed physically to do, but to grow spiritually on our own accord.

Through our choices, made with full knowledge or out of ignorance, we can become “fellow workers” (Catechism of the Catholic Church, 307) with our Creator when exercising the principle of charity, or a baser creature when caving in to the vices of sin. We can grow.

The Catechism states that we are “‘in a state of journeying’ toward perfection” (Catechism of the Catholic Church, 310). But our choices are not always perfect; our choices can be destructive to our relationship with God, others and to ourselves. This happens when we sin.

A look back to the situation of Adam and Eve can help us better understand the personal sins we commit today.

The Catechism states: “In that sin man preferred himself to God and by that very act scorned him” (Catechism of the Catholic Church, 398). Satan’s deceptive pitch to humanity’s first couple prompted a lack of trust in God’s goodness and a confusion surrounding the Creator’s plan for their lives.

Father Pat Bishop, pastor at the Church of the Transfiguration, Marietta, talked about humanity’s first “poor choice” in the garden of Eden.

“Original sin created an environment of imperfection,” he said.

“I often use the example of pollution entering into the garden that God created. Everybody who is born into the garden suffers from (the pollution).”

Following original sin humanity lost the grace of its original holiness and feared what they believed to be a jealous God. Harmony erupted into mayhem: control of the soul over the body was shattered; tension rose between man and woman; visible creation became “alien and hostile to man;” and the possibility of humanity’s physical death, as a result of its spiritual weakness, entered history (Catechism of the Catholic Church, 400). In short, the party was over.

Since that first sin, Father Bishop added, all subsequent sins reflect “poor choices.”

“Every human being experiences making poor choices—sometimes out of greed, sometimes out of emotion, sometimes out of ignorance. Poor choices affect relationships. They disrupt our relationship with God, people and our inner peace.”

Father Tim Hepburn, pastor at the Church of St. Gabriel, Fayetteville, also drew on the issues and events surrounding the infamous fall to shed light on our journey toward perfection. He recreated the scenario of Adam and Eve’s fall from grace, referring to insights from Dr. Scott Hahn’s book, A Father Who Keeps His Promises. He said that the Book of Genesis uses the word “serpent” when talking about the form Satan took to appear to Eve. The Hebrew word doesn’t refer to a little snake, but to a “deadly force,” Father Hepburn said.

“Imagine Eve standing naked before this deadly force, a big, mean, saber-toothed serpent, ... (which says to her) ‘God told you that if you eat from the Tree of Knowledge, you’d die. But God knows that if you eat of the tree, you will be like him. God’s not fair. And by the way, look at my teeth.’”

Replace an imposing sea monster with an advertisement of scantily-clad women in provocative poses, lyrics of violence or infidelity in a popular song or a new credit card with an enticingly high credit limit, and we find ourselves swayed by these modern tempters. Like Eve and Adam, our hearts can fall prey to our sense of impending discomfort.

“Human beings are afraid of physical and material pain more so than spiritual death,” Father Hepburn said.

“Our enslavement is from a fear of giving God everything or sacrificing. Fear is what made Adam and Eve die an eternal death (instead of dying to physical or material pain),” he said.

It’s the sacrifice involved that keeps people from trusting their lives to God’s providence. But either way—whether holding onto one’s life or giving it to God—one cannot elude sacrifice. The only difference is that sacrificing one’s will to do God’s will leads to “joy and peace,” Father Hepburn said.

“The refusal to sacrifice is what leads people to sin,” he added. The high divorce rate testifies to this.

“When people get married they had better be ready to make sacrifices. That’s why so many run away through divorce or by cheating (on a spouse). It’s because they refuse to sacrifice to better their lives.”

Sin takes on many forms and comes in various degrees.

God handed down to Moses and the Israelites the Ten Commandments, which still serve as a moral compass today. Willful murder, sins against nature, oppression of the poor, widows and infants, and the defrauding of laborers of their just payment come under the category of sins that cry to heaven for vengeance (Catechism of the Catholic Church, 1867). And within Christian theology exist capital sins, more commonly known as the seven vices, which include pride, avarice, envy, wrath, lust, gluttony and sloth (or spiritual apathy called acedia). These oppose the cardinal virtues of prudence, justice, fortitude and temperance, and the theological virtues of faith, hope and charity (Catechism of the Catholic Church, 1804-1809, 1812-1829). To keep from falling prey to one of the seven vices, Father Hepburn recommended trying to cultivate virtue into one’s life.

“(To tackle) the sin of gluttony, do more than just go to church. Start walking every day ... Don’t just ask God to get rid of sin, you must build virtues into your life.”

The Catechism also classifies sins as being either mortal or venial. A mortal sin “destroys charity in the heart of man by a grave violation of God’s law; it turns man away from God” (Catechism of the Catholic Church, 1855). A sin is mortal if it meets these three conditions: it concerns “grave matter” and is committed with full knowledge and deliberate consent (Catechism of the Catholic Church, 1857). Grave matter refers to a breach of the Ten Commandments. The ensuing gravity of the sin depends upon what the sin is and who is wronged. The Catechism dictates that murder is graver than theft and that violence against a parent is a more serious sin than violence against a stranger.

Unintentional ignorance can lessen the blame of the sinner but “no one is deemed to be ignorant of the principles of moral law, which are written on the conscience of every man” (Catechism of the Catholic Church, 1860).

Deliberately choosing evil and committing a sin through malice is the gravest of sins because it is in direct deference to charity, “the vital principle.”

Those who have committed a mortal sin are deprived, by their own choice, of charity and sanctifying grace. Without repentance and God’s forgiveness, the sinner opts for “the eternal death of hell” (Catechism of the Catholic Church, 1861).

Venial sins, sometimes deceptively referred to as “light sins,” weaken charity and can lead to mortal sin. They involve either a less serious offense, such as gossiping, or violating the moral law in a grave matter but without full knowledge or complete consent.

One doesn’t need to become a theological scholar to understand sin even though reading the Catechism does shed light on the many aspects of sin. An honest heart is, by far, the most important requirement.

“Often people come to me and say, ‘I don’t know what’s a sin anymore,’” Father Bishop said. “I’m baffled ... I don’t think we stumble into sin. We’re good at rationalizing our sinfulness. What was sinful 40 years ago is a sin today.”

“The sense of what’s right and wrong is born out of common experience, and we should look at actions that hurt ourselves, others and our relationship with God,” he added.

“A simple question to ask is: What would Jesus do? That cuts through (the confusion) ... If one really is trying to deepen his relationship with Jesus Christ, if one really is trying to live the Gospel promise of Christ, and if one really sees Christ in everyone he meets and respects them, then one would not want to commit a mortal or a venial sin.”

Sin distracts us from a relationship with God, Father Bishop said. “What is a worry to Christians is that we live in a society where Christ is rejected and materialistic values are embraced. There’s no room for respect for life, respect for privacy, respect for a person’s dignity ... All of us become pawns in a game that likes to create stars, kings and queens, winners and losers. It’s a cutthroat society where what I want becomes more important than the common good.”

Father Hepburn also acknowledged the weakness in society’s consciousness that comes from not knowing God. He pointed to two places in Scripture where encounters with Christ led to sincere repentance. In Luke 5: 8 Peter casts out his nets on Christ’s command and is astonished at the bountiful catch. He tells Jesus, “Leave me Lord; I am a sinful man.” In Luke 7: 36-50, Jesus is dining at a Pharisee’s home when a woman of ill repute anoints his feet with oil and her own tears. Like Peter, the repentance of the woman is a reaction to Jesus. “It was the presence of his love that she felt and demonstrated, leading her to repentance ... The fundamental point is that many people are not in touch with the person of Jesus, and they don’t know why they need to repent.”

Too often people may not approach the sacrament of reconciliation because, in a lot of cases, Father Hepburn said, they think they will commit the same sin again. “Being freed from sin is based on what Christ can do, not on what we can do,” he said. “It is possible to be free from sin, not that we are ever sinless. Sins that enslave and ensnare us today, Christ can take care of ... (Secondly), it is possible to come to a place in your life where you don’t consciously rebel against God.”

Father Hepburn noted that some people stumble because their own will comes before trust in the Lord.

“People blame God a lot. ‘He’s not fair,’ they say. I’m thinking of the young adult crowd, those who have not gotten married or don’t have the right person in their lives, or maybe their careers aren’t where they had hoped. Subtly, in people’s sins, I hear them saying ‘God is not fair. I’m going to make my life fun. At least, I’m going to have it my way.’”

“Having it my way” denies the necessary sacrifice needed to follow Christ. If our fear is that sacrifice will lead us to spartan lives similar to that of John the Baptist—who lived in the wilderness eating locusts—take heart. When people asked John what they must do to avoid God’s retribution for the then comfortable and complacent status quo, he told them to exercise love wherever life found them. “Share one of two coats with a neighbor who has none,” he said. “Be fair,” he told the taxpayers and to the soldiers he admonished, “Don’t intimidate.” Following these directives pleases God.

Father Bishop offered this advice on handling sin.

“People need to listen to their hearts,” he advised. “Honestly listen to your heart, and it will let you know if you made poor choices. And the church should be listened to as the herald of God’s Gospel ... as a serious guide.”

“Individuals need to claim their own sinfulness,” he added. “Confession is a wonderful time to say ‘I’m sorry.’ But we don’t like to say it. Husbands and wives don’t say it to each other enough. Kids don’t say it to their parents enough. Priests don’t say it to their parish councils enough and presidents don’t say it to society enough.”

Father Bishop said repenting of sins is a powerful experience.

“Go in and look at the choices you’ve made. Say to God and his people, who the priest represents, ‘I am sorry’ and take full responsibility for your actions.”

In light of the havoc humanity’s sinfulness plays on creation, one might question God’s motives in allowing it. One needs to recall, however, that we are in a state of journeying.

“In God’s plan, this process of becoming involves the appearance of certain beings and the disappearance of others, the existence of the more perfect alongside the less perfect, both constructive and destructive forces of nature with physical good also existing with physical evil as long as creation has not reached perfection” (Catechism of the Catholic Church, 310).

Sin can only truly be understood when one looks at Revelation. “Without the knowledge Revelation gives of God we cannot recognize sin clearly and are tempted to explain it as merely a developmental flaw, a psychological weakness, a mistake or the necessary consequence of an inadequate social structure, etc. Only in the knowledge of God’s plan for man can we grasp that sin is an abuse of the freedom that God gives to created persons so that they are capable of loving him and loving one another” (Catechism of the Catholic Church, 387).

The most ironic and important providential moment of humanity’s existence for a Christian thus far has been Christ’s crucifixion.

“From the greatest moral evil ever committed—the rejection and murder of God’s only Son caused by the sins of all men—God, by his grace ... brought the greatest of goods: the glorification of Christ and our redemption” (Catechism of the Catholic Church, 312).

“As Christ experienced every possible form of sin —the betrayal of a friend, the denial of Peter, the physical pain soldiers inflicted upon him, Pilate’s cowardice, the wrath of a jeering crowd—he pours his mercy and grace upon humanity” (Catechism of the Catholic Church, 1851). Christ’s ultimate sacrifice, filled with physical pain and anguish, buys for us forgiveness of our sins.

“Christ is staring sinfulness in its face and laughing it down, overcoming it, so we no longer have an excuse to be its victims,” Father Bishop said.

And in looking back at that first sin, we can see the workings of providence and appreciate the words from the Exultet: “O happy fault, ... which gained for us so great a Redeemer!”

The graces we received at our baptism and since then in the sacrament of reconciliation, wipe the slate clean. “St. Paul tells us that we’re baptized into Christ’s death so that we might share in his resurrection,” Father Hepburn said, but he warned, however, against cheering too loudly over Adam and Eve’s fall.

“Through Christ’s Redemption we have a more complete knowledge of what God is like than Adam and Eve did before the fall. So you might say that it was good they sinned. No, not really. I believe God would have given us the fullness of Revelation anyway ... It’s really wild to think about.”

And, if we repent of our past sins and choose to accept and act upon God’s will for our lives, we do grow.

“Ultimately the pay-off is eternal life,” Father Hepburn said. Until that time, however, one experiences “a deep peace, a joy that comes from knowing you’re in a right relationship with your Creator, with all things. There’s a freedom from being enslaved to something and a relationship based upon a deeper kind of love.”

And, as Father Bishop noted, “We become partners in cleaning up the garden with Jesus.”