Eve and the Saber-Toothed Serpent, Part 3 of 3
“Through Christ’s Redemption we have a more complete knowledge of what God is like than Adam and Eve did before the fall.” Father Tim Hepburn
One can argue that the most ironic and important providential moment of humanity’s existence 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).
The Catechism continues, “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,” said Monsignor Pat Bishop, pastor of Transfiguration Catholic Church in Marietta, Ga.
And in looking back at that first sin in the Garden of Eden, 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,” said Father Tim Hepburn of the Atlanta Archdiocese, 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 always strengthened by grace.
“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 Monsignor Bishop noted, “We become partners in cleaning up the garden with Jesus.”
