Innocent Adam





I've had this post in draft form for a long time now.  It's a topic I've been wanting to explore for some time but only recently did I feel like I received the piece I needed to fit it together and begin.

While reading the Poem of the Man God, aka The Gospel as Revealed to Me, Jesus, in response to a mother who is mourning the divided love of her son now that he is married and occupied with his wife, says to her, referring to Adam:

 

But does Genesis not say:  "This at last is bone from my bones and flesh from my flesh...This is why a man will leave his father and mother and will join himself to his wife and they will become one body."  You may object:  "It was the word of a man."  Yes, but of what man?  He was in the state of innocence and grace.  He thus reflected without any shadow the Wisdom which had created him and he was aware of its truth.  Through Grace and his innocence he possessed also the other gifts of God in full measure.  As his senses were subdued to his reason, his mind was not obscured by the fumes of concupiscence.  And because science was proportionate to his state, he spoke words of truth.  So he was a prophet.  Because you know that prophet means a person who speaks in the name of another person.  And as true prophets always speak of matters concerning the spirit and the future, even if relating apparently to the present time and the body - because in the sins of the flesh and in the facts of the present time are the seeds of future punishments, or facts of the future have roots in ancient events:  for instance the coming of the Savior originates from Adam's sin, and the punishments of Israel, foretold by the prophets, were brought about by the behavior of Israel - so He Who urges their lips to speak things of the spirit can but be the Eternal Spirit Who sees everything in an eternal present.  And the Eternal Spirit speaks through saints, because he cannot dwell in sinners.  Adam was a saint, because justice was complete in him and every virtue was present in him, because God had instilled the fullness of His gifts into His creature,.  Man has to work hard now, to attain justice and possess virtues, because the incentives of evil are in him.  But such incentives were not in Adam, on the contrary Grace made him little inferior to God his Creator.  So his lips spoke words of grace.  And his is a truthful word:  "A man will leave his father and mother for a woman and he will join himself to his wife and they will become one body."  And it is absolutely true, that the Most Good Lord in order to comfort mothers and fathers included the fourth Commandment in the Law:  "Honor you father and your mother."  A Commandment that does not end with the marriage of man, but lasts beyond marriage.

Pg. 321, Vol. 7.  The Gospel As Revealed To Me, by Maria Valtorta.

Often when I thought of Adam it only went so far as how he blew it for all of us with original sin but we forget that Adam, in his innocent state was filled with Grace and holy.  His words were Truth and he reflected the love and the wisdom of God with all the fullness of God's gifts.  "Justice was complete in him."  This is the same concept the Catholic Church refers to as "Original Justice" which our innocent parents, Adam and Eve, lived in the state of.



375 The Church, interpreting the symbolism of biblical language in an authentic way, in the light of the New Testament and Tradition, teaches that our first parents, Adam and Eve, were constituted in an original “state of holiness and justice.”250 This grace of original holiness was “to share in . . . divine life.”251 376 By the radiance of this grace all dimensions of man’s life were confirmed. As long as he remained in the divine intimacy, man would not have to suffer or die.252 The inner harmony of the human person, the harmony between man and woman,253 and finally the harmony between the first couple and all creation, comprised the state called “original justice.”
Catechism of the Catholic Church



Maria Valtorta speaks in another section of the perfection of Mary which she witnessed and sensed through a simple exchange between Jesus and Mary:

It is impossible to say what there is in this sentence.  "you are Jesus."  A simple sentence.  But all the love of the Mother, of the disciple, of the ancient Hebrew women for the Promised Messiah, of the Hebrew women of the blessed time in which Jesus lived, is in those few words.  If the Mother had prostrated Herself worshipping Her Son as God, Her veneration would have been of a limited form.  But Her words express something which is  more than the formal adoration of knees that bend, of a back that bows, of a forehead that touches the ground:  here it is Mary's whole being, Her flesh, blood, mind, heart, spirit, love, adoring the God-Man completely and perfectly.

I have never seen anything greater, more absolute than these adorations of Mary for the Word of God, Who is her Son, and Who She always remembers is her God.  None of the people whom I see worship their Savior, after being cured or converted by Jesus, not even the most fervent ones, not even these who inadvertently behave theatrically in their transport of love, have anything like this.  They love completely, but always as creatures lacking something to be perfect.  Mary loves, I dare say, divinely.  She loves more than a creature.  Oh!  She really is the daughter of God free from sin!  That is why She can love thus!...And I think of what man lost through the original Sin...I think of what Satan stole from us by overwhelming our First Parents.  He deprived us of the power of loving God as Mary loved Him...He deprived us of the power of loving well.

Pg. 374, Vol. 7.  The Gospel As Revealed To Me, by Maria Valtorta.



Maria Valtorta sensed that Mary loved completely and divinely in a way that was lacking to any other creature.  Mary, the full of grace, possessed Original Justice and did complete acts worthy of God while on the earth as Adam's were before the fall.  The perfect harmony of love, echoing and reciprocating love for love.  In the Volumes Jesus refers to this state of innocence, of Original Justice, as Living in the Divine Will.

“Such was Adam’s condition before he withdraw from the Divine Will.  It (the Divine Will) was given to him by his Creator as the greatest of gifts because It contains all goods together.  Adam possessed It, dominated over It, and made himself the supporter of this Divine Will, because God Himself had given him the right to rule over It.  Thus he was lord of the power, light, sanctity, and happiness of this Eternal Fiat.  But when he withdrew from the Divine Will, Adam lost the possession and dominion - and was reduced to not possessing as his own, but only receiving the effects of My Will according to his dispositions.  And whoever finds himself in the condition of only receiving is always poor, never rich, because the rich possess and are not forced to receive, and are in a position to be able to give some of their own goods to others.”

Vol. 21, May 8, 1927



But even though Adam fell from this state of innocence this does not take away all the acts he did before the fall.  Acts of beauty and harmony, filled with grace.  Complete acts done in the Divine Will which continue to exist in the eternal present.

 My daughter, how many unforgettable things there are in this Eden. Here Our Fiat created man, and made such display of love, that It poured Itself in torrents upon him; so much so, that We still feel the sweet murmuring with which We poured Ourselves over him. Here began the Life of Our Fiat in the creature, and the sweet and dear memory of the acts of the first man done in It. These acts exist still now in Our Volition, and are as though pledges for him to be reborn in order to have the Kingdom of Our Fiat again. In this Eden there is the sorrowful memory of the fall of man, the exit he made from Our Kingdom. We still hear his steps when he went out of Our Divine Fiat; and since this Eden had been given to him so that he would live in It, We were forced to put him out, and We had the sorrow of seeing the work dearest to Us without his Kingdom, wandering and sorrowful. Our only relief were the pledges of his acts, which had remained in Our Will; these called for the rights of humanity to enter again the place from which it had gone out. This is why I await you in Eden to receive your small interest, to renew what We did in the Creation, and to receive the return for a love so great, not understood by creatures, and to find a loving pretext to give the Kingdom of Our Divine Will. Therefore, I want this Eden to be dear to you as well, that you may pray Us and press Us that the beginning of Creation, the Life of Our Fiat, may return into the midst of the human family.”
Vol. 26, June 14, 1929

Jesus affirms that Adam initially possessed the Kingdom and did his acts in the Divine Will.  By doing so all generations received the right of the possession of this Kingdom.  Now even though Adam lost this Kingdom he did not lose the rights of his descendants to one day reclaim this Kingdom of the Divine Will.

“My daughter, you must know that before he sinned Adam did his acts in the Divine Fiat.  This means that the Trinity had given him the possession of this Kingdom, because to be able to possess a kingdom there must be one who forms it, one who gives it, and one who receives it.  The Divinity formed It and gave It to man, and he received It.  Adam, in the first period of creation, possessed this Kingdom together with the Supreme Fiat, and because he was the head of all human generations, all creatures received this right of possession.  And Adam, withdrawing from Our Will, lost the possession of this Kingdom, because by doing his own will he placed himself in a state of war with the Eternal Fiat.

“Poor thing, not having enough strength to do combat, and not having an army capable enough to battle with such a Holy Will - a Will which has invincible strength and a formidable army - he lost the battle and the Kingdom which We had given him.  What a great loss, because the strength which he possessed before [the fall] was Our own, and with [this] strength he also had our own army at his disposition.  As he sinned [that] strength returned to Us, its source, and the army retired from him, placing itself at Our disposition.  All of that did not take away the rights of his descendants to possibly once again take over the Kingdom of My Will.

 Vol. 21, March 19, 1927



Adam did the same acts after the fall as before but having lost the life of the Divine Will they were no longer complete acts and holy by nature.  Now they were empty of Divine Grace and Life since man was now empty of God's Will reigning in him and his acts were now nauseating before God.  But even though Adam had rejected God's Will as his own life, God did not reject man.  Instead God bowed Himself to support him and help him in anyway possible, acting as medicine to heal him, food to nourish him, guide to support him, water to quench him.  Even if man rejected being a saint God would find a  way to at least save him from himself.

I was thinking about the Holy Divine Volition, and I thought to myself: ‘How can it be that Adam, after sin, having broken his will from that of God, lost strength, dominion, and his acts were not so pleasing to God as to form His delight? Indeed, before sinning, Adam had done his acts toward God, he had learned them; why then, in repeating them afterwards, they no longer sounded the same sound, they no longer contained the fullness of divine love and the complete glory of God?’ Now, while I was thinking of this, my lovable Jesus moved in my interior, and through a light that He sent to me, told me: “My daughter, first of all, before he withdrew from my Will, Adam was my son; he contained my Will as center of his life and of all his acts, therefore he possessed a strength, a dominion, an attractiveness which was all divine. His breath, his heartbeat, his acts, gave of divine; all of his being gave off a celestial fragrance, which drew Us All toward him. So, We felt wounded from all sides by this son; if he breathed, if he spoke, if he did even the most innocent, indifferent and natural things, those were wounds of love for Us. And We, amusing Ourselves with him, filled him more and more with Our goods, because everything he did came from one single point, which was Our Will; therefore We liked him all - We found nothing which might displease Us.

Now, after sin, Adam descended from the state of son and reduced himself to the state of servant; and as soon as he broke up with the Supreme Will, the divine strength, the dominion, the attractiveness, the celestial fragrance, went out of him. Therefore, his acts, his being, no longer gave of divine, but were filled with a human sensation, which, making him lose attractiveness, caused that We no longer felt wounded, but rather, we kept our distance – he from Us, and We from him. His repeating the same acts as those he did before sinning, as in fact he did, says nothing. But do you know what the acts of the creature are without the fullness of Our Will? They are like those foods without condiments and without substance, which, instead of being enjoyed, disgust the human palate; and so do they disgust the divine palate. They are like those unripe fruits, which contain neither sweetness nor taste; they are like those flowers without fragrance; they are like those vases, which are full, yes, but of old, fragile and ragged things. All this can serve a strict necessity of man, and maybe a shadow, a shade of the glory of God, but not the happiness and the complete well-being of the creature, and the fullness of the glory of God.

Now, on the other hand, with what pleasure does one not eat a food which is well flavored and nourishing? How it strengthens the whole person; the mere smell of its condiment whets one’s appetite and the eagerness to eat it. In the same way, before sinning, Adam flavored all of his acts with the substance of Our Will, and therefore he whetted the appetite of Our love to take all his acts as the most enjoyable food for Us; and We, in return, gave him Our delicious food – Our Will. But after sin, poor one, he lost the direct way of communication with his Creator; pure love was no longer reigning in him; love was divided by apprehension, by fear, and since he no longer contained the absolute dominion of the Supreme Will, his acts of before, done after sin, no longer had the same value. More so, since the whole Creation, including man, came out of the Eternal Creator as their source of Life, in which they were to be preserved only with the Life of the Divine Will. Everything was to be founded upon It, and this foundation of the Divine Will was to preserve all things as beautiful and noble, just as they had come out of God. And, in fact, all created things are just as they were created – none of them has lost anything of its origin; only man lost the life, the foundation, and therefore he lost his nobility, the strength, and the likeness to his Creator.

But in spite of this, my Will did not leave man completely. Unable to still be his source of life and the foundation that would sustain him, because he himself had withdrawn from It, It offered Itself as medicine so that he might not perish completely. So, my Will is medicine, is sanity, is preservation, is food, is life, is fullness of the highest sanctity. In whatever way the creature wants It, so does It offer Itself. If she wants It as medicine, It offers Itself in order to take away from her the fever of passions, the weaknesses of impatience, the vertigo of pride, the sickliness of attachments; and so with all the rest of evils. If she wants It as sanity, It offers Itself to preserve her healthy, to free her from any spiritual illness. If she wants It as food, It gives Itself as food to make her strengths develop and grow more in sanctity. If she wants It as life and as fullness of sanctity – oh! then my Will makes feast, because It sees man returning into the womb of his origin, from which he came; and It offers Itself to give him the likeness of his Creator, the only purpose of his creation. My Will never leaves man; if It left him, he would resolve into nothing. And if man does not give himself to letting my Will make him a saint, my Will uses the ways to at least save him.”
Vol. 18, January 28, 1926

It is no coincidence that only now are the heights and beauty of Adam in his innocent state being revealed.  Before this point man was not capable of understanding and appreciating the sublime beauty of innocent Adam so God hid this from us, as sheltering Adam his own beloved from unwanted attention.  But it is God himself now who, wanting to restore creatures to the order, the place and the purpose for which they were created, that is to restore the Reign of the Kingdom of the Divine Will, now he is revealing the majesty of Adam in the first period of his life.  This to open our eyes to what God is calling us to and the heights he has ordained for us in his Kingdom.  So that we ourselves might want it and call God to complete his work. 

My daughter, the first period of the life of Adam is unforgettable for Us, for him, and for all Heaven. After he fell into sin, he remained like a blind person who, before losing his sight, has done so many beautiful works as to fill Heaven and earth. Who could ever say that those are not works done by him, only because he voluntarily lost his sight? And that, since he can no longer repeat them because he is blind, the ones he has done remain without value? Certainly no one. Or, if a person who applies himself to study science, in the middle of his studies no longer wants to continue, can anyone take away or destroy the good of the science he has acquired, only because he does not continue? Certainly not. If this happens in the human order, much more so, and with more validity and certainty, in the divine order.

So, by virtue of the first period of his life, innocent and carried out all in the unity of Our Fiat, Adam possesses such glory and beauty that no one can equal him. At the mere sight of him, all of the Blessed recognize how beautiful and majestic the creation of the first man was, enriched with so much grace. In looking at him, they can see, in him, the incalculable good of the Divine Will in the creature, and the joy and happiness that the creature can possess. In him alone, as though within a mirror, the Blessed can see how man was created, the exuberant love that We had for him, the abundance with which We enriched him. We gave him everything, as much as a creature could contain, to the point of overflowing outside and being able to flood the whole earth. If it were not so – if the whole magnificence of Our creative hands could not be seen in Adam – then the great things We did in the Creation, and that which the creature does and can do in Our Divine Will would not be known even in Heaven. It is Our love that demands this, and also Our justice that wants to keep, in Heaven, the reality of that image, as man was created – and not another man, but the very one who came out of Our creative hands, so that, if the earth does not know him, Heaven may know him. They look at their origin in Adam, and, grateful, they thank Me and pray that my Fiat may come to reign upon earth, and form more images, more beautiful than Adam, because he was not a complete work in my Divine Will, but a period of life. Only the Sovereign Queen possesses complete life and works in my Fiat, therefore there is no one who can equal Her. My Will wants to make more complete lives in It, so as to repeat what It did in the Creation, to make known to the earth the way and the order in which the creature was created, and the great, beautiful, holy things that my Divine Will can do in her.
Moreover, you must know that, up to now, I have not manifested to anyone either the great qualities of Adam, or his sublimity, greatness and sanctity as he lived his first period of life in the unity of my Will; and by virtue of his acts done in It, the great glory that he enjoys in Heaven. Many, on the contrary, believed that since he slipped into sin, he could at most have a glory common to all the other Blessed, or perhaps even less than the others. But wanting to restore again the Kingdom of my Divine Will, I feel within Me a necessity of love to manifest the first epoch of Creation, and the first period of the life of Adam - all of Divine Will - as well as the glory which he enjoys in Heaven by virtue of It, so that, as the other creatures come to know a good so great, they may dispose themselves and long for the Divine Fiat on earth as It is in Heaven.”
Vol. 24, September 10, 1928