Showing posts with label original justice. Show all posts
Showing posts with label original justice. Show all posts

Tuesday, July 12, 2016

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





Friday, January 31, 2014

Original Sin / Original Justice


I think we all recognize that there is something inherently different about the sin which we deal with on a daily basis and the state of original sin.  The Catechism of the Catholic Church very clearly speaks on the state of original sin and upholds the teachings which I've found in the Volumes on the state of innocent man before sinning, that is Original Justice.



397      Man, tempted by the devil, let his trust in his Creator die in his heart and, abusing his freedom, disobeyed God’s command. This is what man’s first sin consisted of.278 All subsequent sin would be disobedience toward God and lack of trust in his goodness. (1707, 2541, 1850, 215)
398      In that sin man preferred himself to God and by that very act scorned him. He chose himself over and against God, against the requirements of his creaturely status and therefore against his own good. Constituted in a state of holiness, man was destined to be fully “divinized” by God in glory. Seduced by the devil, he wanted to “be like God,” but “without God, before God, and not in accordance with God.”279 (2084, 2113)
399      Scripture portrays the tragic consequences of this first disobedience. Adam and Eve immediately lose the grace of original holiness.280 They become afraid of the God of whom they have conceived a distorted image—that of a God jealous of his prerogatives.281
400      The harmony in which they had found themselves, thanks to original justice, is now destroyed: the control of the soul’s spiritual faculties over the body is shattered; the union of man and woman becomes subject to tensions, their relations henceforth marked by lust and domination.282 Harmony with creation is broken: visible creation has become alien and hostile to man.283 Because of man, creation is now subject “to its bondage to decay.”284 Finally, the consequence explicitly foretold for this disobedience will come true: man will “return to the ground,”285 for out of it he was taken. Death makes its entrance into human history.286 (1607, 2514, 602, 1008)

Catechism of the Catholic Church



So first I would like to look at what Original Justice means so that the fall into Original Sin is clearer in all that which we have lost. 

In the Volumes Jesus refers to the state of innocent man as Original Justice.  It is a state where the soul is naturally drawn to all that which is good and feels a fount of goodness and holiness within itself.  It is through the virtue of obedience that God can root out the human vices in the soul and transform what is earthly into divine.

 

It seemed He was saying to me:  “Obedience is so glorified because she has the virtue of unveiling the human passions from their very roots.  She destroys in the soul everything which is earthly and material, and to her great honor she gives back to the soul her original state – that is, the way she was created by God in her original justice, before being cast out of the terrestrial Eden.  And in this sublime state, the soul feels strongly drawn to everything that is good; she feels all that is good, holy and perfect as inborn within herself, and greatest horror at even the shadow of evil.  With this happy nature, received from the most experienced hand of obedience, the soul no longer finds difficulty in executing the commands received; more so, since the one who commands must always command what is good.  And here is how obedience knows how to imprint well the divine Image; not only this, but she changes the human nature into divine, because just as God is good, holy and most perfect, and tends to all that is good and greatly hates evil, so does obedience have the virtue of divinizing the human nature, and of making it acquire the divine qualities.  And the more the soul lets herself be handled by this most experienced hand, the more of the divine she acquires, destroying her own being.  This is why she is so glorified and honored; so much so, that I Myself submitted to her and was honored and glorified by this; and through her I gave back honor and glory to all my children, which they had lost because of disobedience.”
This is more or less what I have been able to manifest; the rest I feel within my mind, but I lack the words, because the height of the concept of this virtue is such, that my poor human language is unable to adapt itself with words…
Vol. 4, Nov. 8, 1900
 

 
The state of Original Justice carries with it more than just being drawn to good and abhorring evil.  It brings with it the effects of being able to love, praise, glorify, thank, bless, adore and repair to God perfectly.  In fact it is a duty of the creature to do all of this not only for ourselves but for all creatures.  But being in the state of Original Sin we are unable to accomplish this.
 


“You must be not only upright, but just.  Into Justice enters loving Me, praising Me, glorifying Me, thanking Me, blessing Me, repairing Me, adoring Me, not only for oneself, but for all other creatures.  These are rights of Justice which I demand from each creature, and which are due to Me as Creator, and one who denies to Me even one of these rights, can never be called just.  Therefore, think about fulfilling your duty of justice, for in Justice you will find the beginning, the means and the end of sanctity.”
Vol. 4, March 27, 1902



Jesus tries to give us some sense of how serious Original sin was in an analogy of the earth being thrown out of orbit and all the effects that would have on life.  He also states how the Redemption is created as a new sun for man to revolve around to give him life where he had lost his original source.



What would happen if the whole Creation could fall short in its revolution around the sun? All things would be upset, would lose light, harmony, beauty; each one would bump against the other; and even if the sun were present, because they would not be revolving around it, the sun would be as though dead for the whole Creation. Now, because of original sin, man lost his round around His Creator, and therefore he lost the order, the dominion of himself, the light. And every time he sins, not only does he not revolve around his God, but he makes his stops around the goods of Redemption which, like new sun, came to bring him forgiveness, escape, salvation. But do you know who it is that never stops in her round? The soul who does my Will and lives in It. She always runs, she never stops, and she receives all the reflections of my Humanity, and also the flashes of light of my Divinity.”
Vol. 16, September 14, 1923




Jesus explains why the Original Sin of man was so sever.  It was a sin which went against the expressed Will of God.  The only reparation for such had to come from the obedience and submission of Jesus' Will to the Divine Will in the humanity of Jesus.  When God's Will is not expressed the sin is not as great and the remedy is easier.  We are still obligated to seek out his Will in these cases and our acts are measured by the intent with which we do them.




“My daughter, Adam fell so low because he withdrew from an Expressed Will of his Creator, in which was enclosed the test to try his faithfulness towards He who had given him life and all the goods he possessed.  More so, because that which God had asked of him was that before so many goods that He had freely given Adam, of the so many (varieties of) fruit that He had given him, that he deprive himself of one single fruit out of love for He who had given him everything.  And in this small sacrifice that God wanted from him, He let Adam know that it was only because He wanted to be sure of his love and his fidelity.  Adam should have felt honored that his Creator wanted to be sure of the love of His creature.  Who would ever have believed that the one who brought him down and persuaded him to fall was not a being superior to him, but a vile serpent - his capital enemy.  His fall brought graver consequences; because he was the head of all the generations, so all the members would naturally eventually feel the effects of the evil of their head.  See, therefore, how when my Will is expressed, wanted, and commanded, the sin is greater and the consequences are irremediable.  Only My same Divine Will can make reparation to such a great evil as that which befell Adam.
           “On the other hand, when It is not expressed, the creature still has the obligation to pray that I make known My Will in his actions, if inside his acts there is an interest for good and My pure glory.  But if this is not expressed the evil is not as grave, and it is easier to find a remedy.  I do this to each creature to test their faithfulness, and also to be assured of the love they say they have for Me.  Who is there who does not want to be sure of the authority that they have, such that they arrive at making a contract?  Who is there who doesn’t want to be sure of the faithfulness of a friend, or of the true loyalty of a servant?  So to be sure, I make known that I want small sacrifices which will bring all goods, along with holiness, and We will realize the purpose for which they were created.  Instead, if they are reluctant, everything will be upset in them, and all evils will fall upon them.  But not doing My Will is always an evil more or less evil according to the gratitude, for It that [they] possess.”
Vol. 21, April 8, 1927



Jesus states that when God's Will is known and man choses to go against it with full knowledge it is a sin against the Holy Spirit which cries out for vengeance and severs all relations with God.




You should know that when the creature disposes herself to do an act in my Will, he arms his power and simplifies, he forms the void and forms the divine nature in the human will, and as victorious he forms his way in the will of the creature, and walks, always walks, and then he stops and his step is impeded, when the human volition puts forth the bars with not doing mine but her will.  What a crime to impede the walk, the step of my Volition in the will of the creature.  Therefore I created creatures in order to form so many ways in human wills, in order to be able to have my continuous walk, and hence my operative act in them and one who impedes my walk would like to impede in me the continuation of my Creation, to impede my steps, and tie my hands, so that I might not work.  Oh! not to do my Will it seems that it is nothing yet it is the greatest of crimes that cries out vengeance before the Divine Majesty for poor creatures.  Especially when my Will is known that he does a work, that he wants a sacrifice, and not doing it it is as if one might want to seize the truth and this is the sin against the Holy Spirit and cries vengeance before God.  To know my Will and not do it closes Heaven, breaks the divine relations, and not recognizing the Divine Mastery that every creature is obliged to know and to submit themselves to that which my Volition wants, although it might cost (her) life.  Therefore be attentive, adore my Will and that which I have disposed for you, if you want to content your Jesus.”
Vol. 31, Oct. 16, 1932



So the severity of Original Sin becomes clearer.  A sin against the expressed Will of God, a sin against the Holy Spirit which has had repercussions for all human generations.  And it is in Bible where Jesus says how all sin will be forgiven except one who blasphemes against the Holy Spirit. 



28 “Truly I tell you, people will be forgiven for their sins and whatever blasphemies they utter; 29 but whoever blasphemes against the Holy Spirit can never have forgiveness, but is guilty of an eternal sin”
Mark 3:28-29




It has taken all of the Redemption to place creatures back on a path of safety to allow them access to God and Heaven again.  To blaspheme against the Holy Spirit then is to go against the expressed Will of God and his mercy in wanting to save us.



1864    “Therefore I tell you, every sin and blasphemy will be forgiven men, but the blasphemy against the Spirit will not be forgiven.”136 There are no limits to the mercy of God, but anyone who deliberately refuses to accept his mercy by repenting, rejects the forgiveness of his sins and the salvation offered by the Holy Spirit.137 Such hardness of heart can lead to final impenitence and eternal loss. (2091, 1037)
Catechism of the Catholic Church 





In the Catechism at the top of this post it says that Original Sin began when "Man, tempted by the devil, let his trust in his Creator die in his heart..."   Jesus states in the Volumes that sin entered the world when Adam took his gaze away from God.  He forgot that God loved him.




In fact, do you want to know why Adam sinned? Because he forgot that I loved him, and he forgot to love Me. This was the first seed of his fall. Had he thought that I loved him very much and that he was obliged to love Me, he would never have decided to disobey Me. So, love ceased first, and then sin began...
Vol. 16, Sept. 6, 1923



And here it can be seen that with this simple act of looking away from God to something earthly, with this first sin all the seven deadly sins come in as well.  By simple looking at it instead of God so entered pride.  "He looked at the fruit and desired it"; lust.  "His hearing took pleasure in hearing that if he ate of the fruit he would become like God"; greed; envy;  and anger - that God would keep something back from him; sloth - that he can become Divine without having to go through God's plan for him.  "His palate took pleasure in eating it"; gluttony.



Why did Adam sin? Because he removed his gaze from the divine attraction, and as Eve presented to him the fruit to let him eat of it, he looked at the fruit, and his sight took pleasure in looking at it, his hearing took delight in hearing the words of Eve - that if he ate the fruit he would become like God; and His palate took pleasure in eating it. So, taste was the first act of his ruin. On the other hand, had he felt displeasure in looking at it, tedium and bother in hearing the words of Eve, disgust in eating it, Adam would not have sinned. On the contrary, he would have done the first heroic act of his life, by resisting and correcting Eve for having done that; and he would have remained with the everlasting crown of faithfulness toward the One to whom he owed so much, and who had all the rights for his subjection. Oh! how careful one must be with the different tastes that arise in the soul. If they are purely divine tastes, one must give them life; but if they are human tastes, or of passions, one must give them death; otherwise there is the danger of falling into the current of evil.”
Vol. 15, June 6, 1923



But God wants to return his creature to the state of Original Justice as man was in the beginning before the fall.  And he is doing this through the knowledges that he has given us in the Volumes.  Each knowledge disposes us more and more to become united with the Divine Will to be able to appreciate and accept a gift so great so that we will not reject it ever again.




Beyond this, our Will was a gratuitous gift that we gave to man, he paid us nothing in order to have it, nor did He have money or sufficient means in order to pay us, if not but the most vile paper of his human will, that for his misfortune, he didn’t even want to lend in order to hold our great gift.  And then we were his most tender and most loving Father and between Father and children accounts are not made, because one knows that the Father must give to the children, and they are obligated with the duty of justice, to love and hold with esteem that which the Father gives them.  Behold therefore the necessity of the knowledges on the Divine Will, and we make them degree by degree, so that the creature appreciates this gift so great, that we want to gratuitously give them.  The knowledge generates the appetite, the desire to know more, and the human volition is disposed little by little to undergo the transformation, the unification of the Divine Will and we without making accounts, neither mind if she can pay us or not, we will put there our image and the incalculable number of a divine value, and we will be content to see our children rich and happy with our same divine happiness and riches.”
Vol. 31, November 27, 1932

Sunday, December 2, 2012

True Justice

The first day of Advent.  The readings of the Mass seemed to have a recurrent theme of justice and righteousness.

15In those days, and at that time, will I cause the Branch of righteousness to grow up unto David; and he shall execute judgment and righteousness in the land. 16In those days shall Judah be saved, and Jerusalem shall dwell safely: and this is the name wherewith she shall be called, The LORD our righteousness.
Jeremiah  33:15-16



9The humble He guides in justice, and the humble He teaches His way.
Psalms 25:9
 
12And may the Lord make you increase and abound in love to one another and to all, just as we do to you, 13so that He may establish your hearts blameless in holiness before our God and Father at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ with all His saints.
1Thes. 3:12-13


In the volumes Jesus often speaks of justice in terms of punitive justice but he also speaks of it in terms of love and what is owed between God and man.  He speaks of what was necessary to Justice to not only redeem man but to reinstate him into the Kingdom of His Will.
 
"Justice required that My Divine Will should have a human nature at its disposition, and that this human nature should not present any opposition, so that the Kingdom of My Will would be able to extend Its reign in the midst of creatures.  There is great reason for this, because a human nature had taken away from creatures the rights of the Divine Will to reign, and so another was necessary to restore Its rights to them.  Therefore, My coming upon the earth was not for Redemption alone; rather the primary purpose was to form the Kingdom of My Will in My Humanity in order to re-give It to creatures.  If that were not so, My coming upon the earth would have been an incomplete work, not worthy of a God who could do nothing less than restore creation to its original state, and restore the original order of things as they came forth from Our creative hands - namely, that Our Will should reign in everything".
Vol 21, March 16, 1927
 
It's in the early Volumes while speaking on the virtue of obedience he speaks of the original state of man prior to his fall.   He refers to it as original justice.
“Obedience is so glorified because she has the virtue of unveiling the human passions from their very roots. She destroys in the soul everything which is earthly and material, and to her great honor she gives back to the soul her original state – that is, the way she was created by God in her original justice, before being cast out of the terrestrial Eden. And in this sublime state, the soul feels strongly drawn to everything that is good; she feels all that is good, holy and perfect as inborn within herself, and greatest horror at even the shadow of evil."
Vol. 4, Nov. 8, 1900
 
     We often think of justice in terms of fairness, of right action and what is owed to us and what punishment is deserved in the course of Justice. Too often we don't think of what is owed to God. God's idea of True Justice involves the loving exchanges due between a Father and a child and although we have cast aside those rights given to us before the fall, God our Father has not. He is determined to reinstate us to the point of original Justice to continue his games of love with his children.  He speaks tenderly of the value of an "I love you" from the creature when it is united to the Divine Will and the justice it gives him.
 
"Now your ‘I love you’ unites itself to the Divine punctuation and punctuating it it knows the value of our characters, it learns to read our page, understands with just ideas how much we have done for her love and she receives the most beautiful and moving expression of her Creator and she gives Us the little tribute, she pays Us the little wealth that We with love of justice await from creatures."
Vol. 31, Jan. 14, 1933
He speaks with pain on how man didn't appreciate the gift of the Divine Will in the beginning and how he lost "the duty of justice" in which he would receive the love and gratitude of the creature.
 
"Beyond this, our Will was a gratuitous gift that we gave to man, he paid us nothing in order to have it, nor did He have money or sufficient means in order to pay us, if not but the most vile paper of his human will, that for his misfortune, he didn’t even want to lend in order to hold our great gift.  And then we were his most tender and most loving Father and between Father and children accounts are not made, because one knows that the Father must give to the children, and they are obligated with the duty of justice, to love and hold with esteem that which the Father gives them.  Behold therefore the necessity of the knowledges on the Divine Will, and we make them degree by degree, so that the creature appreciates this gift so great, that we want to gratuitously give them.  The knowledge generates the appetite, the desire to know more, and the human volition is disposed little by little to undergo the transformation, the unification of the Divine Will and we without making accounts, neither mind if she can pay us or not, we will put there our image and the incalculable number of a divine value, and we will be content to see our children rich and happy with our same divine happiness and riches.”
Vol. 31, 27, 1932
 
Back again in Vol. 4 he gives us a short but decisive talk on Justice.
 
“You must be not only upright, but just.  Into Justice enters loving Me, praising Me, glorifying Me, thanking Me, blessing Me, repairing Me, adoring Me, not only for oneself, but for all other creatures.  These are rights of Justice which I demand from each creature, and which are due to Me as Creator, and one who denies to Me even one of these rights, can never be called just.  Therefore, think about fulfilling your duty of justice, for in Justice you will find the beginning, the means and the end of sanctity.”
Vol. 4, March 27, 1902
 
So although we are right to fear his punitive Justice this is not his ideal.  Like all his attributes Justice is governed by his Love and it's God's express Will to return his creatures to the original state in which he created them, Father and child.  In this there is no fear but only games of love the one between the other.