Episode Transcript
Speaker 0 00:00 And for life, especially supernatural. Sure. Life that shine to find grace. When you see green investments, we should all think grace, green grace, the readings, Nichol acts of the mass is after Pentecost are concerned principally with grades, sanctifying actual or apostolic grades. So we might think of the season after Pentecost as a particular season of grace. In the readings of the call x, we see grace giving life. We see healing and strengthening. We see it growing and spreading in individuals and out across the world. And so the past few weeks we've been looking at grades. Last week we took a quick look at Adam state before the fall. Let's review the light. Great to miss theologian. Other gear do the grounds tells us to think of a triple harmony when we're thinking of Adam in the state. Original justice, a triple harmony. First, there was a perfect harmony between God and the soul.
Speaker 0 01:11 Since God created the soul to know and love and serve him. Second, there was a perfect harmony between the soul and the body. Since God created the body to serve the soul. The passions were totally under the control of right reason. Illumined by the faith in the will was strengthened by, chaired the body, was not subject to injury, sickness or death. And third, there was a perfect time in between the body of man and the rest of nature and animals are doe style and obedient man who had get dominion over them and the earth brought for the crops without any hard labor. What held it all together? Grace and especially the gift of integrity, but then came just after the original sin, Adam sinned, which meant this state of original justice came to an end, man fell into the state of fallen nature. The second of the three possible states of man in this life.
Speaker 0 02:22 The three possible states, the man or the state of original justice, the state of fond nature and the state of restored nature. Okay. Original justice, fond nature restored nature. So original sin destroyed the state of original justice and man landed in a state of fallen nature. Now, human nature's left to its own natural powers. Now it's lacking grace and the gifts. Remember that by own natural powers, heaven is totally out of reach. And to add to that particular disaster, once Adam had committed the original sin, how was just playing slam shot for all men, we'll take a closer look attacks than other day anyhow, if that isn't bad enough, that since the state of fallen nature is a sinful condition, now it's more difficult for a man to do good and avoid evil than if he'd never had the state of grace. Thanks a lot out him.
Speaker 0 03:25 Okay, so does this triple harm me? Before Adam cell, let original sin destroyed that harmony original sin destroyed original justice until it caused the optics opposite situation. The stay of disharmony, God let the punishment fit the crime. It's easy to see. If we imagine a little diagram like this, we put God up here and Adam right there and right reason here in the passion's there in the body there and the rest of nature there. So God and Adam reason and the passions, body and nature. Okay, so what happened? God told Adam to obey. But Adam, the proper <inaudible> God said No. He rebelled against God here, valid against his right ruler to God took away grace and the gift. Adam thrown it away as soon as grace and the gifts were gone, then right reason had a rebellion on his hands. The Passion 14 against right reason and nature revolting against the body, all that from Adam, revolting against God, Adam against God.
Speaker 0 04:33 Passions against right reason in nature against the bod. That's the state of fallen nature. Let's take a closer look and it's really important for each of us to understand. We'll see why later. First off, this rebellion of Adam against God caused the state of fallen nature by turning away from God. Man's fallen from grace and this leaves him totally unable to obtain supernatural happiness. Why? Because as we know, supernatural life can only come from God. It can only come from God and now man's supernaturally dead. He can't raise himself from the dead. So basically he's toast. Remember, without supernatural life, no one can live the life of heaven. No one as just, that's not bad enough. That's still not all. By rejecting God's merciful and loving rule, Adam has instead chosen to place themselves in bondage to the cruel and miserable rule of Satan. So Adam's fall results in the loss of graves and also in mankind's bondage to say, isn't that great?
Speaker 0 05:47 Thanks a lot, Adam. Okay. Then we also have the passions against right reason and nature against the body. Those two rebellions were by Adams rebellion. Why? Because Adam through way besides grace, the gifts of integrity impassability he didn't mortality. Okay, so nature against the body. What does that mean? What the loss of the gifts of impassability and mortality? It means Nan is now subject to hard work to sickness, suffering, and death. It means, as we all know, crops don't just spring up and animals, oh no. Our loan longer simply obedient to man. Then of course, we have passions against, right reasons. What does that mean? We're losing the gift of integrity that that man's powers who are now in their natural condition. You don't need me to tell you that the natural condition of our powers is disharmony. After Adam Chuck, the gift of integrity, man had problems in his intellect with his will and his passions.
Speaker 0 06:56 We'll take a quick look at the damage in the state of fallen nature. Man's intellect has been dark and from now on and would have great difficulty in learning, retaining, and understanding truth. That's the damage. You know, like about the will, the state of fallen nature. Man's will has been weakened from now on, man, which suffer weakness in the face of evil and his passions with his passions man as two problems first. Now it's actually hard for him to struggle for the good, but second, the problem, the real problem that messes everyone up on the natural level is can Q person can Q person. We'll take a moment to look at this problem. Now, concupiscence is a big $4 word. It just means the rebellion of our passions against the word of right reason to rebellion of our passions and sense appetites like hunger, thirst, or anger in the case of our emotions against right reason.
Speaker 0 08:03 And guess what? If our sense of appetites like instead of being led by reason, if we're, if we're led by our sins to appetites instead of being led by reason, where will we be led? You don't need me to tell you without the gift of integrity. If we led by our passions and reasons or our passion instead of reason, we won't be led. That's the whole problem with Coupa. Sin Inclines us towards sin. We're rational creatures. We're meant to be led by our intellect and our will. That means in all our actions, we are created to be led by lighter reason, illumine by the true faith and governed by the gift of integrity. But when we're led by our passions or emotions instead of our reason, then we're being unreasonable. In fact, the very degree that we're led by our passions to that very degree, we're no longer acting like man does that very degree.
Speaker 0 09:05 We're actually acting like bs, but there's one huge difference. These can't act below their nature. We need to burn this into our mind because it can. Coupa sense men in the state of fallen nature have a strong and just sort of desire for sensual pleasures. Men in a state of fond nature have a strong and disordered desire for sensual pleasures. What does that mean? It means that men naturally want to please themselves, even at the expense of others, even against the rule of reason. It means that men are naturally selfish. We're naturally selfish in spite of what all the pop psychologist, new agers mark says, barring other sorted confused people might say, we are naturally selfish. We have a strong and disordered desire for pleasure. It's a problem. It's a huge problem and it's filling hell with souls. You young people, God expects your parents to do their very best to bring you up to be saints.
Speaker 0 10:25 Unfortunately, just like the rest of us, except you know, of course the blessed Virgin Mary, you've got a problem. You're messed up. That's why your parents have to use godly discipline over you. If they don't do that, if you get too rebellious or too lippy, there's a good chance you're not going to make it to heaven. I'm not picking on you. That's just the way it is. We're all suffering from the same problems your parents have to get your undivided attention and drive that audio to the best of their ability. You can thank Adam. Now we can see why Saint Thomas teaches that. Before the fall, Adam only needed grace to obtain eternal life, but we need grace to obtain eternal life and we need grace to remit our sins and we need grace just to support us in our weaknesses. In the state of fond nature, we're actually far more dependent on God.
Speaker 0 11:28 We're really a mess. So let's sum it up. Among other things, when Adam committed the original sin, he threw away the state original justice. He threw a supernatural grace. He threw away the gifts of integrity and pass ability and immortality. He threw away friendship with God and chose bondage to say, man landed in the state of fond nature in which the intellect just darkened the Willis and Nan suffers from his passions rising up and rebelling against reason. A condition known as concupiscence man is now subject to hard work, suffering, sickness and death, and to really top it off, heaven was totally close to men, at least until Christ, our Lord came to fix that. Great. Thanks a lot Adam. Now we don't want to make a mistake. The Calvinist make the state of fallen nature is not totally to prayed. It seriously wrecked, but it's not totally depraved.
Speaker 0 12:29 We have serious damage, but it's damaged. It's not total depravity. Let's close with a few points to ponder. Think about what we already know before the fall because of integrity, human nature was perfectly ordered. Man Love God above all things and certainly more than himself after the fall because the gift of integrity was lost. He would, nature was disorder. Man's passions became disordered, is in like became darkened. His wills weakened and he has trouble struggling to do the good and now naturally tends towards selfishness to seek his own personal desires without thinking about the common good or about God. This cannot be fixed without grace cannot be fixed without grace. This is reality. This is the natural state of man. If the only thing I accomplished during my time in Kansas City is to get you to really see this and really absorb it, then I've actually really accomplished a huge amount. People go get this. They don't see reality as it is. If he see man as he really is, then you'll be able to understand what precisely our lord was doing and his doing in his church. You'll be able to understand what it is that the sacraments do. You be understand what's actually fundamentally wrong with our beloved country's culture and so called government. We can't be fixed without grace and grace only comes from Christ our lord and nowhere else.
Speaker 0 14:22 Man Now naturally tends towards selfishness to seek his own personal desires without thinking of the common good and without thinking about God. It can't be fixed without grades. Given that and given that Christ our Lord came to save us, ask yourself, what am I doing at the level of nature and after the level of grades? What am I doing to show our Lord I'm thankful for his? What am I doing to overcome this natural tendency I've inherited from Adam? Let's Beg God for the grace we need to overcome our selfishness with love for him to clearly see our duties according to our state in life, and then to do them.
