ACCRM’s 40 Days With Christ For Lent: Day Twenty-Eight

Illustration from The True Account of Adam and Eve

Man’s Interior Conflict

[exerpts from “My Daily Bread” by Anthony J. Paone, S.J. [1954]

CHRIST:

1. MY CHILD, when I created the first man and woman, I gave them many gifts to make their earthly life as easy and peaceful as possible. They were free from pain, labor, sickness, and death. They immediately knew the answers to whatever problems came along. They had complete command over the appetites and desires of body and soul. Over and above these gifts, they were given grace to live a supernatural life. Dwelling within their souls, I gave more than natural light to their minds, and more than natural strength to their wills.

2. None of these gifts really belonged to human beings. I added them over and above the gift of human life along with the natural human powers of body and soul. At any time I could take away these extra gifts, and man would still have all that naturally belonged to him. I left it up to Adam to decide whether he and his children were to keep these extra gifts forever. As the representative of the human race, Adam was to make one intelligent and free act, an act of obedience to My Will. By this act he would be acknowledging the supreme truth of his existence-that he is a creature completely dependent on Me, his Creator.

3. In disobeying My command in the Garden of Eden, Adam refused to acknowledge the supreme truth. The external act of eating the fruit was a small act, but the interior rebellion against My Will was a serious matter. Adam wanted to be equal to Me, as the rebel angels did in Paradise. As a result of Adam’s disobedience, I took away My extra gifts. Man was left without the aid of My extra gifts, except that he might still obtain grace to earn Heaven.

4. Man now has to bear an inner conflict, a conflict quite natural to him. His animal appetites now go after their wants without regard for his better judgment and free will. Even when man wishes to follow his intelligence and strive after better things, he has to fight for control of his unreasoning appetites and blind desires. He no longer has infused knowledge, but must learn the answers to his daily problems by labor and experience.

5. So often this interior conflict brings confusion to the mind and indecision to the will. Yet man’s natural reason is still able to judge good and evil, still able to distinguish truth from falsehood. To save you from all serious doubts, I have given you My Church to guide your mind and strengthen your will.

6. As long as you have a human body on earth, you cannot be entirely free from venial sins, nor can you live without some sorrow and weariness. Yet you must do your best with patience and determination, regardless of failures. All too soon this present state of disorder will pass away. Then will your earthly life melt away into the perfect life which I have promised to those who keep My commandments. Adam passed on to his descendants the human nature which he himself possessed-a nature that was weakened by his disobedience.

THINK:
A large part of man’s weakness ties in this, that after the Fall, man’s animal nature retained its normal strength and appetites, but was no longer under the perfect control of man’s higher power of reason and freewill. God, however, made up for this weakness by giving us His grace. By the use of God’s grace, man can avoid fully deliberate sins, and thus become once more the master of his life.

PRAY:
My God, I am glad to have Your law guide me through life. With Your help, I want to correct the evil in my life and avoid, as far as possible, those temptations which will face me in the future. True, I often follow the law of sin, obeying my feelings instead of my reason. I -ant what is good, but I do not always know how to achieve it. Time and again, I make good resolution, but in my weakness I quickly fall back and give up after a feeble resistance. At times, I know what I should be doing, but I simply fail to rise up and do it. With Your help I shall begin to act I want to do all I can to live a life of loyalty to Your holy Will. Amen.