United States Catholic Catechism for Adults

74 • Part I. The Creed: The Faith Professed

• Adam and Eve transmitted to all future generations a human nature wounded by their sin and deprived of original holiness and justice. This deprivation is called Original Sin. • Because of Original Sin, human nature is subject to ignorance, suf fering, death, disorder in our appetites, and an inclination to sin—an inclination called concupiscence. • But the victory over sin that Jesus accomplished has provided greater blessings than those taken away. “Where sin increased grace abounded all the more” (Rom 5:20). Baptism delivers us from Original Sin. • Because every human being is made in the image of God, each one has a desire for union with God. Humanity has been reconciled to God by the redemptive death and Resurrection of Jesus Christ. MEDITATION Although set by God in a state of rectitude, man, enticed by the evil one, abused his freedom at the very start of history. He lifted himself up against God, and sought to attain his goal apart from him. Although they had known God, they did not glorify him as God, but their senseless minds were darkened and they served the creature rather than the creator (cf. Rom 1:21-25). What Revelation makes known to us is confirmed by our own experience. For when man looks into his own heart he finds that he is drawn towards what is wrong and sunk in many evils which cannot come from his good creator. Often refus ing to acknowledge God as his beginning, man has also upset the relationship which should link him to his last end; and at the same time he has broken the right order that should reign within himself as well as between himself and other men and all creatures. Man therefore is divided in himself. As a result, the whole life of men, both individual and social, shows itself to be a struggle, and a dramatic one, between good and evil, between light and darkness. Man finds that he is unable of himself to overcome the assaults of evil successfully, so that everyone feels as though he is bound by chains. But the Lord himself came