St. John of God, Confessor

Baltimore track

Baltimore Catechism No. 3

Lesson 5 — On Our First Parents and the Fall

Q. 257.Is it not unjust to punish us for the sin of our first parents?

A.It is not unjust to punish us for the sin of our first parents, because their punishment consisted in being deprived of a free gift of God; that is, of the gift of original justice to which they had no strict right and which they wilfully forfeited by their act of disobedience.

Q. 258.But how did the loss of the gift of original justice leave our first parents and us in mortal sin?

A.The loss of the gift of original justice left our first parents and us in mortal sin because it deprived them of the Grace of God, and to be without this gift of Grace which they should have had was to be in mortal sin. As all their children are deprived of the same gift, they, too, come into the world in a state of mortal sin.

Q. 259.What other effects followed from the sin of our first parents?

A.Our nature was corrupted by the sin of our first parents, which darkened our understanding, weakened our will, and left in us a strong inclination to evil.

Q. 260.What do we mean by "our nature was corrupted"?

A.When we say "our nature was corrupted" we mean that our whole being, body and soul, was injured in all its parts and powers.