1. The Second Creation Story
Read the second creation story.
(Hebrew admah = man ish = man (male) ishshah = woman)
Genesis 2:4b-25

2. Marriage God instituted marriage when he created male and female.
God created marriage. Not…
Male and female complement one another.

3. Complement (complementary/complementarity)
noun
a thing that completes or brings to perfection.
verb
- add to (something) in a way that enhances or improves it; make perfect.
**REQUIRES THAT THERE ARE DIFFERENCES!**

5. Marriage God instituted marriage when he created male and female.
God created marriage. Not…
Male and female complement one another.
Marriage is created to be permanent, lifelong, and indissoluble.
Marriage is a covenant
Marriage is also designed to be fruitful/life-giving.
Parents are co-creators with God!

6. God as… Elohim (God the Creator) Yahweh (God the Covenant Lord) (YHWH)
Infinite power of the creator
Yahweh (God the Covenant Lord) (YHWH)
LORD
God’s covenant love: the love of the Father for us, his children.
Adam will be a priest “till” and “keep” are his duties.
By bringing the animals one by one God shows Adam that he is different from the animals.

7. Symbols from the story Garden: Original state of justice
Adam: the man (What is said of Adam can be said of every human being)
Clay: mortal body
Breath of God: immortal soul
Naming of the animals: power to name = power to rule
Tree of the knowledge of good and evil: free will (type of the Cross)
Serpent: evil, death, lies
Fruit: Original Sin
Man’s original state of justice = his holiness.
Naming the animals – none of these proved to be a suitable partner for man.
4) READ Gn. 3: freely choosing to disobey.

8. The Fall
“But the serpent said to the woman, “You will not die. For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.”
In every lie, there is an element of truth.
Their sin is disobedience and pride (wanting to do without God/choosing themselves over God).
WHY do we disobey?
And like every disobedient child, they ran and hid from their Father.
“Where are you?”
Why does God ask these questions?
The Blame Game begins…
Curse and a Promise
Why a curse?
Preternatural (outside of) – those that do not belong by right to human nature – yet, they are not beyond the capacity of human nature to receive and possess. Example from lower order of creation – a horse that can fly – it does not belong to the nature of a horse to fly, yet there are creatures that do fly like birds. If a horse were given the power to think and to understand abstract truths that would not be preternatural, that would supernatural. For the horse to do this is completely above its nature, or any animal to do this function.

9. Protoevangelium: the first Gospel, promise of a Savior to Adam and Eve
Gen. 3:15 (Memorize this verse!)
“I will put enmity between your offspring and hers; He will strike at your head while you strike at his heel.”
a) The Woman: Mary, the “new Eve”
b) Her seed or offspring: the Savior who will
crush Satan’s power, Jesus, the “new Adam”
The prospect of salvation is announced. A battle is assured. To whom will go the victory? The seed of the woman – which is JESUS.
These words of Genesis are called the Protoevangelium or the first announcement of the Messiah Redeemer. They reveal God's salvific plan in regard to the human race which after original sin is found in the fallen state which we know. They indicate especially the central event in God's plan of salvation. It is the same event referred to in the fourth Eucharistic Prayer, already quoted, when we turn to God with this profession of faith: "Father, you so loved the world that in the fullness of time you sent your only Son to be our Savior. He was conceived through the power of the Holy Spirit, and born of the Virgin Mary, a man like us in all things but sin."
Thus in Mary and through Mary the situation of humanity and of the world has been reversed, and they have in some way re-entered the splendor of the morning of creation.

10. Big Idea
“A man should force himself to be obedient, even in little things which appear of no moment; because he will thus render the practice of obedience in great matters easy to himself.”
-St. Philip Neri
We all struggle with obedience. In what ways have you failed to be obedient today? This week? How do we work on obedience? (FASTING)
What does the Our Father say?
In a prayer to God, reflecting on the Fall of Adam and Eve, ask God for the specific help of being more obedient.
Lenten sacrifice/fasting can train us in obedience.
Man rebelled against God through inordinate pride and deliberate disobedience. The eating from the tree gave A&E the practical experience of what evil was. The test was not to eat of the certain fruit from the specific tree…they failed. Their sin was disobedience and pride. The tempter whispered that if they ate this fruit they would be great as God, they themselves would be gods. Before the fall there was no human ignorance, no human weakness. There was no excuse…they chose self in preference to God.
What Adam did, we all did. Although Baptism does restore to us the greatest of God’s to Adam – the s/n gift of sanctifying grace – it does not restore the preternatural gifts, such as freedom from suffering and death. These are lost to us forever.
Punishment necessarily followed. Man’s defiance of God brings a profound sense of shame. Nakedness becomes a disturbing element.
The elements of the kingdom are SATAN himself, SIN bringing DEATH often preceded by sickness.

11. Life before The Fall
Original Justice: The state in which man was created.
Supernatural (above all natures) gift: Sanctifying grace
Preternatural (above human nature) gifts:
Infused knowledge
Self-mastery: intellect & will guide body and emotions
Freedom from pain & suffering
Freedom from death (separation of soul and body)
Natural gifts
Body – healthy & fit
Soul – intellect & will
Man rebelled against God through inordinate pride and deliberate disobedience. The eating from the tree gave A&E the practical experience of what evil was. The test was not to eat of the certain fruit from the specific tree…they failed. Their sin was disobedience and pride. The tempter whispered that if they ate this fruit they would be great as God, they themselves would be gods. Before the fall there was no human ignorance, no human weakness. There was no excuse…they chose self in preference to God.
What Adam did, we all did. Although Baptism does restore to us the greatest of God’s to Adam – the s/n gift of sanctifying grace – it does not restore the preternatural gifts, such as freedom from suffering and death. These are lost to us forever.
Punishment necessarily followed. Man’s defiance of God brings a profound sense of shame. Nakedness becomes a disturbing element.
The elements of the kingdom are SATAN himself, SIN bringing DEATH often preceded by sickness.

12. Life after The Fall For Adam and Eve For his descendants
Loss of God’s friendship: no sanctifying grace
Loss of preternatural gifts: death, suffering, inclination to sin (concupiscence).
Damage to natural gifts
Guilt of an actual mortal sin
Slavery to Satan
For his descendants
Inheritance of damaged natural gifts
By seeing these effects as part of God’s plan to teach us love, we can embrace suffering as a needed remedy for sin.
Man rebelled against God through inordinate pride and deliberate disobedience. The eating from the tree gave A&E the practical experience of what evil was. The test was not to eat of the certain fruit from the specific tree…they failed. Their sin was disobedience and pride. The tempter whispered that if they ate this fruit they would be great as God, they themselves would be gods. Before the fall there was no human ignorance, no human weakness. There was no excuse…they chose self in preference to God.
What Adam did, we all did. Although Baptism does restore to us the greatest of God’s to Adam – the s/n gift of sanctifying grace – it does not restore the preternatural gifts, such as freedom from suffering and death. These are lost to us forever.
Punishment necessarily followed. Man’s defiance of God brings a profound sense of shame. Nakedness becomes a disturbing element.
The elements of the kingdom are SATAN himself, SIN bringing DEATH often preceded by sickness.

13. Gn 4: Cain and Abel
After Cain kills Abel, God asks him: “Where is your brother Abel?” and “What have you done?”
Why does God ask these questions?
Gn 4:9 “Am I my brother’s keeper?”
Do we have a responsibility towards others?
Cain’s sin was…
Anger and Envy
Envy is “the sadness at the sight of another’s goods and the immoderate desire to acquire them for oneself, even unjustly.” (CCC, 2539)
The cure: (ALMSGIVING)
Envy represents a form of sadness and therefore a refusal of charity; the baptized person should struggle against it by exercising good will. Envy often comes from pride; the baptized person should train himself to live in humility:
Would you like to see God glorified by you? Then rejoice in your brother’s progress and you will immediately give glory to God. Because his servant could conquer envy by rejoicing in the merits of others, God will be praised.