Dun dun duuuunnnnn! We’re starting today out with quite the dramatic overture. After Adam tells God that it was because of Eve that he ate of the forbidden fruit, God turns to Eve, and sis her what she’s done. She explains that the serpent tricked her, and she ate.
God turns to the serpent, and tells him that because of this transgression, he is now the most cursed creature on the earth. The serpent will now crawl on his belly, and that there will forever be enmity between woman and the serpent, and between the serpent’s seed and the woman’s seed. The woman’s seed will bruise the serpent’s seed on the head, while the serpent’s seed will only be able to strike at the foot of the woman’s children.
Now he turns to Eve:
“I will greatly multiply your pain in childbirth. In pain, you will bring forth children; yet your desire will be for your husband, and he will rule over you,” Genesis 3:16
At this point Adam probably thinks he’s getting away home free, but God turns to Adam, too:
“Cursed is the ground because of you; in toil you will eat it, all the days of your life…till you return to the ground, because from it you were taken; For you are dust, and to dust you shall return,” Genesis 17-19
This is the second part of scripture from which we get the words at Ash Wednesday when the priest is crossing our foreheads. It’s a physical and spiritual reminder of where we came from, and because of sin, where our bodies will end up. Because of sin, man’s body now dies at the end of his life. Man is no longer immortal or worthy of walking with God.
Everyone involved in the Original Sin, gets dealt a major consequence because of his or her involvement. This is still the same with you and I. Our sins have consequences: literal and earthly consequences, as well as spiritual consequences upon our death.
Adam now has to WORK to get the Earth to provide the nourishment for himself and his family. Eve will struggle with childbirth, and the serpent is now the most cursed creature on the earth. Adam and Eve then get kicked out of paradise, and the Lord stationed the cherubim to guard the way to the tree of life.
This is a pretty emotionally touching and a sad end to the chapter. Man has now lost paradise. The Catechism of the Catholic Church specifically points out that, “…the consequence explicitly foretold for this disobedience will come true: man will “return to the ground,” for out of it he was taken. Death makes its entrance into human history CCC 400
Study Questions
Let’s reflect on the real consequences our sin has. Even after confession, our soul isn’t perfectly pure.
What can we do to take full advantage of the graces the Lord offers us?
What can we do with our time on Earth, to keep our souls (or restore our souls) to the best, most glorious souls they can be?
We will still need the purifying fires of Purgatory to enter back into paradise with God. When man fell, he fell HARD. But when man fell, God gave us the ability to overcome original sin through the sacraments. We have the sacraments to give ourselves a better shot at rejoining the Lord upon our death. Let us be thankful for the graces and love the Lord still has for us.
