Man
27 Q. Which is the noblest creature God has placed on earth?
A. The noblest creature God has placed on earth is man.
28 Q. What is man?
A. Man is a rational creature composed of soul and body.
29 Q. What is the soul?
A. The soul is the noblest part of man, because it is a spiritual substance, endowed with intelligence and will, capable of knowing God and of possessing Him for all eternity.
30 Q. Can the human soul be seen and touched?
A. Our soul can neither be seen nor touched, because it is a spirit.
31 Q. Does the human soul die with the body?
A. The human soul never dies; faith and our very reason prove that it is immortal.
32 Q. Is man free in his actions?
A. Yes, man is free in his actions and each one feels within himself that he can do a thing or leave it undone, or do one thing rather than another.
33 Q. Explain human liberty by an example.
A. If I voluntarily tell a lie, I know that I could have left it unsaid or that I could have remained silent, and that, on the other hand, I could also speak differently and tell the truth.
34 Q. Why do we say that man was created to the image and likeness of God?
A. We say that man was created to the image and likeness of God because the human soul is spiritual and rational, free in its operations, capable of knowing and loving God and of enjoying Him for ever — perfections which reflect a ray of the infinite greatness of the Lord in us.
35 Q. In what state did God place our first parents, Adam and Eve?
A. God placed our first parents, Adam and Eve, in the state of innocence and grace; but they soon fell away by sin.
36 Q. Besides innocence and sanctifying grace did God confer any other gifts on our first parents?
A. Besides innocence and sanctifying grace, God conferred on our first parents other gifts, which, along with sanctifying grace, they were to transmit to their descendants; these were: (1) Integrity, that is, the perfect subjection of sense to reason; (2) Immortality; (3) Immunity from all pain and sorrow; (4) A knowledge in keeping with their state.
37 Q. What was the nature of Adam's sin?
A. Adam's sin was a sin of pride and of grave disobedience.
38 Q. What chastisement was meted out to the sin of Adam and Eve?
A. Adam and Eve lost the grace of God and the right they had to Heaven; they were driven out of the earthly Paradise, subjected to many miseries of soul and body, and condemned to death.
39 Q. If Adam and Eve had not sinned, would they have been exempt from death?
A. If Adam and Eve had not sinned and if they had remained faithful to God, they would, after a happy and tranquil sojourn here on earth, and without dying, have been transferred by God into Heaven, to enjoy a life of unending glory.
40 Q. Were these gifts due to man?
A. These gifts were in no way due to man, but were absolutely gratuitous and supernatural; and hence, when Adam disobeyed the divine command, God could without any injustice deprive both Adam and his posterity of them.
41 Q. Is this sin proper to Adam alone?
A. This sin is not Adam's sin alone, but it is also our sin, though in a different sense. It is Adam's sin because he committed it by an act of his will, and hence in him it was a personal sin. It is our sin also because Adam, having committed it in his capacity as the head and source of the human race, it was transmitted by natural generation to all his descendants: and hence in us it is original sin.
42 Q. How is it possible for original sin to be transmitted to all men?
A. Original sin is transmitted to all men because God, having conferred sanctifying grace and other supernatural gifts on the human race in Adam, on the condition that Adam should not disobey Him; and Adam having disobeyed, as head and father of the human race, rendered human nature rebellious against God. And hence, human nature is transmitted to all the descendants of Adam in a state of rebellion against God, and deprived of divine grace and other gifts.
43 Q. Do all men contract original sin?
A. Yes, all men contract original sin, with the exception of the Blessed Virgin, who was preserved from it by a singular privilege of God, in view of the merits of Jesus Christ our Saviour.
44 Q. Could not men be saved after Adam's sin?
A. After Adam's sin men could not be saved, if God had not shown mercy towards them.
45 Q. What was the mercy shown by God to the human race?
A. The mercy shown by God to the human race was that of immediately promising Adam a divine Redeemer or Messiah, and of sending this Messiah in His own good time to free men from the slavery of sin and of the devil.
46 Q. Who is the promised Messiah?
A. The promised Messiah is Jesus Christ, as the Second Article of the Creed teaches.
(Tomorrow, The Second Article of the Creed)
Pius X, Pope St.. Catholic Catechism of Saint Pius X (1908) (pp. 11-13). Kindle Edition.
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