December 24th: Feast of Adam and Eve

Started by Xavier, December 24, 2018, 06:28:40 AM

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Xavier

On Dec 24, we remember our first parents Adam and Eve, who died as Saints reconciled to God. God promised them He would send them the Virgin Mother and Her Divine Son, Who would crush the Serpent (Gen 3:15), and in the fullness of time, He became Incarnate and was born on Christmas Day to do just that. Adam and Eve repented of their sin, did penance, and then went to limbo to wait for the promised Saviour. Then, on Holy Saturday, God descended in the flesh to save them: http://www.vatican.va/spirit/documents/spirit_20010414_omelia-sabato-santo_en.html
QuoteHe goes to free the prisoner Adam and his fellow-prisoner Eve from their pains, he who is God, and Adam's son.

The Lord goes in to them holding his victorious weapon, his cross. When Adam, the first created man, sees him, he strikes his breast in terror and calls out to all: 'My Lord be with you all.' And Christ in reply says to Adam: 'And with your spirit.' And grasping his hand he raises him up, saying: 'Awake, O sleeper, and arise from the dead, and Christ shall give you light.

'I am your God, who for your sake became your son, who for you and your descendants now speak and command with authority those in prison: Come forth, and those in darkness: Have light, and those who sleep: Rise.

'I command you: Awake, sleeper, I have not made you to be held a prisoner in the underworld. Arise from the dead; I am the life of the dead. Arise, O man, work of my hands, arise, you who were fashioned in my image. Rise, let us go hence; for you in me and I in you, together we are one undivided person.

'For you, I your God became your son; for you, I the Master took on your form; that of slave; for you, I who am above the heavens came on earth and under the earth

"As we have said elsewhere, Adam and Eve are not called saints in ordinary reference, historical or scriptural. But they may be called saints on their feast day, which is the vigil of Christmas, because we know from sound Catholic tradition that they repented of their great sin, lived lives of holiness and are now in Heaven. Adam is the father of the human race. Eve, his wife, was formed from Adam's body. All of us have descended from these two. Adam was created in a state of paradisal innocence, with no human frailties or weaknesses. Adam sinned by disobeying the command of God not to eat a forbidden fruit. The whole human race inherited original sin because of Adam. Adam personally repented. Adam lived for 930 years. By his sorrow, his contrition, his pleading and his love, Adam finally won God's full forgiveness for himself. Adam died and went to the Limbo of the Just, which is called "hell" in the Apostles' Creed. This was not the hell of the damned. It was the place where the Just had to wait for the coming of Christ. Adam ascended into Heaven in body and in soul with Our Lord on Ascension Thursday, forty days after Easter. Adam's feast is the vigil of Christmas, which is also the feast of Eve, his wife, who is with him in Heaven."

https://catholicism.org/saint-adam-and-saint-eve-first-age-of-the-world.html

There is an extra-canonical historical book, the conflict of Adam and Eve with Satan, where God reiterates His promise that the Saviour would come about 5500 years after his exile from Eden, to re-open the gates of heaven for them. God tells Him that the Word would become flesh, that the Lord Himself will become a Man and appear on earth to redeem him and Eve, and their children, and take them to Heaven. http://www.sacred-texts.com/bib/fbe/fbe008.htm

QuoteCHAP. III.

Concerning the promise of the great five days and a half.

GOD said to Adam, "I have ordained on this earth days and years, and thou and thy seed shall dwell and walk in it, until the days and years are fulfilled; when I shall send the Word that created thee, and against which thou hast transgressed, the Word that made thee come out of the garden and that raised thee when thou wast fallen.

2 Yea, the Word that will again save thee when the five days and a half are fulfilled."

3 But when Adam heard these words from God, and of the great five days and a half, he did not understand the meaning of them.

4 For Adam was thinking that there would be but five days and a half for him, to the end of the world.

5 And Adam wept, and prayed God to explain it to him.

6 Then God in His mercy for Adam who was made after His own image and similitude, explained to him, that these were 5,000 and 500 years; and how One would then come and save him and his seed.
Bible verses on walking blamelessly with God, after being forgiven from our former sins. Some verses here: https://dailyverses.net/blameless

"[2] He that walketh without blemish, and worketh justice:[3] He that speaketh truth in his heart, who hath not used deceit in his tongue: Nor hath done evil to his neighbour: nor taken up a reproach against his neighbours.(Psalm 14)

"[2] For in many things we all offend. If any man offend not in word, the same is a perfect man."(James 3)

"[14] And do ye all things without murmurings and hesitations; [15] That you may be blameless, and sincere children of God, without reproof, in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation; among whom you shine as lights in the world." (Phil 2:14-15)

Gerard

I always enjoy contemplating Adam's relationship to God in the Trinity.  The first Man with no biological father is the created "son" of God in a poetic manner of speaking.  He also is the Father of God in the generation of the Incarnate Christ through the Blessed Mother.    A few years back in a regular parish confession line, some bonehead prattling on about what some "charismatic" seer had told his group.  If I recall correctly, it was something like,  "Adam will be the last person out of Purgatory."  I think I literally rolled my eyes.  Adam and Eve are something particularly special in God's plan and Creation. 


But I have to take issue with this, for the sake of clarity:

QuoteBy his sorrow, his contrition, his pleading and his love, Adam finally won God's full forgiveness for himself. Adam died and went to the Limbo of the Just, which is called "hell" in the Apostles' Creed. This was not the hell of the damned. It was the place where the Just had to wait for the coming of Christ. Adam ascended into Heaven in body and in soul with Our Lord on Ascension Thursday, forty days after Easter.

Adam was not able to obtain full forgiveness with God until the Sacrifice of Christ united his sorrow, contrition and love with the Sacrifice of Christ.  If Adam could won forgiveness by himself, the original sin would have been forgiven and he would have returned to his pristine state and we would not be a fallen humanity carrying original sin and excluded from the earthly paradise.  And we would be worse off ultimately, being mere creatures of God and not united to His Divinity with Him uniting Himself to our humanity. 

Mr. Mysterious

"Take courage! I have overcome the world." John 16:33