St. Thomas Aquinas never asks the following imaginary question because the answers have not been revealed. If many human beings were created simultaneously and few sinned gravely, what would be the consequences? Would all offspring be created without original sin regardless if some humans gravely sinned? While we do not know how anything would turn out, we can at least speculate with a series of “maybes” as an exercise to learn something of God’s mercy in the present economy of grace.
Created in grace without original sin, not subject to concupiscence, and assuming that we would still age and die, suffer occasional physical ailments, we would probably relate to God and to one another with great love and care for the common good of community or with great malice. Yet we could certainly still resist God’s graces and our first grave sin would not be due to sins of the flesh since our reason, will and emotions would be well ordered. Would God treat us as mercifully as He does now? Given these conditions, it would seem most certainly not since we would not be as debilitated as we are at present.
In the present dispensation, we can sin very often and be forgiven our sins, provided we sincerely intend to avoid sin, by doing penance as the sign of making amends. Sanctifying grace in this present life does not make anyone impeccable even with the best of intentions. Human contrition, purpose of amendment, and doing penance does not make us impeccable either but it does enhance our ability in the fallen state to combat temptations, overcome or lessen our potential resistance to the graces of the moment. Yet that spirit of resistance to God’s assisting or actual grace still exists.
In the imaginary economy of grace, what kind of grave sin would be committed? It would not be a sin of weakness nor a sin of ignorance, but one of malice. The malice would be caused not by avarice, anger, lust or gluttony and unlikely acedia (boredom with spiritual things, sometimes called sloth). Either the sin of pride, vainglory or envy would somehow be involved. It would be a willful, intentional and very deliberate sin somehow either against God directly or gravely against other persons. Why would such a sin exist? What could be gained? A “selfie” sense of empowerment, glory among other sinners? It is difficult to speculate since we do not know what apparent good the “evil one” would portray to the highly virtuous person.
Again in this imaginary scenario, we would probably be living with mostly virtuous people and some very sinful persons. Aquinas teaches that the vast majority of angels did not fall from grace because they knew better. Most would know better than to disobey God because we would have a clearer and deeper understanding of moral truth, a sense of God’s presence in the soul and the respect for the dignity of the human person. Growth in the perfection of virtue would be easier and more rapid due to the lack of concupiscence (emotions out of balance with right reason). Nevertheless, given the existence of the devil on earth but not human frailty, sins would be more sinister having even greater effects on the soul’s faculties of intellect and will, and the body’s imagination, memory, and “sensus communis” (unifier of the senses). Such malice would be much more difficult to repent of and could probably lead these people to wish even greater harm on other humans than at present. However, the common good’s leaders might be more unified and politically astute to defend the interests of the individual or a community or nation.
If Adam and Eve were not fixed in sin but could repent, then it would be possible for those without original sin also to repent but more difficult since they would be more hardened due to the strength of the faculties and emotions. They, like the others, would not necessarily lose their inner unity.
If the majority of human beings more or less remained in the state of grace during their lives, perhaps it would not be the occasion for God becoming a man to save the human race from sin and its effects, but the prayer of the many might suffice for granting sinners a sense of repentance. Would the grace of God be more generous to sinners as it is now? Probably not because of the lack of moral weakness on the part of human nature other than suffering and death.
The point is that given the human condition as it is now, God’s mercy stands out more profoundly and so calls all to imitate it in the face of life’s insults, misunderstandings, and wounds from others. Because of the effects of original sin, we fall more easily into sin notwithstanding God’s assisting graces and the Incarnation. Sins of ignorance can be caused by lack of education in the moral sphere and the bad example of the many. Often, some ignorance is willful when a person does not make the effort to discover the moral truth. On the other hand, sins of weakness occur when persons are surprised by near occasions of sin they did not anticipate perhaps in reading books or viewing movies, or surprised by dangerous circumstances that cause fears or sorrows leading to sinful decisions. Bad sinful habits of the past often emerge again and again, and instead of warding them off with reasonable anger, sinful disorders are given into as in alcohol, drug or pornographic addictions. Further, fears, sorrows, discouragements, worries and other negative emotions can interfere, swamp or overcome right reason leading to sins of the spirit or the flesh whether to commit suicide, or murder. Traumas of the past often rear their ugly heads inclining one to sin. In the supernatural order, initial doubts of faith and lack of trust in God can emerge out of nowhere and lead to real doubts or despair as distinct from reasonable questions trying to understand the meaning of one’s faith.
It is easier to see that from God’s perspective, if He wants to save everyone, He has to be exceedingly more merciful with weak poor sinners with forgiveness and healing graces. We in turn have to be willing to bring our weaknesses and sins to him in humble sorrow, beg forgiveness and keep aiming for perfection of charity and the virtues no matter how distant we are from the goal. Because of so many falls into sin, we are like beginning piano players who can play “chopsticks” perfectly, but can hardly play one of the first few bars of Beethoven’s Sonata.
So the meaning of the Year of Mercy pushes us forward to believe that God’s love is more merciful than we can understand. Further, the more mercy we give to others, the more mercy will we receive from our Creator, Redeemer and Consummator.
Father Basil Cole, O.P. is currently a Professor of Moral and Spiritual Theology, Pontifical Faculty of the Immaculate Conception, at the Dominican House of Studies in Washington, D.C. Father is also author of Music and Morals, The Hidden Enemies of the Priesthood and coauthor of Christian Totality; Theology of Consecrated Life. A native San Franciscan, Father has been a prior in the Western province of the Dominicans, a parish missionary and retreat master, and invited professor of moral and spiritual theology at the Angelicum in Rome.
){kind=link}