original sin ... the most obvious among the christian doctrines: feast of the immaculate conception Sto. Nino Shrine 2011

I would like to do some Catechesis today. Today we are celebrating the Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception, that is, we celebrate and express or proclaim joyfully our belief that Mary the Mother of our Savior was conceived without original sin. Mary was uniquely preserved by the grace of God, by the merits of her future Son, from the harm of original sin that affects all of us. So we ask, what is original sin of which Mary was preserved but which continues to affect us even now? What is this kind of sin which we call original?

Many people today deny the presence of original sin, they do not believe in original sin anymore, or if they believe it, they take it for granted. But G.K. Chesterton said that this is one Christian doctrine that is most obvious - kabudlay tuod i-explain ang original sin, pero tam-an ka klaro nga ara ini sa aton kabuhi. The symptoms, the signs of the presence of this type of sin can be clearly seen in our thoughts, in our actions and in our relationship with one another.


What is original sin? Though I am hesitant to use this story as this is mythological, I will use it for the purpose of illustrating this kind of sin. It is even said that the pagan Greeks have an inkling as to the presence of original sin in our lives and in our world. The Greeks tell of this reality in a mythical story which we call today the Pandora’s Box. The story started with a Titan named Prometheus. Prometheus saw one day how man suffered eating raw meat, raw food and shivering at night because of the cold. So he wanted to give them fire. But the gods would not permit it because they knew that man would one day abuse the power of fire.

 Nevertheless Prometheus, one night, stole fire from the abode of the gods and gave it to man. Now Zeus the king of the gods became very angry with Prometheus and desired to punish him severely. So Zeus ordered Aphrodite to pose before the god of crafts Hephaestus so that he could make her likeness into clay. Then when it was done Zeus brought the statue to life and the gods and goddesses lavished her with so many gifts - beauty, brains, music, arts, persuasion, and curiously, included among these many gifts was the gift of curiosity. She became the first woman in the world and because of her many gifts she was called Pandora - pan meaning all, dora meaning gifts - she has in herself all the gifts the gods can give. 
Zeus gave her to be the wife of Prometheus but Prometheus would not take her knowing that the gods are playing a trick on him, he knew that it was payback time for his own trickery. 

 So Zeus punished Prometheus and gave Pandora instead to Epimetheus, the brother of Prometheus, and he accepted her. Now when Zeus gave Pandora to Epimetheus, Zeus also left with her a jar or a box with a strict instruction never, never to open the box. But Pandora because she had all the gifts including the gift of curiosity, one day opened the box, and lo and behold out came hate, anger, revenge, greed, lust, poverty, sickness, war, infidelity, disease, death and every bad thing in the world. Pandora hurried to close the box but it was already too late, for all have already left except one thing at the very bottom of the box. She did not want to open it, but when her husband arrived he opened it for her and out flew the last remaining occupant of the box, namely hope.

Beautiful story... Pandora’s box. Some Christian authors say that this is already an inkling, suggesting the presence of original sin in the world.

Original sin is distinguished from actual sin or personal sin. Actual sin is the sin that we do but original sin is the sin that we inherited - we did not do it, but we inherited it from our first parents, Adam and Eve because of their disobedience to God. We inherited from our first parents the capability to betray the truth about ourselves. Now what is the truth about ourselves - that we are not gods, that we are dependent of God and we cannot set him aside from our lives, that we cannot assume control one everything. Now we inherited this tendency in us. As I have said, it is very hard to define but the evidence is all around us. Look around you and ask yourselves, why do we have a prefect policemen? Why can’t we trust each other? I bet when you come for communion you will bring your bags with you and not leave it on the chair for fear that somebody will snatch it from you? You cannot trust the person next to you? Now why is that?

Or after the mass I bet some of you will go to SM just right there? When you go there you begin to wonder, why do they have security guards. And the guards would inspect you, some of you they will frisk and they will open your bags ... now why do they have to do that? Original sin - because you possess in you, as experience will tell these guards that you have the capability to betray the truth about yourself - you have in you the tendency to sin, to hate, to be greedy, to steal, to be lustful, to be dayaon, to lie, to cheat, to be tikalon. It is there - the tendency and the capacity to betray the truth, the truth that we could not just simply do as we please for we are only man, the truth that we are not gods and we could not just simply take matters into our own hands. Indi kita makapagusto lang and that’s the truth. But the fact is nagapagusto lang kita sa masami. Pandora’s Box had been opened and out came the capacity to do bad things is now in us. And we have inherited this weakness, this flaw from Adam and Eve, our first parents, and because of these weaknesses we are prone to do bad things.

Now you understand why we have to keep watch over you, to moralize sometimes to remind you of the presence of that tendency in youo, so that you will not stray. The Bishop too has to keep watch over us priest and we have to obey the bishop, otherwise the inherent weakness in our hearts will overpower us and lead us astray. The effects of original sin are still strong in many of us, including me.

Today we look to Mary. By the grace of God she was conceived in the womb of her mother St. Anne without original sin, without that stain of sin. God can do that and only God can do that. Not us. One day God will totally free us from this sin. The freedom from original sin begun in our baptism but it will only be complete in death when God will take away this enslavement to sin permanently from us. Then we can be truly free from this sin. And so we look to Mary - Mary you were conceived without sin, help us to avoid sin. Mary you trusted in God who is more powerful than the most powerful sin, help us too to trust in God. Mary help us avoid sin, pray to God that he will make us like you, so that we can be freed at last from our tendency to sin, nakapoy na kami sa amon mga sala, Nakapoy na kami magkabuhi sa sini nga situwasyon, free us from our tendency to anger, to take revenge, from our tendency to lust, and our tendency to be greedy. Free us Lord as you have freed Mary our Mother. And please give us that last thing that came out from Pandora’s box, give us hope. Do not make us despair when we cannot control at times our craving to sin, when we cannot control at times our sins and addiction to sin. Give us hope for we know that in the end good will conquer our tendency to do evil, help us to hope for that day when good will conquer the evil in us and around us. 

PS. When you go to shoemart after the mass and the guard frisks you and open you bags as if you are a possible shoplifter, do not get mad at him. Smile at the guard for he is just reminding you of the evil you and I are capable of doing because of original sin, an evil tendency that only God can truly take away from us. O Mary conceived without original sin, pray for us sinners now and at the hour of our death, Amen.