82. In what does the misery consist into which out first parents have plunged the whole human race?
In this: that sin, with its fatal consequences, has passed from Adam to all mankind, insomuch that we now all come into this world infected with sin.
'By one man sin entered into this world, and by sin death; and so death passed upon all men, in whom all have sinned' (Rom, V. 12). 'Behold, I was conceived in iniquities; and in sins did my mother conceive me' (Ps. i. 7). The Blessed Virgin. Mary alone was, by a particular grace and privilege, perfectly preserved, through the merits of Jesus Christ, not only from all actual sin, but also from every stain of original sin. This privilege is called the Immaculate Conception which was defined as a dogma of faith by Pope Pius IX 8 December 1854. The modern devotion to the Miraculous Shrine at Lourdes is closely associated with this doctrine. By decree of the First Council of Baltimore in 1846 the Immaculate Conception was chosen as the Patronal Feast of the United States.
83. What do we call this sin in which we are all born?
We call it Original Sin, because we have not actually committed it, but have inherited it from our first parents, who were the origin or source of all mankind.
84. Is original sin, though not actually committed by us, nevertheless truly sin?
Yes, it is the death of the soul — it is truly and properly sin (Counc. of Trent, Sess. V.).
Owing to the sin of Adam, the entire human race lost its original sanctity and righteousness — i.e., sanctifying grace — and all the supernatural gifts which were intended for it. 'We all were by nature children of wrath,' because we were dead in sin' (Eph. ii. 3).
85. What fatal consequences have, with original sin, passed to all men?
1. Their disgrace with God, and at the same time their loss of the sonship of God, and of the right of inheriting the kingdom of Heaven; 2. Ignorance, concupiscence, and proneness to evil; and 3. All sorts of hardships, pains, calamities, and at last death.
1. See Eph. ii. 3. 'Unless a man be born again of water and the Holy Ghost, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God'
