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| Mary, Mother, meek and mild-Blessed was she in her Child. |
Consider the great multitude of evil actions which cast the soul into the state of sin. The most universal, as affecting all mankind, was the sin of our first father, who forfeited the state of grace and the power of transmitting it, by choosing the natural plane of existence instead of the supernatural. Our sinful deeds are like physical diseases. Every sense and faculty and operation of mind and body is liable to its own irregular action or excess, which casts the whole organism out of order. Every duty we have to perform, every grace we receive, may be an occasion for the exhibition of human perversity. Some of our sins are directly opposed to God, like blasphemy or incredulity; others are an inordinate seeking after temporal goods or a misuse of them — of wealth, food, position, for example— in opposition to the Spirit of God. Certain things are sins because God has forbidden them, such as the violation of the Sabbath or of the laws of fasting on a fixed day; others are forbidden because they are evil in themselves, as being opposed to the eternal fitness of things which depends on God's own nature; such are falsehood, intemperance, lust. We are further liable for sins not our own, for sins that others have committed through our negligence or bad example. How numerous are the perils that beset our path on the right hand and on the left! Who can be on the watch against all, who can know the sum of his daily, or his yearly, or his total responsibilities! " Who can understand sins? From my secret ones cleanse me, O Lord ; and from those of others spare Thy servant" (Ps. xviii. 13).
