By Annie-Rose Keith, Connecting Creed and life
Editor’s note: For 2025, the weekly Connecting Faith and Life column will be renamed Connecting Creed and Life. To celebrate the 2025 Jubilee Year and the 1,700th anniversary of the Council of Nicaea, the columns will consist of reflections on the Nicene Creed, corresponding with related paragraphs in the Catechism of the Catholic Church (CCC).
“For us men, and for our salvation, he came down from Heaven” CCC 402-406; 407-412; 413-421
I find it so interesting that my oldest daughter has VERY strong opinions about her little brother’s behavior. The age difference is only three years, but she feels his misbehavior on an almost visceral level. For example, she takes on the role of avenger and enforcer if he pushes back only a little bit to our requests yet she gets incredibly upset if he gets in trouble. She doesn’t want her brother to receive his usual consequences of losing TV or losing his boom box in his room. It occurred to me that she doesn’t want him to be miserable in his suffering. God doesn’t want that for us either and our beautiful Church teaches that even though suffering is unavoidable, we don’t have to do it alone. Jesus already suffered for us and is suffering with us. My daughter could also not have a clear definition of justice and equality, but that’s for another time.
My children are 5 and 8, so they have plenty of time to learn boundaries, but to me, the dynamics of my rambunctious children are an innocent metaphor for Adam’s sin and its consequences for humanity. My daughter does not want her beloved brother to make a bad choice and receive the consequences, so she takes it (solely) upon herself to try and alleviate it. This usually does not end well because they’re both delightfully loud and emotive children. My children love each other and usually get along very well, yet my daughter implicates herself in the “learning moments” of her brother even though she is not the one that made the bad choice. She implicates herself in the misbehavior-isms of her brother out of love.
Our catechism says that “all men are implicated in Adam’s sin” because “the overwhelming misery which oppresses men and their inclination towards evil and death cannot be understood apart from their connection with Adam’s sin (CCC 402-403). The sacrament of Baptism removes the stain of original sin, but it does not remove the inclination to sin because God is loving and just, and gives us free will to act and choose to follow Him. This is why we baptize our children as infants (CCC, 405)! By having them baptized as a baby and choosing to “mark” them for Christ, parents are setting their children up for a life in Christ and providing the best kick-start for their spiritual and moral formation! Certainly, as they grow up, they will sin and make mistakes, but because they know that if they follow God, go to Mass and pray and receive the sacraments regularly. This is so important because original sin has lasting effects on not only their character and their circle of influence, but the world (CCC 408, 409).
The dynamics of my children now are small compared to what I’m sure is going to be very vibrant years of teenager-dom, but I take comfort in knowing that God has not left and will not leave us behind (CCC 410). Our job as parents is not only to help our children understand and believe they are loved unconditionally by God and by having that original sin, inherited through no fault of our own, removed, we are opening the doors to freedom.