Part 1, lesson 8

Of OUT first generation, in which the devil is the father of our perverse inclina tions ; and of the regeneration of bap tism, in which Jesus Christ being our Father communicates to us his divine life.

Q. What do you mean, when you say that our soul is regene rated in baptism ?

A. I mean that it receives in it inclinations and impres sions entirely new and different from those of its first genera tion.

Q. How so ?

A. By its first generation, our soul had received perverse inclinations, by which it was en tirely bent upon sin and creatures; on the contrary, by the regeneration of baptism, it re ceives new impressions, and en tirely different inclinations, which excite it to the love of God and a perfect union with him, to the separation from creatures and an ardent desire of heavenly things. , Q. After baptism, man is then no longer our father, nor the flesh our mother ?

A. No; and we ou^ht no lon ger to follow their evil inclina tions.

Q. By baptism, is God our Father?

A. Yes; we call God our Father, and he is so in truth; because, in baptism, he infuses into us, by his Holy Spirit, his own nature and divine life.*

Q. Is not the devil the father of man ?

A. In our first generation, the devil is properly the father of man, a sinner in Adam; be cause he communicated to him his life and perverse inclinations, which were transmitted to us in our birth t.

Q. And in the second gene ration ?

A. Here the case is very dif ferent, because, in this genera tion, the eternal Father is ourFa-

• Ut efficiamini divinse consortes na turae. II, Petr. i, 4.— Ut filii Dei nominemur, et siraus. I. Joan, iii, 1.

f Vos ex patre diabolo estis, et desideria patris vestri vultis facere. Jacob. viii, 44.

thcr; he communicates to us his inclinations, sentiments, and sanctity, by virtue of his Holy Spirit whom he gives us, to be in us the principle of his divine life; and the splendor of this life beams forth from our good works, which being then like those of God, cause him to be glorified upon earth.*

Q. But since in our first gene ration, the devil is our father, arid since Adam transmitted to us all the perverse inclinations of the devil, we are then very miserable in ourselves ?

• Luceat lux vestra corarn hominibug, ut videant opera vestra bona, et glorificent patrem vestrum qui in calls est. Matth. v, 16.

A. Yes, inexpressibly so; God alone can comprehend it.

Q. Why?

A. Because, as God alone can conceive the malice of the devil and the wretched state to which he has been reduced by divine justice, so God alone can con ceive the misery, malignity and destitution of our flesh, which is reduced to so pitiable a state, that, besides being made par taker of the malediction of the devil, it has weaknesses, impu rities and miseries, of which the devil himself is not capable by his own nature.

Q. That being so, man ought indeed to cherish abjection; he ought indeed to love con tempt.

A. Yes; for they are indeed his due.