We have just heard the story of the fall of mankind into sin and death. At first thought we may say this sin committed by Adam and Eve was simply one of pride – because they tried to put themselves in God's place – but more specifically, it was a sin of disobedience. God had told them not to eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil and they did it anyway. Seen in such terms we might wonder why God didn't just forgive them and say, “Don't worry about it. That's OK.” Why was the punishment so harsh: being expelled from paradise, destined to sin, prone to illness and in the end we all die? Did the punishment really fit the crime?

One reason we might think in such a way is because we no longer see disobedience as anything really that bad. We have become accustomed to an attitude of indifference to many rules with the thinking, “This or that rule doesn't apply to me.” But this is not true! The natural law, according to the Catechism, was “written in our hearts by the Creator” and is therefore a law we are all obligated to obey. Of course due to the fact that we are fallen and because of various circumstances in our lives, many people may be mistaken about what is right and what is wrong. But that doesn't change the fact that all people know that there is a right and a wrong way in which to behave. The problem is that many times we choose to ignore this.

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