But
the happy state in which God had created our parents Adam and Eve lasted only a
very short while. The envy of the serpent was immediately aroused against them,
for satan was impatiently awaiting their creation, and no sooner were they
created, than his hatred became active against them. However, he was not
permitted to witness the formation of Adam and Eve, as he had witnessed the
creation of all other things: for the Lord did not choose to manifest to him
the creation of man, nor the formation of Eve from a rib; all these things were
concealed from him for a space of time until both of them were joined. But when
the demon saw the admirable composition of the human nature, perfect beyond
that of any other creature, the beauty of the souls and also of the bodies of
Adam and Eve; when he saw the paternal love with which the Lord regarded them,
and how He made them the lords of all creation, and that He gave them hope of
eternal life : the wrath of the dragon was lashed to fury, and no tongue can
describe the rage with which that beast was filled, nor how great was his envy
and his desire to take the life of these two beings. Like an enraged lion he
certainly would have done so, if he had not known, that a superior force would
prevent him. Nevertheless he studied and plotted out some means, which would
suffice to deprive them of the grace of the Most High and make them God’s
enemies.
Here
Lucifer was deceived; for the Lord had from the beginning mysteriously
manifested to him, that Christ was to assume human nature in the womb of the
most holy Mary, but not how and when; and thus He had also concealed the
creation of Adam and the formation of Eve, in order that Lucifer might from the
beginning labour under his ignorance concerning the mystery and the time of the
Incarnation. As his wrath and his watchfulness had thus been so signally
forestalled in regard to Christ and Mary, he suspected that Adam had come forth
from Eve, and that She was the Mother and Adam the son Jesus. His suspicions grew,
when he felt the divine power, which prevented him from harming the life of
these creatures. On the other hand he soon became aware of the precepts of God,
for these did not remain concealed from him, since he heard their conversation
in regard to them. Being freed more and more from his doubt as he listened to
the words of the first parents and sized up their natural gifts, he began to
follow them like a roaring lion (I Pet. 5, 8), seeking an entrance through
those inclinations, which he found in each of them. Nevertheless, until he was
undeceived in the course of the Redemption, he continued to hesitate between
his wrath against Christ and Mary and the dread of being overcome by Them. Most of all he dreaded the confusion of
being conquered by the Queen of heaven, who was to be a mere creature and not
God.
Taking courage therefore in the precept, which
was given to Adam and Eve, and having prepared the snare, Lucifer entered with
all his energy upon the work of entrapping them and of opposing and hindering
the execution of the divine Will. He
first approached the woman, and not the man, because he knew her to be by
nature more frail and weak, and because in tempting her he would be more
certain that it was not Christ whom he was encountering. Against her also he
was more enraged ever since he had seen the sign in the heaven and since the
threat, which God had made in it against him. On all these accounts his wrath
was greater against Eve than against Adam. Before he showed himself to her,
however, he aroused in her many disturbing thoughts or imaginations, in order
to approach her in a state of excitement and pre-occupation. He took the form
of a serpent (Gen. 3, 1), and thus speaking to Eve drew her into a
conversation, which she should not have permitted. Listening to him and
answering, she began to believe him; then she violated the command of God, and
finally persuaded her husband likewise to transgress the precept. Thus, ruin
overtook them and all the rest: for themselves and for us they lost the happy
position, in which God had placed them.
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| The temptation of Adam and Eve |
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When Lucifer saw the two fallen and their interior beauty and grace and
original justice changed into the ugliness of sin, he celebrated his triumph
with incredible joy and vaunting in the company of his demons. But he soon fell
from his proud boasting, when he saw, contrary to his expectations, how kindly
the merciful love of God dealt with the delinquents, and how He offered them a
chance of doing penance by giving them hope of pardon and return of grace.
Moreover he saw how they were disposing themselves toward this forgiveness by
sorrow and contrition, and how the beauty of grace was restored to them. When
the demons perceived the effect of contrition, all hell was again in confusion.
His consternation grew, when he heard the sentence, which God pronounced
against the guilty ones, in which he himself was implicated. More especially
and above all was he tormented by the repetition of that threat: The Woman
shall crush thy head (Gen. 3, 15), which he had already heard in heaven.
