Defeating Man’s Evil Inclination

Michie · Jan 28, 2024

Prayer: The Key to Salvation is a powerful testament to the efficacy of prayer by Fr. Michael Mueller. Offering encouragement and guidance in the spiritual life, this book is an invaluable companion to any Catholic.

Are We Naturally Inclined to Good or Evil?

Ever since the fall of our first parents, we are all naturally inclined to evil. Before Adam had committed sin, he was naturally inclined to good; he knew nothing of indifference in the service of God, nothing of anger, hatred, cursing, impurity, vain ambition, and the like; but no sooner had he committed sin, than God permitted his inclination to good to be changed into an inclination to evil.

Man of his own free will forfeited the kingdom of Heaven; he exchanged Heaven for Hell, God for the devil, good for evil, the state of grace for the state of sin. It was, then, but just and right that he should not only acknowledge his guilt, repent sincerely of his great crime, but should also, as long as he lived, fight against his evil inclinations, and, by this long warfare, declare himself sincerely for God.

Does Baptism Cleanse Our Inclinations?

Baptism, indeed, cancels Original Sin in our soul, but it does not destroy our natural inclination to evil, which we have inherited from our first parents. The great Apostle St. Paul bears witness to this: “I do not that good which I will,” he says, “but the evil which I hate, that I do.” (Rom. 7:15).

He means to say, I do not wish to do evil; I even try to avoid it, but I experience within myself a continual inclination to evil; I endeavor to do good, but I feel within myself a great reluctance thereto, and I must do violence to myself in order to act aright.

What is the Evil Inclination?

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