YES, there is a first creation and a second creation. In fact, our creation is God’s work in progress concerning us. It’s not yet completely finished. Our Catechism describes God’s creation in this way:
“Creation has its own goodness and proper perfection, but it did not spring forth complete from the hands of the Creator. The universe was created ‘in a state of journeying’ toward an ultimate perfection yet to be attained.” (302)
I think this fundamental truth about ourselves is crucial for us to know how to live our life here on earth. Error, ignorance or confusion in this area will surely distort our understanding of our life. They unavoidably will produce wrong consequences.
We have to understand that the whole reality of creation has for its purpose our worship and adoration of God. The Catechism tells us that worship is inscribed in the order of creation. (cfr 347)
We are meant to be with God in all eternity. Our life here is part of God’s creative moment when he fashions us as children of his who not only receive things from God but also know how to correspond with his goodness.
Our first creation was in Adam and Eve. On this occasion, God gave our first parents and all of us the best things in the visible universe—not only a body with wonderful systems, but also spiritual faculties, like intelligence and free will, which qualitatively distinguish us from the other creatures.
Because of these endowments, we are persons and not just things among God’s creatures. We already have a dignity far superior to that of any creature in the world. We cannot be treated like any other creature.
Not contented with these, God elevated our first parents, a gesture meant for all of us, to his supernatural level by giving us grace. This condition is called the state of original justice. We are meant to live not just a natural life, but a supernatural life with God.
This state of original justice, which we lost with our first parents’ sin, included what are known as preternatural gifts, wonderful extras that made our life very beautiful—immortality, integrity, impassibility or capacity not to suffer.
Our first creation, though very good, lacked one very important thing—our
capacity to recover our dignity once we lose it when we misuse our freedom. Thus, this first creation tends to and is corrected by our second creation.
Again our Catechism teaches: “The work of creation culminates in the greater work of redemption. The first creation finds its meaning and summit in the new creation in Christ, the splendor of which surpasses that of the first creation.” (349)
So, the new creation in Christ perfects and enriches our first creation. But again, we have to understand that this second creation while consummated by Christ has to be corresponded to vitally by us. It’s an ongoing affair.
Creation to God may involve only an “instant” in his eternity, but to us it will involve the whole of time.
This is because our creation as men and women, and then as God’s children, while completely a work of God, has to contend with our cooperation. As
persons, we cannot help but mirror God’s action on us.
That’s why God’s providence or governance to lead us to him expects and even requires our cooperation. God wants it that way. It is in our nature and vocation given to us by God to participate actively in his providence.
Thus, our second creation in Christ is extended in the whole of time to capture our proper fashioning as children of God through the interplay of God’s action and our correspondence to it in our earthly life.
These basic truths about our creation, meant for all and not just an elite, can help us to distinguish the essential from the simply contingent in our life, the absolute from the merely relative.
These truths prevent us from getting distracted. They give us wisdom, freedom, joy and confidence in our actions. We will develop a good sense of direction in our life.
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