Oh Happy Fault

Abstract

In this presentation I will be looking deeper into how the Lord uses our sins in such a beautiful way that it appears better to have sinned than not. I will look at questions such as: How could this be? Sin brings us away from God, so how can it be good? Even if many goods might come from sin, would it be better to have not sinned? The solution lies with some of the church fathers such as Augustine and Aquinas, as well some more recent thinkers like Pope Benedict the Sixteenth. Through these men and scripture, we can see how sin works, how the divine will interacts with our free will, and finally how the sin and the divine will interact when they seem to contradict each other. The name “O Happy Fault” comes from an ancient hymn sung at the beginning of the Easter Vigil mass: “O truly necessary sin of Adam, destroyed completely by the Death of Christ! O happy fault that earned so great, so glorious a redeemer.”