IT was the most cunning of lies in the Garden of Eden…
You certainly will not die! No, God knows well that the moment you eat of [the fruit of the tree of knowledge] your eyes will be opened and you will be like gods who know what is good and what is evil. (Sunday’s first reading)
Satan lured Adam and Eve with the sophistry that there was no law greater than themselves. That their conscience was the law; that “good and evil” was relative, and thus “pleasing to the eyes, and desirable for gaining wisdom.” But as I explained last time, this lie has become an Anti-Mercy in our times that once again seeks to console the sinner by stroking his ego rather than healing him with the balm of mercy… authentic mercy.