The serpent’s craft. The fall of our first parents. Their punishment. The promise of a Redeemer.
Sin makes us prisoners to the flesh and our senses; whereas, fasting and contemplation of God frees us.
“Therefore, gratification of pleasure to be, in fact, an act contrary to the divine command and hostile to our senses, this is in accord with what Paul states: ‘I see another law in my members warring against the law of my mind and making me prisoner in the law of sin (Romans 7:23). If you ascribe this to the Devil, what other cause of enmity is there except envy? As Solomon says: ‘By the envy of the devil death came into the world’ (Wisdom 2:24).” (4) -St. Ambrose
When we don’t stay in the Truth, we fall from God. Our wrestling is with the principalities of darkness in this world.
“For paradise signifies the happy life, from which the serpent was absent, since it was already the devil. He had fallen from his beatitude because he did not stay in the truth. And we must not be confused as to how the serpent could speak to the woman, when she was in paradise and it was not. The serpent entered the paradise spiritually and not bodily, as the apostle suggests: ‘You were living by the principles of this world, obeying the ruler who dominates the air, the spirit who is at work in those who rebel.’” (4) -St. Augustine
Turn away from evil. Be grateful to God for His goodness.
“I mean, what could you say in your defense, woman? ‘God said, Do not eat of any tree in the garden.’ You ought to have turned away from the speaker and said to him, Be off, you are a cheat, you do not know the force of the direction given us, nor the extent of the enjoyment we have, nor the abundance of good things given us. For your part you said God has told us to taste nothing of any tree, whereas out of his great goodness the Lord and Creator has permitted us enjoyment and control of them all, bidding us keep away only from one, and this likewise out of great care for us lest we taste it and die. You should, had you been in your right mind, have ad dressed these words to him, turned away from him utterly, and have had nothing to do with him nor listened to anything said by him.” (4) -St. John Chrysostom
The Devil is a liar and deceiver: making false promises.
“Let us learn, therefore, that the temptations of the Devil are full of guile. Of the things that he promised, scarcely one of them seems to be true. He contrived falsehoods, as we can see if we read elsewhere: ‘And the serpent said to the woman, you shall not die’ (Genesis 3:4).” (4) -St. Ambrose
Pride is the beginning of all sin.
“For the serpent, seeking a way to enter, clearly sought the door of pride, when he declared, ‘You shall be as gods.’ That is why it is written, ‘Pride is the beginning of all sin,’ and ‘The beginning of the pride of man is to fall away from God.’” (4) -St. Augustine
Temperance is a cardinal virtue helping us to overcome sin.
“It is temperance that cuts off desires. God commanded the first humans to hold to it, for he said, ‘What is in the middle of the garden, you shall not eat, neither shall you touch it, lest you die.’” (4) -St. Ambrose
Original sin caused the concupiscence of the flesh.
“It was then that the flesh was made sinful flesh, whose faults could be healed only by the One who came in the likeness of sinful flesh.” (4) -St. Augustine
Christ’s life shows us the way back to God.
“Through [Christ] a pattern of life has been given us, that is to say, a sure path by which we may come to God. For we who have fallen through pride could only return to God through humility.” (4) -St. Augustine
It is important to keep good company and conversation.
“True it is that ‘evil converse corrupts good behavior’ (I Cor 15:33).” (4) -St. John Chrysostom
Sin causes the removal of our glory in God.
“They were, however, taught through their nakedness the magnitude of the sins they had committed by the removal of the glory that had previously draped them like a garment, as well as by the accusation of conscience. So since they were covered in confusion after that grievous sin, they tried to hide. ‘they heard the sound of the lord God,’ the text says, ‘as he strolled in the garden in the evening; both Adam and his wife hid from the Lord’s presence in the middle of the garden.’ Nothing is worse than sin, dearly beloved: once it appears it not merely fills us with shame but also robs of their senses people previously sensible and full of great intelligence.” (4) -St. John Chrysostom
God made man to know good.
“According to the pronouncement of the most wise Solomon, ‘God made man right,’ that is, to enjoy continually the knowledge of good alone. But they sought many thoughts. So they were made, as it was said, ‘knowing good and evil.’ After the fall, therefore, Adam conceived a knowledge of evil, which he did not have. But he did not lose the knowledge of good, which he did have.”(4) -St. John Cassian
Women's Prayer Group In Christ 