O truly necessary sin of Adam, / destroyed completely by the Death of Christ! / O happy fault / that earned so great, so glorious a Redeemer!1

These curious lines come from the Exsultet, a hymn commonly sung in Catholic churches on the Easter Vigil. They declare that, as a consequence of original sin, we have a Redeemer so great as Jesus Christ. In a qualified sense, therefore, Adam’s sin can be celebrated. Obviously, all sin in and of itself is evil, and this includes original sin. Thus, Adam’s sin per se is worthy only of horror and grief, certainly not celebration. Rather, Adam’s sin can be celebrated insofar as it plays a part in a greater narrative that makes the true story of God and Man more profound than it ever could have been without sin. In other words, sin occasions an enrichment of the end of Man.

In order to prove this, it is necessary to ascertain what is the end of Man. In other words, why was mankind created? Man was made for relationship with God. As the Catechism says, “Man is created by God and for God.”2 This is why St. Paul desired to be present with the Lord,3 why Moses desired to see God,4 and why one of the final images in Scripture is of the wedding supper of the lamb, signifying God’s union with Man.5 However, it is clear that not all relationships are equal. There are some friendships that have a richness to them that is absent in others. Thus, that which occasions an enrichment of the relationship between God and Man enhances the end of man.

First, reconciliation between friends enriches the relationship. This is because a reconciliation is a restoration of friendship, which means that the friendship had at one time been lost. We tend to prize that which has been lost and found again. Consider the parables of the lost sheep and of the lost coin.6 In both parables, the shepherd in the one and the woman in the other celebrate because they have regained what had been lost. Now, a relationship or friendship is lost because of an offence, real or perceived. Between God and Man, there has been a very real offence, namely sin. More particularly, the sin of Adam, through whom we all sinned, dissolved the bond of friendship between God and Man. As a consequence of Adam’s sin, there was a need for reconciliation. As a consequence of the reconciliation that occurs through Christ Jesus, the relationship between God and Man is rendered more delightful because it has been lost and regained.

There shall be more joy in heaven upon one sinner that doth penance, more than upon ninety-nine just who need not penance.7

Second, a demonstration of love enriches the relationship. Love is the basis of friendship,8 and the nature of love is to manifest itself in real, concrete ways,9 hence the exhortation of St. John: “My little children, let us not love in word, nor in tongue, but in deed, and in truth.”10 On the cross, Jesus displays God’s love for us.11 “Greater love than this no man hath, that a man lay down his life for his friends.”12 But Jesus died on the cross because of sins: “a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into this world to save sinners,”13 “and he is the propitiation for our sins: and not for ours only, but also for those of the whole world.”14 Now, sin entered the world because of Adam’s fault,15 which means that original sin occasioned God’s incarnate entrance into and death in the world. In this way original sin was the remote cause of God’s greatest expression of love. As St. Alphonsus Liguori cries,

Jesus on the cross! Behold the proof of the love of God.16

Man was made to be in relationship with God, and God has permitted sin in order that this end, when attained, can be more beautiful, delightful, and profound. Because of original sin, God and Man were separated in order to be reconciled. As a result of original sin, God has shown his love for us in a way that would have been impossible otherwise. This is why original sin is commemorated in the Exsultet; this is why Adam’s sin is a “happy fault.”

I have been speaking of original sin in this essay, but what I have said can also be applied to actual sin. As with original sin, actual sin in and of itself is evil and entirely unworthy of celebration. At the same time, and provided that the sinner repents, it occasions an enrichment of the sinner’s relationship with God. “Where sin abounded, grace did more abound.”17 I mention this not as an inducement to sin18 but to encourage the reader that God is able to use even our brokenness and sinfulness for our ultimate good.19 Let us rejoice therefore, not so much for our sins, but because on their account, we have

so great, so glorious a Redeemer.

  1. “The Exsultet: The Proclamation of Easter,” usccb.org, United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, https://www.usccb.org/prayer-worship/liturgical-year/easter/easter-proclamation-exsultet ↩︎
  2. “Catechism of the Catholic Church,” par 27, usccb.org, United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, https://www.usccb.org/sites/default/files/flipbooks/catechism/14/ ↩︎
  3. 2 Corinthians 5:8 ↩︎
  4. Exodus 33:18 ↩︎
  5. Apocalypse 19:7-9 ↩︎
  6. Luke 15:4-9 ↩︎
  7. Luke 15:7 ↩︎
  8. Cf. Thomas Aquinas, “Summa Theologica,” II-II, Q23, A1, https://www.newadvent.org/summa/3023.htm#article1; Aristotle, “Nicomachean Ethics,” Book VIII, Ch. 3, https://classics.mit.edu/Aristotle/nicomachaen.8.viii.html ↩︎
  9. Cf. Dominican Friars of the Province of Saint Joseph, “JD Vance, Thomas Aquinas, and the Ordo Amoris,” 23:46-50, posted 17 Apr. 2025, by Godsplaining, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pu415j4KLj0 ↩︎
  10. 1 John 3:18 ↩︎
  11. Romans 5:8-9a; 1 John 3:16 ↩︎
  12. John 15:13 (Douay-Rheims) ↩︎
  13. 1 Timothy 15:17a (Douay-Rheims) ↩︎
  14. 1 John 2:2 (Douay-Rheims) ↩︎
  15. Romans 5:19 ↩︎
  16. Alphonsus Liguori, The Passion and the Death of Jesus Christ, trans. Eugene Grimm (Elias Schauer, 1886), 449 ↩︎
  17. Romans 5:20b (Douay-Rheims) ↩︎
  18. Cf. Romans 6:1-2 ↩︎
  19. Cf. Romans 8:28; 2 Corinthians 12:9 ↩︎

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