erit by overcoming its temptations; and also
that we may be kept humble by remembering our former sinful and unhappy
state.

50 Q. Was anyone ever preserved from Original Sin?
A. The Blessed Virgin Mary, through the merits of her divine Son, was
preserved free from the guilt of Original Sin, and this privilege is
called her Immaculate Conception.

The Blessed Virgin was to be the Mother of the Son of God. Now it would
not be proper for the Mother of God to be even for one moment the
servant of the devil, or under his power. If the Blessed Virgin had been
in Original Sin, she would have been in the service of the devil.
Whatever disgraces a mother disgraces also her son; so Our Lord would
never permit His dear Mother to be subject to the devil, and
consequently He, through His merits, saved her from Original Sin. She is
the only one of the whole human race who enjoys this great privilege,
and it is called her "Immaculate Conception," that is, she was
conceived--brought into existence by her mother--without having any spot
or stain of sin upon her soul, and hence without Original Sin.

Our Lord came into the world to crush the power which the devil had
exercised over men from the fall of Adam. This He did by meriting grace
for them and giving them this spiritual help to withstand the devil in
all his attacks upon them. As the Blessed Mother was never under the
devil's power, next to God she has the greatest strength against him,
and she will help us to resist him if we seek her aid. The devil himself
knows her power and fears her, and if he sees her coming to our
assistance will quickly fly. Never fail, then, in time of temptation to
call upon our Blessed Mother; she will hear and help you and pray to God
for you.

Lesson 6
ON SIN AND ITS KINDS

51 Q. Is Original Sin the only kind of sin?
A. Original Sin is not the only kind of sin; there is another kind of
sin which we commit ourselves, called actual sin.

Sin is first or chiefly divided into original and actual; that is, into
the sin we inherit from our first parents and the sin we commit
ourselves. We may commit "actual" sin in two ways; either by doing what
we should not do--stealing, for example--and thus we have a sin of
commission, that is, a bad act committed; or by not doing what we should
do--not hearing Mass on Sunday, for example--and thus we have a sin of
omission, that is, a good act omitted. So it is not enough to simply do
no harm, we must a