Second Person of the
Blessed Trinity, equal to His Father from all eternity.

*68 Q. Was Jesus Christ always man?
A. Jesus Christ was not always man, but became man at the time of His
Incarnation.

69 Q. What do you mean by the Incarnation?
A. By the Incarnation I mean that the Son of God was made man.

70 Q. How was the Son of God made man?
A. The Son of God was conceived and made man by the power of the Holy
Ghost, in the womb of the Blessed Virgin Mary.

*71 Q. Is the Blessed Virgin Mary truly the Mother of God?
A. The Blessed Virgin Mary is truly the Mother of God, because the same
Divine Person who is the Son of God is also the Son of the Blessed
Virgin Mary.

*72 Q. Did the Son of God become man immediately after the sin of our
first parents?
A. The Son of God did not become man immediately after the sin of our
first parents, but He was promised to them as a Redeemer.

God did not say to Adam when He would send the Redeemer, and so the
Redeemer did not come for about 4,000 years after He was first promised.
God permitted this long time to elapse in order that mankind might feel
and know how great an evil sin is, and what misery it brought upon the
world. During these 4,000 years men were becoming gradually worse. At
one time--about 1,600 years after Adam's sin--they became so bad that
God destroyed by a deluge, or great flood of water, all persons and
living things upon the earth, except Noe, his wife, his three sons and
their wives, and the animals they had in the ark with them. (Gen. 6).
Let me now give you more particulars about this terrible punishment.
After God determined to destroy all living things on account of the
wickedness of men, He told Noe, who was a good man, to build a great
ark, or ship, for himself and his family, and for some of all the living
creatures upon the earth. (Gen. 6). When the ark was ready, Noe and his
family went into it, and the animals that were to be saved came by God's
power, and two by two were taken into the ark. Besides the two of each
kind of animals, Noe was required to take with him five more of each
kind of clean animals. Clean animals were certain animals which,
according to God's law, could be offered in sacrifice or eaten; they
were such animals as the ox, the sheep, the goat, etc. Therefore, seven
of each of the clean animals, and two of each of the other kinds. Why
did He have seven clean animals? Two were to be set free upon the dry
earth with the other a