The "Fall" and The season of Fall

The following is an excerpt from “The Princess Guide: Faith Lessons from Snow White, Cinderella, and Sleeping Beauty” (Servant Books, 2015).

Just through east coast living, I have become a bit of an apple connoisseur. Autumn is filled with everything apple: apple pie, apple butter, apple cider, applesauce, and one of my favorites, caramel apples. Have you ever made caramel apples? They are delicious, and they look beautiful too! You know the process: Take your choice apple, put a stick in it, dip it in that creamy warm liquid called caramel, and finish it off by dressing it with an array of toppings, such as coconut, crushed Oreos, chocolate sprinkles, and marshmallows. I’ll bet just hearing about it makes you want one right now! Isn’t that just how temptation works? In reality, every woman’s apple of temptation is dressed differently.

Let us pull back paradise’s botanical curtain and once again reflect on original temptation and sin. Remember the serpent’s cunning script?

Now the serpent was more subtle than any other wild creature that the Lord God had made. He said to the woman, “Did God say, ‘You shall not eat of any tree of the garden’?” And the woman said to the serpent, “We may eat of any fruit of the trees of the garden; but God said, ‘You shall not eat of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, neither shall you touch it, lest you die.’” But the serpent said to the woman,

“You will not die. For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” So when the woman saw the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and the tree was to be desired to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate; and she also gave some to her husband, and he ate. (Genesis 3:1–6).

Face it: Satan made things look pretty appealing. He played the mind games, he lied, and he managed to convince Eve that God was holding out on her, all by dressing sin in a disguise. Some may say it looked as pretty as a caramel apple.

This same costumed apple exists in fairy tales, as well. In Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, we get the benefit of seeing behind the scenes, peering into the enemy’s pome preparation—a rather dramatic process beginning with a bubbling hot cauldron of liquid that is far from the innocence of golden caramel. A dainty, dangling apple is placed in the poisonous potion, and the curse is spoken by the cunning queen. When the apple emerges, blue goo drips from it, and we get a glimpse of the reality that is now set within it, seeing the face of death upon it. “The apple was so cunningly made.”The queen knows that anything that looks like death is not appealing. So, with some final words, the apple’s toxic truth is masked. “Outside it looked pretty, white with a red cheek, so that everyone who saw it longed for it; but whoever ate a piece of it would surely die.”

Undoubtedly, sin and temptation often have a very attractive appearance. If they didn’t, no one would struggle with them. Moreover, sin holds empty promises, which is usually the thing that makes us desire a bite. We are convinced (even just subconsciously) that when we enter into a sin, it will be the answer to a need or desire. Also, sin is takingsomething that was once a good and twisting it; that’s all Satan can do. He steals; he does not create—he’s just not that powerful.

Protect yourselves from moments of temptation by forming your conscience, so you can determine if an action is right or wrong— seeking to act on true knowledge instead of acting in the moment, or on emotion. “Moral conscience, present at the heart of the person, enjoins him at an appropriate moment to do good and to avoid evil. It also judges particular choices, approving those that are good and denouncing those that are evil” (CCC1777). Our freedom is found not in eating tainted grub, but by freely choosing what is good and of God. “Man has the right to act in conscience and in freedom so as personally to make moral decisions” (CCC1782). God doesn’t force us to do good, even if it is best for us. This is where our free will comes in; we must choose.