De Recreacio

The Fall and the Need for Restoration

The author explains how the disobedience of Adam and Eve brought sin, death, and separation from God upon all humanity.

Recreation is recovering what our Lord God had lost in his people, and it's taking back from the devil the power he held over us.¹ Son, the entire human race fell into sin and error through our first father Adam and our mother Eve, who disobeyed God, the Lord of glory; for that reason, it was necessary for sin to be conquered and overcome by the one who is more opposed to sin than anything else. When God—blessed be he!— had created Adam and Eve and placed them in the earthly paradise, he commanded Adam that he might eat of all the fruits except one; for if he ate of that one, he would surely die. And the devil in the form of a serpent came to our mother Eve and advised her to bring it about that Adam would eat of the fruit God had forbidden him; and because Adam ate of that fruit and was disobedient to our Lord God, this death and this hardship that you see in us fell upon us for that reason, and discord arose between God and the human race.² If Adam had not sinned and had not broken God's commandment, no human being would die, nor would anyone have hunger or thirst or heat or sickness or toil; but because of original sin, know, my son, that we all fell under the wrath of God, and Adam and Eve were cast out of paradise on the very day they had been placed there.

The Mystery of the Incarnation

The Son of God took on human nature through the Virgin Mary to reconcile humanity to God through his life and Passion.

Everyone who died went into the fire of hell until it pleased the sovereign Father that His Son should take flesh from Our Lady Saint Mary by the grace of the Holy Spirit. Then, the Son of God, by grace and compassion, came into a virgin maiden named Our Lady Saint Mary, who was of the lineage of David.³⁴ The Son of God took on flesh and was born of that maiden while she remained a virgin, without any corruption or loss of her virginity. From her was born both God and man—our Lord Jesus Christ—in whom there are two natures, the divine and the human, yet those two natures are only one person.⁵ Jesus Christ came into the world to recreate it and lift up the fallen human race; it was raised up through the true union of the divine nature and the human nature, and by the labor and Passion he endured for love of us.^✦^✦⁶⁷

A Call to Faith and Obedience

The reader is urged to believe in Christ to receive the benefits of his re-creation and to avoid the grave consequences of sin and disobedience.

Son, you must believe in this Lord Jesus Christ of whom I'm speaking to you; for if you didn't, you would not be recreated, nor would the guilt given to you by the first father be lifted from you—the guilt in which the Jews and the Saracens and the other unbelievers remain, because they don't believe in the coming or the passion of our Lord Jesus Christ.⁸ If sin and being disobedient to God is so evil a thing that for one single sin alone we were all under God's wrath, and to wipe out that sin the Son of God was willing to become incarnate, and the humanity he took on had to endure anguish and toil and a hard death—then guard yourself from sin, son, for through sin a person is disobedient to the Most High, and God is the enemy of a person when that person sins.^✦^✦⁹ And through disobedience and through sin, sinners go into everlasting fire to endure anguish and toil and to lose the eternal glory of our Lord God.^✦

Read the original Latin

Recreacio es recobrar so que avia perdut nostre Senyor Deus en son poblé, e recreacio es tolre al demoni son poder, lo qual avia sobre nos altres.

En peccat e en error cahec, fill, tot lumenal linatge per nostro primer pare Adam e per nostra mare Eva, qui foren desobedients a Deu senyor de gloria; e per assó covench quel peccat fos vensut e sobrat per aquell qui es pus contrari a peccat que neguna altra cosa.

Con Deus ¡beneyt sia ell! hach creat Adam e Eva els hach mesos en paradís terrenal, ell feu manament a Adam que de tots los fruyts menjás enfora dun; car si d aquell menjava, segur fos de mort. E l demoni en forma de serpent vench a nostra mare Eva e conseyáli que ella feés tant que Adam menjás del fruyt que Deus li avia vedat; e car Adam menjá d aquell fruyt e fo desobedient a nostro Senyor Deu, per assó cahec esta mort e est trebay que tu vous en nosaltres, e fo feta discordia entre Deu e lumenal linatge.

Si Adam no peccás ni passás lo manament de Deu, nul home no morirá ne agra fam ne set ne calor ne malautia ne treball; mas per l original peccat, sapies, fill, que tuyt cayguérem en la ira de Deu, e Adam e Eva foren gitats de paradís en aquell dia en lo qual hi foren mesos.

Tots aquells qui muríen anaven en foch infernal, destró que plach al subirá Pare que son fill presés carn de nostra dona Santa María per gracia de Sant Esperit: on adonchs lo Fill de Deu per gracia e pietat vench en una doncella verge qui es apellada nostra dona Sancta María, la qual fo del linatge de Daviu.

En , aquella donzella lo Fill de Deu fo encarnat e nasqué ella estant verge, sens que no fo corrumpuda ne perdé sa vergenitat: de la qual donzella nasqué Deu e home ensems, so es, nostro Senyor Jhesu Christ, en lo qual son dues natures, so es a saber, natura divina e natura humana: les quals dues natures son una persona tan solament.

Aquest Jhesu Christ vench en lo mon per recrear lo mon e per exalsar lumanal linatge qui era caygut, e lo qual fo exalsat ab ver ajustament de natura divina e de natura humana e ab lo treball e passio que sostench per amor de nosaltres.

Fill, a creure te cové en aquest Senyor Jhesu Christ de que yot parle; car si nou feyes, no series recreat ne seria levada de tu la colpa la qual te fo donada per lo primer pare, en la qual son los jueus e ls sarrayns e ls altres infeels, per so car no creen en laveniment ne en la passio de nostro Senyor Jhesu Christ.

Si tan mala cosa es peccat e esser desobedient a Deu, que per un peccat tan solament fom tuyt en la ira de Deu, e per aquell peccat a delir, lo Fill de Deu ne volch esser encarnat e a la humanitat quen pres li covench sostenir angoxes e treballs e greu morí; guarda t, fill, de peccat, car per peccat es hom desobedient al Altisme, e Deu es enamich dom con hom fa peccat. E per la desobediencia e per lo peccat van los peccadors en foch perdurable a sostenir angoxes e treballs e perdre la eternal gloria de nostro Senyor Deu.

Scripture echoes

↩1Tim.1.15;John.3.16-John.3.17;John.1.9-John.1.11 — The saying is trustworthy and worthy of full acceptance: Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am the foremost. John.3.16 — For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but have eternal life. John.3.17 — For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him. John.1.9 — The true light, which gives light to everyone, was coming into the world. John.1.10 — He was in the world, and the world came into being through him, yet the world did not know him. John.1.11 — He came to his own, and his own people did not receive him.
↩Gal.2.20;Rom.5.8 — I have been crucified with Christ, and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. Rom.5.8 — But God demonstrates his own love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.
↩John.1.14;Gal.4.4-Gal.4.5;Heb.2.14 — And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld his glory, glory as of the only-begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth. Gal.4.4 — But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son, born of a woman, born under the law, Gal.4.5 — in order to redeem those under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons. Heb.2.14 — Since, therefore, the children have shared in blood and flesh, he himself also in like manner partook of the same, so that through death he might destroy the one having the power of death, that is, the devil,
↩Jas.4.4;Rom.8.7 — Adulteresses, do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity toward God? Whoever therefore chooses to be a friend of the world is constituted an enemy of God. Rom.8.7 — Because the mind of the flesh is hostile to God, for it does not submit to the law of God, for it is not able to do so—
↩Rom.3.23 — For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,

Notes

1 ↩Catalan recreacio here is the chapter’s technical term for spiritual re-creation/restoration (recovery of what was lost and defeat of the devil’s hold), not leisure or amusement.
2 ↩Old Catalan trebay/treball: rendered as 'hardship' to cover toil, labor, and the misery of fallen life; 'toil' or 'travail' would also fit.
3 ↩Medieval Catalan pietat here is divine pity/compassion toward fallen humanity, not mere human piety; rendered as compassion.
4 ↩Source spelling Daviu is the standard Old Catalan form of David; translated as David.
5 ↩Old Catalan 'sens que no fo corrumpuda ne perdé sa vergenitat' is a double-negative construction: without her being corrupted and without her losing her virginity (perpetual virginity at the Incarnation and birth).
6 ↩Catalan recrear / chapter title De Recreacio: theological re-creation (restoration after the Fall), not leisure. Kept as re-create to match the catechetical term used again in the next section (recreat).
7 ↩lumanal linatge = l'umanal linatge, 'the human race/lineage.' ajustament = true joining/union of natures (hypostatic-union language).
8 ↩Catalan recreat / recreació (chapter title De Recreacio) is Llull's technical term for humanity's restoration through Christ's incarnation and passion, not leisure; rendered as recreated to keep that force.
9 ↩"greu morí" is read as the noun phrase greu mort (a hard/bitter death), parallel to angoxes e treballs as objects of sostenir; less likely as "and he died hard."

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