"Where are you," God asks Adam

Today we celebrate the feast of our Blessed Mother as Mother of the Church. Today's first reading, Gen 3: 9-15, 20, gives us the story of Adam and Eve's disobedience to God's command not to eat of the fruit of the tree in the middle of the Garden. After his disobedience, "the Lord God called to the man and asked him, 'Where are you?' [Adam] answered, 'I heard you in the garden; but I was afraid, because I was naked, so I hid myself.' Then [God] asked, 'Who told you that you were naked? You have eaten, then, from the tree of which I  had forbidden  you to eat?'"

"I was afraid because I was naked, so I hid myself."  How often do you and I not hide ourselves from God. Following a moment of disobeying the Spirit, we know that we have done wrong, feel ashamed, and, frequently, attempt to hide in shame of our wrongdoing!  Not only that, like Adam who blamed Eve and Eve who blamed the serpent, we look for someone or something to blame rather than accepting our responsibility upfront by saying "I sinned, Lord," or to another person confronting us "I'm guilty of what you are accusing me..

Note, too, that God came looking for Adam. God knew and cared! God also looks for us when we disobey, not to condemn us but to bring us to the truth, as the truth alone sets us free!  God desires our freedom. God wants us to come out of hiding!  We need our energy for doing good. Hiding zaps that energy!

Also, note that shame or feeling naked comes from doing wrong! It is not other people shaming us but the act of wrongdoing in itself shames us. The shame comes from within, not from without. What a gift put within us and calling us back to being upright with God, ourselves and others! Why? Because God loves us, redeems us and sanctifies us when we stray from the right path!

Lessons from Genesis 3: 9-24

In today's first reading, Genesis 3: 9-24, we are given the story of God's concerns over Adam and Eve. He is looking for them and calls out to Adam: "Where are you," Adam? Adam hears God calling and comes "clean," that is he tells God the truth about himself:   "I heard you in the garden; but I was afraid, because I was naked, so I hid myself."

"Where are you?"  God asks you and me that same question when we have done something inappropriate, unkind, uncaring, unwise, and, yes, sinful, that is, we have turned away from doing what we have been asked by God to do or not to do.  As with Adam, God cares! His caring does not mean that God will take away the consequences of our wrongdoing but it does mean that God will take precautions to protect us from the Evil One, as He did in the Garden of Eden.

When God asks Adam: "Who told you that you were naked," He gets right to the point: "You have eaten, then,  from the tree of which I had forbidden you to eat!" You and I need to learn to get right to the point and not hem around the bush when we know for certain that a wrong has been committed or that another person's behavior is inappropriate, that person being someone over whom we have authority or with whom we have made an agreement that has been violated:  a child, an employee, a spouse, a friend.

Another part of this story upon which it is important to reflect is Adam and Eve's response to God: neither owes up to his/her responsibility in doing wrong. Adam blames Eve. Eve blames the serpent.  We have this same inclination to blame someone/something outside of ourselves for the mistakes we have made!  We take ourselves "off the hook," so to speak! Only the truth will make us free and give us the wisdom we need to learn from our mistakes!

Help us, Lord, that we may have the courage to acknowledge that we have heard your voice, that we have been in hiding because we know that we have done wrong and that we have allowed ourselves to get trapped by Satan's lies.  Help us, Lord, to stop the blame game and take responsibility for our behaviors!

The Cunning Ways of Fallen Angels

Today's first reading, Genesis 3: 1-8, we are given the story of the temptation both Eve and Adam faced in the Garden of Eden. Both failed the test!  Satan is a fallen angel, an intelligent being bent on turning us away from God and believing that we ourselves are gods. When deceived by fallen angels, we act as a god, totally independent of any authority outside of ourselves. We then boast of our independence and believe that we are truly wise.  "God knows well," Satan tells us, that the moment [we choose independence from God or others, we will be wise, like God and, Satan says to us:] "your eyes we be opened and you will be like gods who know what is good and what is evil [--you need surrender to no one] and they realized that they were naked; so they sewed fig leaves together and made loinclothes for themselves. When they heard the sound of the Lord moving about in the garden at the breezy time of the day, [they] hid themselves from the Lord God among the trees of the garden."


When you and I are being tempted do what is wrong, that is, to walk away from God, rejecting God's will and choosing your own in any circumstance, we know in the core of our beings what we are doing.  Adam and Eve knew. As soon as they gave in to the temptation to "be like gods," their eyes "were opened, and they realized that they were naked."  What do you and I do when we act like gods and do what we know is not right or just, we, like Adam and Eve, try to hide the truth. The closer another comes to what is really true in confronting us, the louder we protest--we erect bigger trees, speak bigger lies,  build bigger walls behind which we hide!

In the responsorial psalm of today's liturgy, Psalm 32, we pray:  "Blessed [are those] whose fault is taken away, whose sin is covered. Blessed [are those] to whom the Lord imputes not guilt, in whose spirit there is no guile [because they have] acknowledged [their] sin..., [their] guilt they] covered not."

May you and I not cover our guilt when we are acting as gods or seeking to be a god and not servants of the Living God, our Master!  Lord, our our eyes when we are turning away from you and erecting ourselves as an idol!