"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!

Personal Ambition Minus God

In the first reading for the feast of Pentecost, Gen. 11: 1-9, we are shown the time when "[t]he whole world spoke the same language, using the same words. While the people were migrating in the east, they came upon a valley in the land of Shinar and settled there.They said to one another, 'Come, let us mold bricks and harden them with fire.' They used the bricks for stone, and bitumen for mortar. Then they said, 'Come, let us build ourselves a city and a tower with its top in the sky, and so make a name for ourselves; otherwise we shall be scattered all over the earth.'....The Lord came down.... [and] said: ....Let us...go down there and confuse their language, so that one will not understand what another says.'"

What a familiar scene. Here we are in 2017 and the slogan being tossed around by our leaders is: Let's make America great again."  That goal is not much different from "Let's make a name for ourselves."

What a foolish people we are when our sole goal  is  to "make a name for ourselves," "to make America No. 1." Becoming #1 is not what Jesus teaches us in the Scriptures or by His life here on earth.  Are we not being tempted the same as Adam and Eve were tempted by Satan when Satan said to them: "...[Y]our eyes will be opened and you will be like gods" (Gen 3:5).  What is happening to us, I believe,  resembles what happened to the people in the land of Shinar, that is, many are becoming more and more confused. Like Adam and Eve, however, I hope that  "our eyes [will be] opened [in time] and [we will realize] that we [are] naked, (Gen 3;7),  as the Holy Spirit is poured out upon us anew this Pentecost.

Your thoughts?

The "You-Don't-Really-Believe-That,-Do-You?" Trap

In today’s first reading, Gen. 3: 1-8, we are given the story of the fall of Adam and Eve.  The serpent, “the  most cunning of all the animals that the Lord God had made, asked the woman, “did God really tell you not to eat from any of the trees in the garden?”  How often does Satan not say to us: “Is that really true that…?” We can fill in the blank easily!  “Does the Church really say that?” “Are you sure that that is what the commandment means?” “You don’t really believe that, do you?” And on and on.  It is so easy to get trapped or to be the one setting a trap for another.  Satan is cunning, no doubt at all!  Imagine, Satan telling Eve and Adam, who was also present, that God lied to you, telling you that you shall die if you eat of the fruit of the tree in the middle of the garden. “No, God knows well that the moment you eat of it your eyes will be opened and you will be like gods who know what is good and what is evil.”   How clever! Whenever we go contrary to God’s will, whenever we sin, our eyes are opened but not in the way that Satan suggest. No, we become aware of our nakedness, our shame.  Satan’s play on words is phenomenal and how often do we not fall for his trickery!

Adam and Eve fell into a hole from which they could not climb out by themselves.  “The woman saw that the tree was good for food, pleasing to the eyes, and desirable for gaining wisdom. So she…ate it; and …gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he [also] ate it.”  How many times are we not lured by that which appears “pleasing to the eyes, and desirable for gaining wisdom.” In that deception, humans kill babies in the womb, the Supreme Court legalizes abortion and gay marriages, the Congress passes bills that make the rich richer and the poor poorer without enough money to support their families, government deficits are reduced by cutting education and healthcare access for the minorities, and on and on and on! Yes, Satan, “the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour” (1 Peter 5:8).

By God’ grace may we not be that someone! May we remain alert and recognize our dependence upon the Lord’s mercy and unconditional love. Left to ourselves we cannot climb out of the holes into which we fall. How gracious of our God to have saved us by the death of His only begotten Son.