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Writer's pictureSarah Raad

Eve

It is Our Blessed Mother who lifts us up to God!

The Assumption of the Virgin (Nicholas Poussin)

Last night I could not sleep very well. There was really nothing wrong, but I could not seem to settle. And then in the light of the early morning dawn I had a thought – an inspired thought I shall call it – and after that I closed my eyes and fell fast asleep.


And the thought was this.


Original Sin was the sin of Eve – the first woman – when she gave into the temptations of the Evil One. The Evil One tempted the woman, Eve, to rely on his promptings and her own power over that of her Heavenly Father. And because of that temptation, Eve fell. She gave into temptation and ate from the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. And after she ate of the fruit of that tree, a part of her became just a little bit like the Evil One.


After all, what was the Evil One doing in the Garden of Eden anyway? Why was he there? What was his mission?


Well, God allowed him to be there. God allows him to roam the Earth still. That is God’s Will.


But the reason he was there was to corrupt others to fall as he had fallen. After all, why should he suffer alone and in torment in Hell when he could take other souls there too and inflict the same torment he suffered, on them. Think about it… The Evil One is cruel and he is jealous and he is hateful and he is mean. All these things mean that the Evil One detracts from others and causes them pain. He willingly inflicts pain on others. After all, if he is going down – as the old saying goes – he is not going down alone, he is taking others with him!


And when I say that Eve became just a little bit like the Evil One for giving into his temptation, what I mean is that she also became just a little bit cruel and jealous and hateful and mean. She did the wrong thing, and she knew, all of a sudden, the gravity of her sin and the offence she had committed against God. And what did she do in response? She called the first man – Adam – and she passed on the temptation to him. She encouraged him to sin as well. You see, she too – like the Evil One – was not going to go down alone, she was taking others with her…

And then God came into the Garden and He saw the man and the woman… “Then the Lord God said to the woman, ‘What is this you have done?’” (Genesis 3:13).

When I was a little girl, I used to think that God SHOUTED those words in anger at the woman and then at the man. But these days I do not see that scene in the same way at all… Now I imagine the Tears in His Holy Eyes. Now I imagine His Terrible Infinite Sorrow. He knew – even then – what would have to happen to save these worthless two. He knew what would have to happen to save worthless me and to save you and your children even until the end of the world...


It is as though a toddler tipped a 5-litre bottle of their mother’s best Olive Oil and their father’s best bottle of Grange Red Wine onto new pristine white carpet. The carpet would be ruined – nothing could ever remove the stains. And their mother would look at them and cry, “What is this you have done?” with tears in her eyes and sorrow. Her heart would break at the work required to clean up this mess and the damage that could never be undone.


And all of this reaction and that mother would not have to sacrifice HER MOST BELOVED SON – the Second Person of the Holy Trinity – the restore order. Instead she would pay a little money (or a lot) and spend a little time (or a lot) and pack the bottles away in the future…


I compare this woman – Eve – with Our Blessed Mother, who we call the New Eve. Just as Eve encouraged her spouse, Adam, to sin, the Blessed Mother encouraged her spouse, Saint Joseph, to saintliness. In fact, Saint Joseph is rightly regarded as the most powerful saint in the Holy Church – being the Foster Father of God Himself and the chaste spouse of His Holy Mother.


What is the difference between these two women – Eve and Our Blessed Mother? Well, it is really quite simple... Eve she pulls others down to sin, just as I do consciously and subconsciously... But Our Blessed Mother is truly remarkable… For it is Our Blessed Mother who LIFTS US UP TO GOD! She has such an aversion to sin that she chose never to sin so as not to offend God and her greatest desire is to call others to imitate that example of holiness…


As Pope Saint John Paul II said, “Taken up into Heaven, Mary shows us the way to God, the way to Heaven, the way to Life.”


I am a mother. My job is the lead. Please God, give me the strength to follow the example of my Immaculate Mother – for what joy there would be in leading my family along her Way…


For with prayer, I stand on Holy Ground where everything is clear. Here. At the Foot of the Cross.

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