“The closer one approaches to God, the simpler one becomes.” (Saint Teresa of Avila).
I recently saw an artwork called, “Eve, Paradise Lost” by Paver Popov. This painting depicts the moment after Adam and Eve are cast out of the Garden of Eden. And I have been unable to remove the image of that artwork from my mind…
You see, the background of the image is completely bare. The ground is cracked and barren and dry. And there – in the centre of the image – is the naked couple, Adam and Eve – concealing their nudity. There they lie – Eve, completed prostrated with grief bowed over the husband, and Adam, face turned up to the sky crying in anguish…
And I have been thinking about that moment following the casting out of humans from the Garden of Eden… in the past when I have reflected on that moment of darkness, which is the fall of human kind, I have focused on the moment of temptation by the Evil One and then, on the moment of discovery by God the Father…
But, after seeing that painting the other day, my attention was drawn in a very different direction… You see, through a consideration of this artwork, I was able to see another pivotal moment in the story of the Fall of Humanity… For this artwork showed me the anguish in the moment AFTER…
How did it feel to the beloved children of God to be suddenly denied the perfection of the Garden of Eden and cast out into the world away from their Beloved God? I mean in theory, they just went about their day living in the world beyond the Garden of Eden. In theory, they went to sleep that night and woke up the next morning and got started on their normal routine…
But now that I come to think of it, I cannot imagine the terrible bitter anguish and despair that enveloped their souls through their separation from God following their banishment from the Garden. And not – upon reflection – I cannot image a more terrible pain than their realisation of all that they had lost…
How could they have ever imagined how terrible the world would be outside of the Garden? You see, God made the Garden of Eden and it was good and He knew that it was perfect for the needs of humans. How could poor poor Eve or her poor husband Adam have ever imagined the paradox of sacrifice and suffering as a mechanism for sanctification – they who had never suffered or known suffering of any kind…? How could they ever have imagined a world where they could not see the Face of God? They had lived – after all – in the clear and direct light of God since their creation…
Saint Teresa of Avila said, “The closer one approaches to God, the simpler one becomes.” And it occurs to me that the inverse is also true. And this means that when Eve and Adam distanced themselves from God through Original Sin, they were suddenly overwhelmed with complications…
And so, as I consider that artwork and reflect on the moment after their expulsion from the Garden of Eden, it occurs to me that such terrible anguish must have consumed their souls. You see, the next morning Adam had to start WORKING for food and shelter. The next morning, Eve suffered the pangs of childbirth and was required to SUBMIT to Adam.
And it occurs to me today, that though I have been born into a world millennia after my earthly mother, Eve, it is for the very fact that I have been born AFTER that I should be crying my anguish to God for the terrible offences that I have caused and which – without His sacrifice on the Cross – have damned me…
For with prayer, I stand on Holy Ground where everything is clear. Here. At the Foot of the Cross.
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