We have the good and the bad, the best and the worst,
in today’s Scripture. Fortunately, God
is present in the best as we see in the story from Mark, as well as in the
worst, as we see in the story from Genesis.
What a consolation it is to know that doing the will
of God makes us brother, sister, or mother to Jesus. The people surrounding Jesus must have grinned
from ear to ear when they heard that, as undoubtedly Mary, His mother, did, as
she humbly heard Him from outside.
Doing God’s will needs to be our one desire, at all
times and in all things. At times, we
fail to do that, sometimes miserably, but “with the Lord there is mercy and
fullness of redemption,” and our God is always a God of second chances.
We learn that in the first reading from Genesis
3. Adam and Eve have sinned. They did the one thing that God told them not
to do. We have done the same thing since we too share in the effects of original
sin. But God does not abandon them. Instead, the Lord God calls to the man and the
woman and asks some serious questions: Where are you? Who told you sinned? Why
did you do such a thing? God wants to teach them, not shame them. God knows that if they consider what they
have done, they will realize that it was wrong, and as God continues to speak
to them, they will grow in hope for the future, even as they feel the
consequences of their sin.
God knew where Adam was, of course. And Adam had been naked all along and never
felt the need to hide before this, so there is obviously more going on
here. God wants Adam to think about
where he is now that that has sinned.
God might as well have asked, “So what now? What do you think? Was that worth it? What are you going to do next?” We would do well to think of the Lord asking
us the same questions after we have sinned. The questions are meant to be helpful, to lead
to repentance and to change. Answering
them honestly, we are ready to start over again, to do what God asks.
God’s second question points out to Adam that he has
within him the ability to recognize when he has done something wrong. God designed us with a conscience, the
knowledge of right from wrong, and to have the experience of regret when we
have disobeyed. We need to pay attention
to our conscience and then set about to make things right again, rather than try
to avoid and forget. God wants to speak
to us when we have sinned, and when we are honest in response, we begin to let
the Lord put us on higher ground.
The last question which the Lord God addresses to
Eve is perhaps the one most needed, “Why did you do such a thing?” Again, when
we are honest, instead of being blaming others, as Eve did, and Adam before
her, we can grow in virtue. Once we know
our weaknesses, the holes that we can fall into, we are able to be on guard and
to do what we can to avoid the possibilities of sinning again. This is a life-long process, but God is
always willing to offer us the grace we need to make progress.
There are gifts, then, that we ought to ask the Lord
to give us. First, we need the desire to
do God’s will more than anything else in our life. Second, after we have sinned, we need to set
aside fear and shame, and instead seek an honest conversation with the Lord,
ideally one that leads to a celebration of the Sacrament of
Reconciliation. Third, we need to ask
for perseverance, for the willingness to get up every single time we fall. We need to recognize the whisper of the evil one
to give in, to not worry, to take a break from being good. If we are to be like a brother, sister, or
mother to Jesus, we cannot afford such temptations. Instead, it has to be God’s will, no matter
how many times it takes. What is better than being like a brother, sister, or
mother to Jesus?
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