I think I’ve always perceived the Garden of Eden as being like heaven, which Adam and Eve lost. But reading Divine Mercy, meditation number 127 – The Value of Suffering, I now see Eden in a new light.
Adam and Eve SAW and FELT many wonderful things in Eden, but I don’t think they really KNEW God, and His amazing love. They had nothing to compare to. Perhaps that’s why Jesus alluded we need to become as little children to gain heaven. A child has free will, but it knows deeply how much it is loved. It cherishes that love above all else. It wants to be held, always looking upward for the parent’s smile. A child, in growing, may be curious or even do things it was told not to do, but that love it desires overcomes anything they might choose. It wants to choose what will make its parent smile.
When Adam and Eve were tempted in the Garden, they knew what God had told them, but they chose to do something they were told would make themselves happy. I don’t think they truly knew the depth of God’s love. There is only one God; all the others are idols and not gods, even ourselves.
In the Old Testament the Jews learned God chose them and He promised --- and gave --- them many good things, which would continue if they obeyed Him. But they constantly got used to things, forgot all He had done for them, and wanted more. At a point they said “You’re not giving us what we want,” and took a king. And they found the earthly kings did not give them what they wanted either, but mostly got things they wanted for themselves. In exiles, in tortures, and in sufferings, they were a very unhappy people. If only they could have put on the mind of a child and trusted in God and His Love.
Finally, Jesus came. Adam and Eve were free to choose and eventually (inevitably?) chose themselves. In choosing to create their own happiness, they didn’t understand God’s love. They never came forward asking for His forgiveness for their sin. Jesus came to show us how to live, how to love, and how to choose. And He showed us a huge lesson: Even as every child will undergo some suffering along the way, to help it grow, so Jesus/God showed us that He CHOSE suffering, because it had great value, as does ours. We can perceive with much greater awareness what Adam and Eve could not: God loves us, and will never leave us alone, and wants us to be with Him always. We need to trust in that love, even in our suffering and sin, and choose to ask for His forgiveness. And then trust, and wait, confidently.
To them that love God, all things work together unto good. (Rom 8:28)
All men are subject to misery, (but) the Christian alone posses the secret of accepting it.
Jesus transformed the cross, a terrible instrument of torture, into a most efficacious instrument for the glory of God and the salvation of mankind. It is the same for us: charity, the love of God and of souls, will enable us to accept any kind of suffering, harmonizing it with our loftiest aspirations. In this way, suffering finds a place, a very important place in our life. --- Divine Intimacy
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Before I typed this posting, I listened to the latest podcast from Fr. John Riccardo’s Acts XXIX (Number 172). I think it might be the best of all of those podcasts. It is titled: Do You Trust Me? I strongly recommend you take the time to listen. It brought tears to my eyes. He mentioned the Surrender Novena, which I pray daily, as he now does. I mentioned here how it changed the life of a man with life-long depression. Fr. John also mentioned how he had stopped praying his night prayers before bed --- as I had, but will start again. His assistant quoted “We have a crippled understanding of God, “ and “Mary knows God.” A mother knows her child, and loves him. Listening to that 25 minute podcast is time well worth spending, and spending again.
Finally, as a witness about knowing and trusting God, (and
not believing in coincidences) last Sunday when I took communion to a home-bound
woman, as I do a few times a week, she said she had been sick and bed-ridden
for a few days, and just now recalled “I didn’t consume the communion you brought
last time.” I confirmed it still
remained in the pyx holder, and told her that was okay; God was with her in her
trailer to watch over her in her illness.
I’m sure it was a good thing; you can consume it now. So, I left, with a communion host I didn’t have
plans for. I prayed a couple of times as
I ran about that afternoon, and then I went to the chapel to pray with a couple
of other friends. Afterward, one
mentioned that another friend, who was usually praying with us on Sunday afternoons,
had fallen and was weak, and unable to get out to join us. Since she hadn’t gotten out to church, I
called and offered her communion, and when I gave her the Body of Christ, which on this day I still
had available, she cried in joy. As I’ve
said many times, there are no coincidences.
Just Trust in God. All things are
for a reason, even suffering. I think the sufferings of those two women overlapped, and God was present with both.
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