Learn more about our faith | Why pray?
In the first three Chapters of the Book of Genesis, we hear about the creation of the world and all things in it. The story of creation is not a documentary that yields an accurate historical or scientific data. It is a spiritual lesson in story form telling us as much about God as it does about creation. Please notice that there are two stories of creation.
The first shows God’s work in the first seven days while the second is more about our first parents and their relationship with God. Adam and Eve enjoy a privileged, radiant, intimate relationship of harmony with God until the devil slithers into the picture in the disguise of a serpent.
The devil was jealous of our first parents and their closeness to God, so he talked them into rebelling against God. Thus, as Saint Paul said: "sin entered the world," a sin that has become part of our DNA, what we call 'Original sin.' It’s not like some 'thing' attached to us, rather it is more like a lack of something; that something important is missing.
That missing something is the original grace and friendship God blessed us with at the time of creation.
This original sin is a tendency in all of us to pride, selfishness, and self-centeredness.
It leads us to rebel against God as our first parents did. We see signs of it everywhere.
If we read the whole passage in Genesis, we see that sin affected not only our first parents' relationship with God, but it affected their relationship with each other.
They lost the joy they had in the Garden of Eden and had to struggle with the rest of creation just to survive. Our first reading does not go into that.
The part of the story that we hear in our first reading has the purpose of pointing out that, although we sin, God does not want us to remain in a state of alienation or social distance from him. Instead, God has a rescue mission.
This is good news for all of us! God confronts the serpent, the devil, the evil one, and said: "I will put enmity between you and the woman, between your offspring and hers." Enmity...in other words, all our lives we would be struggling with evil.
In a poetic way God announces that evil would not win in the struggle. He told the serpent: you might strike at his heel (i.e., you might be able to do some harm to the offspring of the woman), but he will strike at your head (which would imply a fatal blow). The powers of evil will not triumph - even though they often seem to when we look at the world.
Sin is a powerful force, one that humanity is unable to conquer on its own. And so, God sent his Son to come to our rescue.
God’s Son took on our human nature to show us the way back to a loving and harmonious friendship with God. He came to us through a woman whose goodness and holiness is not tainted by the sin that weakens the rest of us. She is full of grace from the very first moment of her existence.
God did not think it fitting for the mother of His Son to be touched by sin, for she would give birth to the One who would destroy sin and death in us, by His own death and resurrection.
When Mary was asked if she would be the mother of our Savior and Lord, she answered: "May it be done to me according to your word." The answer she gives is the way she lives her whole life, always ready to say "yes" to whatever God asks of her, and graciously follows His will.
And so, Jesus comes to us, He is born, He teaches, He heals, He forgives sins, He casts out demons, and He dies for us. Before ascending to the Father, He promises to be with us all days through the Sacraments.
As we honor the Immaculate Virgin Mary, we pray she may inspire us and help us to stay close to God and in his grace by always saying "yes" to God, just like Mary.
Father Wilfred J. Raymond, C.S.C. (Father Willy), a native of Old Town, Maine, is the eighth of 12 children. He joined the Congregation of Holy Cross in 1964 and was ordained to the priesthood in 1971. He earned a bachelor’s degree in philosophy from Stonehill College in 1967 and a master’s in Theology from the University of Notre Dame in 1971. He served in ministry at Stonehill College (1979-1992), Holy Cross leadership (1994-2000), National Director of Family Theater Productions, Hollywood (2000-2014), and President of Holy Cross Family Ministries (2014-2022). In addition to English, he is conversant in French and Spanish. He remains a diehard fan of the Boston Red Sox, even though he has served as Chaplain for the Los Angeles Dodgers.
