Reflection from 1st Mass Reading TodayAdam and Eve were Naked but Felt no Shame! Why?
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February 9, 2023Have we ever wondered why Adam and Eve, "the man and his wife were both naked, yet they felt no shame (Gen 2:25)"?It is because they were clothed in Light; the light of God's love, purity, holiness, etc. And, they had not yet been disobedient and eaten from the "tree of the knowledge of good and evil".All they knew was goodness, virtue and a Divine Life of Communion with God. They hadn't yet experienced the vices, the lusts of the flesh, which were what the tree of good and evil invited them into.A friend once said to me, it was probably good that Adam and Eve ate from the tree. Didn't they gain knowledge?Well... no. Not the knowledge that is good, true and helpful to our calling. They gained the knowledge of the concupiscence of the flesh."Concupiscence: Human appetites or desires which remain disordered due to the temporal consequences of original sin, which remain even after Baptism, and which produce an inclination to sin." (CCC Glossary)Adam and Eve chose to follow the fallen angel Lucifer and his minions in this incident, which took them from the many preternatural graces that God had bestowed upon them in the Garden.So where does this leave us now in this fallen world? We can have many different shames to weigh us down; whether it be nakedness of our bodies in a literal sense, or the nakedness of who we are as a whole before God: our thoughts and desires of the heart, our actions, our ways of living.This is why daily examination of conscience is so important, as well as frequent confession. This allows us to invite Jesus into the various shames and struggles of our hearts and lives, that He may redeem us in His Grace, re-clothe us in His Light and Love, heal us and divinize us that we may be drawn back into communion with Our Heavenly Father, and with one another in Him.May we all have the grace to turn wholeheartedly to God this day, expose our "naked" repentant hearts to Him and invite Him in. For in this our happiness lies."Through the Holy Spirit we are restored to paradise, led back to the Kingdom of heaven, and adopted as children, given confidence to call God "Father" and to share in Christ's grace, called children of light and given a share in eternal glory." St. Basil, De Spiritu Sancto, CCC 736.--"To Our Divine Eucharistic Bridegroom, through Our Immaculate Mother!"MOMEP.O. BOX 1503Picayune, MS 39466
