CHAPTER 1
The Creation and the Fall
"In the beginning," the Holy Book tells us, "God created the heavens and the earth, the earth was a formless wasteland, and darkness covered the abyss while a mighty wind swept over the waters" (Genesis1:1–2). This book of Genesis explains that God created everything and kept them in their proper places. He made a decision to create man: "Then God said, 'Let us make man in our image, after our likeness'"(Genesis 1:26). God obviously had a very clear picture of people before He created them. At creation, man was clean, pure, and innocent, just as God the creator desired him to be; he was made in the image and likeness of God Himself. God gave him authority over everything. He had created: plants, animals, birds, and the fish in the sea, which the Bible says were created in "their own kind." They were not created in the image of God, and so people were superior to them. Animals, birds, and all other creatures were made in a very simple way; God did not mold them as He did Adam. He simply made them by a divine fiat: "Let there be," and they came to be. Humans, as superior beings, had to be made by a creative act, and the Holy Scripture captures that historic moment:
The Lord God formed man out of the clay of the ground and blew into his nostrils the breath of life, and so man became a living being. (Genesis 2:7)
There you have it: "the clay of the ground" and God's "breath of life" created living beings who were endowed with wisdom. As the only rational creatures in the world, humans had the privilege of talking with God as children talk to their father. Sometimes God came down and walked around the garden with them. It was a glorious moment for them, who had nothing to fear and enjoyed moving around the garden, admiring other creatures that God had created and given them authority over. It was a privilege that would have lasted a lifetime. The book of Genesis tells us how God used to stroll in the garden in the evening. I try to imagine such a sight: God walking around and smiling at Adam as they exchanged pleasantries. Man was truly in paradise. Everything God created was good. There were no electronic gadgets, no high-speed Internet, and yet our first parents enjoyed life to the fullest. This was because God was their source of happiness. It is a lesson for modern men and women who think that life consists of possessions. They walked around and played with animals and birds in the garden, and no one was hurt or attacked because of the mutual harmony that existed among them. There was a perfect unity and peace among the created things of this universe, something a modern mind finds it difficult to imagine. It was such a glorious moment for humanity, the devil became jealous. Humans were the first to be created, but they had the singular privilege of being created in the image and likeness of God. They had a very cordial relationship with God until the devil entered the picture. The devil tempted them, who were a special creatures of God, and unfortunately they fell and were separated from God. They no longer enjoyed the comfort of His presence as they once did. After they disobeyed God, the relationship was no longer what it used to be; They were now afraid of God due to their guilty consciences. The book of Genesis records their first encounter with God after they disobeyed Him:
When they heard the sound of the Lord God moving about in the garden at the breezy time of the day, the man and his wife hid themselves from the Lord God among the trees in the garden. (Genesis 3:8)
The presence of God scared them because of their guilt. They had been ambitious, they wanted to be like God, and for this illicit ambition, they had made the biggest mistake of their lives, i.e., they listened to the devil. They lost paradise. God sent them out of the Garden of Eden. They had been close to God's heart when they listened to Him, but they were out roaming in an uncultivated land and with a curse on their heads. The evil one who deceived them, now out of sight, was happy that they had lost their good relationship with God.
Darkness fell upon the earth because the light of God, which had always led the people, was extinguished by their inordinate thirst for knowledge. God loved them and gave them everything; He made them rule over other creatures, who were subject to man and woman. They lacked nothing, but they were greedy and wanted to be like the One who created them — just because the evil one put that idea into the woman's head. That is the case even today: we always want more and are never satisfied with what we have.
God used to walk with them in the garden, but He no longer showed up. Adam and Eve were forced to confront the consequences of their disobedience. Once friendly animals and birds became hostile to one another, and some became wild and dangerous to humans. The earth that was once a very peaceful habitat became a place characterized by the survival of the fittest. Evil, sickness, and death entered the world. This was exactly what the devil wanted, because he was threatened by the cordial relationship that existed between God and humans. The devil would have lost his place in the world if people were totally obedient to God. The devil wanted disciples he could use to oppose God and perpetuate evil in the world. He is happy and takes credit when people sin against God. By obeying the devil and disobeying God, people alienated themselves from God and were condemned to roam the earth without Him.
However, God still cared about humanity. Generations later, He would use a strong hand to remove His chosen people from the pharaoh in Egypt, but He no longer dwelled with them as He once did in the garden, because of their obstinacy. Moses, the chosen leader of the people, prayed and entreated the Lord to dwell with them once again, but He would not. God said that if He were to live among them, He would have exterminated them, because people refused to acknowledge His authority and often rebelled against Him. Moses told this to the people. This is how the book of Exodus reports it.
The Lord said to Moses, "Tell the Israelites: you are a stiff-necked people. Were I to go up in your company even for a moment, I would exterminate you. (Exodus 33:5)
However, the Lord did not totally walk away from the people. He decided to dwell in the Ark of the Covenant, which was positioned in the Holy of Holies in the temple, where only the high priest was allowed to enter. The people were not holy enough for the Lord to dwell with them. The question was, would there ever be a way out? What would happen to the people? Would they ever return to the garden and dwell with God? When would this be resolved? A statement by psalmist describes the situation well: "Now we see no signs, we have no prophets, no one knows how long" (Psalm 74:9). In addition, Micah's prophecy gave a clue about what would happen and when to future generations. He prophesied about a woman who would give birth; until then the Lord will allow people to be on their own.
Therefore the Lord will give them up, until the time when she who is to give birth has borne." (Micah 5:2)
She who is to give birth. According to Saint Jerome, Micah was referring to the messianic mother: "in the name of the Lord, the king shall shepherd his flock." This verse refers to the role of the Virgin promised by the prophets. It refers to the role the Blessed Virgin Mary would play in the history of salvation, which would take place at the appointed time. As Saint Paul writes:
But when the fullness of time had come, God sent His Son, born of a woman, born under the law, to ransom those under the law, so that we might receive adoption. As proof that you are children, God sent the spirit of His Son into our hearts, crying out "Abba Father!" so you are no longer a slave but a child ... (Galatians 4:4–7)
By this, the slaves became freeborn. Man was restored to his position once again.
With Mary, the salvation of humanity was set in motion. Her "yes" to God liberated humanity. The lost state of man was restored by the birth of Christ, as Saint Paul mentions above. In the words of Fulton Sheen:
The image of man that was first ruined in the revolt against God in Eden was restored when the woman brought forth a Man — a perfect man without sin, but a man personally united with God. He is the pattern of the new race of men, who would be called Christians.
There was a plan in the pipeline. While the fall of Adam and Eve was a sad thing in human history, the redemption remains the most joyful and benevolent event in the history of mankind. It showcased the ultimate love of God, which culminated in His taking flesh and becoming like humans in all things but sin. It was a happy fall, as we sing at the Easter vigil liturgy. It was at that moment that God introduced a new woman to the public, a woman who was in His plan of salvation from the beginning of time. This woman was Mary. Pope Saint John Paul wrote, "The Mother of the Redeemer has a precise place in the plan of salvation."
Mary, the mother of the Redeemer was not just an accident that happened on the road to the human salvation. She was part of God's plan. "Mary was in His plan from the very beginning," writes Scott Hahn, "chosen and foretold from the moment God created man and woman."
So when the first woman disobeyed God by listening to the devil, a new woman was already in the pipeline, a woman who would listen to and obey God. When God created man and woman and put them in the garden of Eden, He gave them everything they needed to live a comfortable life. He also gave them freedom to choose. The devil did not allow people to enjoy this gift; he came around and deceived Adam and Eve into disobedience. God drove them out of the garden, cursing humanity and the earth as He did so. When God pronounced this curse on the serpent, He said, "I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and hers", (Genesis 3:15). The serpent deceived the woman into eating the forbidden fruit, which brought condemnation to the created world. In God's plan, it would be the seed of another woman who not only would stand up to the devil but would crush him These two created beings would play significant roles in the future of God's people. The woman and her offspring would constantly be in conflict with the devil and his offspring. Pope St. John Paul II places Mary at the center of the conflict: "Mary, the Mother of the Incarnate Word, is placed at the very center of that enmity, that struggle which accompanies the history of humanity on earth and the history of salvation itself."
The devil does not feel happy when the children of God have a good relationship with their heavenly Father. Even after he caused havoc by severing the relationship between God and man, he kept on fighting. The fight is so severe that Saint Peter warned the children of God in very strong words: "Be sober and vigilant. Your opponent the devil is prowling around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour" (1 Peter 5:8). The devil sees those who obey God as his opponents and he goes after them. He continues to fight the seed of the woman. The woman reappears in Revelation 12, where John describes a woman who is about to give birth:
A great sign appeared in the sky, a woman clothed with the sun, with a moon under her feet, and on her head a crown of twelve stars. She was with child ... then another sign appeared in the sky; it was a huge dragon ... Then the dragon stood before the woman about to give birth, to devour her child when she gave birth. (Revelation 12:1–4)
This time the dragon did not succeed, as it had in the book of Genesis when it deceived the woman. This passage is primarily interpreted to refer to the church, but the church is the offspring of the woman.
God promised His people that they would not be doomed forever: "The days are coming, says the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah" ( Jeremiah 31:31). God told them, "I will give you a new heart and place a new Spirit within you, taking from your bodies your stony hearts and giving you natural hearts" (Ezekiel 36:26). One particular person would carry out this act of renewal, the Messiah, birthed by a virgin at the proper time.
The people of God waited in hope for the fulfillment of the promise God made to their forefathers. Through the mouths of the prophets, God had promised the people a new relationship. God would decide when this would be fulfilled. He had put everything in place, waiting for the time of redemption, but it would not be easy as it would entail the shedding of His Son's blood. He took on human flesh and was born of a virgin at the appointed time. He lined up a number of Old Testament figures and prophets to inform the people about His arrival and that of the one who would point Him out to the world when He finally arrived: "Behold the Lamb of God," he would say, using a title reserved only for the Messiah. Since God is the architect of time, He knows how to control it and use it for the purposes He deems fit. His Son would come at the appointed time, but the maiden, who would bring Him to the world, would have to be prepared and set aside. The prophet who foretold of the coming simply said "a virgin" and did not mention who she would be. It was a long time before the prophecy was fulfilled, as Saint Paul says, "at the appointed time," when the Virgin who had been prepared from the beginning of time would be revealed. She would bear the Son of God, whose mission would be to bring salvation to the people who waited in hope for His coming, the Word that in the beginning was with God, who would take on human flesh and dwell among humans. For this to occur, He had to take His flesh and blood from a human like us, which would make Him fully human and fully God. The role of the Virgin that was prophesied within the salvation history was pointed out by the council fathers:
The Sacred Scriptures of both the Old and the New Testament, as well as ancient Tradition show the role of the Mother of the Savior in the economy of salvation in an ever clearer light and draw attention to it. The books of the Old Testament describe the history of salvation, by which the coming of Christ into the world was slowly prepared.
CHAPTER 2
She Who Was Chosen
The world being unworthy to receive the Son of God directly from the hands of the Father, He gave His Son to Mary for the world to receive Him from her.
— Saint Augustine
For the Son of God to come to the world, He had to come through a channel, a woman who would give birth to Him. A special woman was needed. She had been in God's mind at creation; she was in the Word of God. Her presence in the scriptures and the special action of God at her birth make her the highly favored one, who is full of grace. God knew her before she was born. By the special grace of God, she became one of the actors in the divine drama of human salvation. The Savior of mankind, who existed before time began, became flesh in her womb; thus, she was the chosen one. The Word became flesh in the womb of a woman. This was an unprecedented event in human history. It pointed to the uniqueness of God. He is a God of possibilities. He brought forth human salvation in a very special way: God became man.
The salvation of man was something unique; nothing of this nature had ever happened before. Man who was created to know God, love Him, and serve Him, to be with Him in eternity, had disobeyed Him and earned damnation. But the benevolent God later reversed the punishment and promised to redeem man. It was in God's mind from the beginning of time to have a woman bear His Son. The holy prophets prophesied this in the early days of the people of God. The Messiah who will bring salvation was to be born of a maiden. The fact that the prophets spoke about her shows that she was already in God's mind and her identity was kept close to His heart. Only God knew who she was and that she would bear His Son. The people had expected a Messiah but were not too concerned about whom the maiden would be. All they wanted was a Messiah to deliver them from their sins. The world that had been in darkness, and the people walking in the shadow of death were waiting for the Messiah to come and deliver them. Therefore, whoever the Virgin was did not so much matter; salvation was the uppermost thing in their minds. There were many young maidens in the region, but nobody knew which one would be the chosen Virgin. God knew about her because He had prepared her before she was born and assigned her the onerous task of bringing forth the Savior of the world. All this was already in God's blueprint for the world's salvation.
Did she know she would be the mother of God? It does not seem so, judging from her reaction to the angel. She was shocked when the angel came to announce the coming of Christ and God's plan for her. Like all Jewish people of the day, she knew that a Messiah was coming, but she did not know she would bring Him forth. So when the angel described her role in God's plan for human salvation, she asked, "How can this be, since I know no man?"
