Grandma’s Religion Class

 God created our world. 

God is Love—sock puppet   God created man to love, and know God. The man was named Adam. Adam named all the animals and  everything around him. But Adam noticed that everything around him had friends. There were forests of trees, gardens with flowers, fish in schools, but he was alone. God always takes care of us so when He saw that Adam was sad, He made a woman as a friend to Adam. She was named Eve. 

This is Adam all alone. 

Adam and Eve were very happy in Paradise. One day Eve was talking to the snake and that slimy serpent taunted Eve because she wouldn’t eat any fruit from a certain tree. She wouldn’t eat anything from that tree because God said not to. God knew that the tree would be bad for people to eat. This is like a parent telling a young child not to touch a hot stove. The parent knows the hot stove would hurt the child. This tree was called The Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil. Up until this time, everything was good and wonderful. Why spoil this paradise?  But the snake sweet-talked Eve into picking an apple from the tree and eating it. She did as the snake said. It tasted good. Meanwhile, Adam was watching and listening to the conversation between the sneaky snake and Eve. Adam sees Eve pick the apple from the tree and nothing happened to her. Adam watched her eat the apple and she said it tasted good. Adam didn’t want to miss out so he picked and ate an apple too 

    But immediately Adam’s and Eve,s eyes were opened and they saw things differently. Before they disobeyed God, everything was good. After disobeying God, they saw bad. The snake was a slimy creepy creature and they were naked!  

When they saw that they were naked they covered their private parts with leaves.  They were embarrassed.

Suddenly, God called them.  They were scared.  What would God do when He found out that they disobeyed Him?

When God saw them hiding and embarrassed, He immediately knew what they had done.  He was disappointed in them.  He asked them why.  Why did they eat of the tree He said not to?  They explained that the snake talked them into it.  Why didn't Adam and/or Eve ask God first?  They had no answer.

    But God loves us.  He loves us so much that He sent His Son, Jesus, to become a human person like us.  And also, God forgave Adam and Eve.  God will always, always, take care of us and forgive us no matter what we do.  We go to confession to the priest, who is acting in God's place, and ask to be forgiven.  The priest gives us the Sacrament of Reconciliation. Then we can be sure that we are forgiven.

    And don't forget that God watches over us and takes care of us.  To show that He will always take care of us, God made Adam and Eve clothes to be warm when He sent them out into the world.

Just remember that God loves us no matter what we do.  God will always forgive us and take care of us.

The Creation Puppet Show

 

 My grandchildren are learning the Creation Story and we're putting on a puppet show.  The sock puppet with eyelashes and lipstick is Eve.  The other sock puppet is Adam.  His eyes are made of wing nuts!  The background setting is on the left.

The oldest grandchild will read the story from the Bible, while the other one will re-enact the story with the puppets.

I'm sure the show will be a success.

My Hero

The want ad should read, "Wanted A Hero/someone to keep the snakes out of the Garden of Eden."

Well, who put them there in the first place?  God did, because He wanted to be freely loved and chosen, by Adam and Eve. Obedience is done willingly when love is the foundation of one's actions.  Adam and Eve were disobedient.  They could have called out to God, Who is everywhere.  "Help?"  "What do You Think?"  But they didn't.  They also, never said they were sorry.

Worse, I'm particularly disappointed in Adam.  He was right there.  He was created first and should have been the first to show initiative.  He did nothing to defend Eve.  He did nothing to protect her.  He said and did nothing.  A real hero would have defended his bride from the snake.  He would have given his life for her.  

Then along comes Jesus to right this wrong.  My kind of Hero. He gives Himself completely.  I cannot make up for that original sin.  No one can, except Jesus.  Jesus the Hero fight to the death for me and you.  He's a real epic hero.  He gives us salvation.

Own Up

Confession has been around as long as mankind has been around.  Where there is man, there is sin, and so the need for confession, penance, and reconciliation.  Consider Adam and Eve.  God is God, and as such, knows everything.  Why does he interrogate Adam and Eve?  Is He a cop in an interrogation room?  No because He already knows the truth.  He knows what they’ve done and why.  Right?  He’s God.  He wants them to confess their sin.  He begins with open-ended questions that gently invite explanation (Gen. 3:9) where are you?  (as if God doesn’t know?)  Who told you that you were naked? (Gen. 3:11)  Have you eaten of the tree I commanded you not to eat?  What is it that you have done? (Gen. 3:13)

Note that the first thing Adam does it blame someone else.  Don’t we all do that?  And the first person he blames is God.  “The woman that You gave to be with me, she gave me the fruit of the tree, and I ate” (Gen. 3:11)  Do you know people like this?  They blame God for giving them those drunks for parents, for putting them in that neighborhood,…

What God wants is a confession!  He never gets it.  If only Adam and Eve had asked for forgiveness, how different history might be.

Imitating Adam and Eve

Yesterday, St. Patrick's Day, we had a party.  It was a grand time.  Everyone who is dear to us attended.  It was so much fun, so much food, so much laughter, so much busyness, that my two year old granddaughter didn't pay attention to nature's call.  It was too much distraction for adults too, so no one remembered to remind her to try and go to the bathroom.  Hence, she had an accident.

As I was fixing her shoe, I noticed that her pants were wet.  I asked her "Why are your pants wet?"  She told me that Dallas, the cat, did it.

I was reminded of Eve blaming the serpent, and Adam blaming Eve.  This incident is proof that we really are Adam and Eve's descendants.

This would be funny, except that I was told that she has been blaming Grandma for naughty things she has done.

Trust Me

"Trust me," has become a trite expression.  Every time someone says something, they punctuate it with, "trust me."  It has become so commonplace, that I have learned to never trust anyone who says "trust me."  Not so with God.  You know why?

It is because right from the beginning, right at the beginning of sin, God showed His loving care for us, never mind proving His love by sending His Son to redeem us.   Before Jesus, before we were kicked out of the Garden, God's plans for Adam and Eve shows His love.

He punished Adam and Eve like any good Father does.  Look what He did to the serpent!  Adam and Eve were dealt with in a different manner.  God allowed Adam to give a name to his wife.  God wanted them to continue, as best they could, the life He had ordained for them.  He did not want Adam and Eve to be naked and defenseless.  He clothed them better than they could have done themselves.  Adam and Eve were sad and ashamed to leave the Garden.  But they weren't desolate.  God have given them hope.  They were to wait for the seed of a pure woman to make up for their sin.

Personally, what I, as a woman, a grandmother, and mostly as a mother, consider proof of God the Father's loving care for us, is child birth.  Mothers have to suffer.  Mothers face the pain of child birth.  But isn't this exactly where their greatest experience of joy is found?

Trust Him, from Whom all good things flow.

Praise God from whom all blessings flow;

Praise God, all creatures here below;

Praise God for all that love has done;

Creator, Christ, and Spirit, One.

Man Owes Woman

Today, I read Genesis 3.  I know some people automatically blame Eve for committing the first sin.  However, read Gen 3: 6.  The verse clearly states that Adam was with Eve.  How can Eve be blamed for eating the apple, when Adam was there.  Why didn't he shout, “No.”  Hence, it was Adam’s silence, and also his inaction, that damned them.

Still, Eve never blames him.  Adam blames her; she blames the serpent.  In this “blame game,” Eve never says, “He, the man who was made first, he just stood there, like one of dumb boulders, with his jaw slack, and his eyes blinking a thousand times; he didn't stop me; he didn't say anything.  He did nothing.  He let me do his dirty work!  He didn't protect me.  He didn't stop the serpent.  He just let me do what he didn't have the balls, guts, nerve to do.”

She didn't snitch.  The way I figure, man owes woman, big time.

Adam's and Eve's Confession

Tonight's Bible study led me to a different insight.  We're reading Genesis 3.  Specifically, we read verses 9-13.

Here God questions Adam and Eve.  He asked a number of questions: "Where are you?  Who told you that you were naked?  What is this thing that you have done"

For sure God knew the answers already.  Then why did He ask?

This was the discussion:

The parents and teachers in the group said these are the type of questions you ask to understand.  God loved them and wanted to talk about the deed and its consequences-- for Adam's and Eve's benefit; surely not His.  He wanted to make sure they understood what they did.

Others said that God kept Adam and Eve talking to build up their shame and guilt.  This is how one forms a conscience.

Some said the questioning was a sign of hope for Adam and Eve.  God knew that Adam and Eve were guileless and would never have disobeyed on their own.

Then, the scripture opened up for us and gave us a new insight.  Although God knew what had happened, He wanted to make Adam and Eve accountable, just like we should be, when we sin.  God was actually showing Adam and Eve how to make an Examination of Conscience.  We must know that what we did was wrong.  Then, we must confess it!  Following, we have to take responsibility for our sins.  Do penance, and resolve never to sin again.

And we receive forgiveness in the Sacrament of Reconciliation.  

Prisoners in Hell

Image via Wikipedia

This morning's Liturgy of the Hours had a reading that just referenced, "From an ancient homily on Holy Saturday."  I found it to be Lectio Divina heaven; e.g.

Something strange is happening-----there is a great silence on earth today, a great silence and stillness...He [Jesus] has gone to search for our first parent, as for a lost sheep.  Greatly desiring to visit those who live in darkness and in the shadow of death, he has gone to free from sorrow the captives of Adam and Eve, he who is both God and the son of Eve...
    I am your God, who for your sake have become your son.  Out of love for you and for your descendants I now by my own authority command all who are held in bondage to come forth, all who are in darkness to be enlightened, all who are sleeping to arise.  I order you, O sleeper, to awake.  I did not create you to be a prisoner in hell.  Rise from the dead, for I am the life of the dead.  Rise up, work of my hands, you who were created in my image.  Rise, let us leave this place, for you are in me and I am in you; together we form only one person and we cannot be separated.
     Rise let us leave this place.  The enemy led you out of the earthly paradise...The kingdom of heaven has been prepared for you from all eternity.

The world mourned then.  But I know the ending to this story and it's a happy one because I don't pray to dead people.  I pray to people alive in Christ.  Ora pro nobis.

My Contention

This morning's homily's  was "responsibility."  It inspired me.  I agree with Father that "owning" up to what one did wrong is not one of society's strong points.  Since I'm in prison ministry, I think this is important.  Some people pay very dearly for their mistakes.

But the theme got me to thinking.

Both Adam and Eve did not "own up" to their sin.  They tried to put the blame on someone else.  But I have always thought that Eve was a victim in this scenario, and Adam was more culpable.  In the first place, Eve was tempted by a master.  She could not have out reasoned Satan. She was tricked.  Whereas, Adam was afraid that Eve was going to get ahead of him and so ate.  And, Eve thought she had eaten something good and was generously going to share it.  I don't read that she maliciously planned to seduce Adam.

Besides, Adam was placed in charge of this earthly dominion.  The responsibility was his.

They must have had a bum lawyer represent them.  Their sentence is way too severe.

Blame

Musing in nonsense today.

Since God is love and all forgiving, what do you imagine happening if instead of Adam and Eve throwing the serpent, or each other, under the bus, they confessed and asked for mercy.

Remember God is forgiving and loves us.

Eve sobbed, "Lord, forgive me. I wanted to be like You; and took and ate what was forbidden. I am so very sorry."

Mmmmmmmmmm. What if?

And let's dream on:

Eve cries, "I alone am responsible." Adam interrupts, "No Lord, I am responsible; you put me in charge, and I failed you." Eve insists, "No Lord, Punish me." Adam more insistently, "No, it was my responsibility and I was weak. I alone am responsible. Punish me."

Mmmmmmm. Let's continue....

Adam and Eve in unison cry, "Lord forgive us. We love You and will never hurt You, again."

Weeell, if I were God, I'd say, "I love you, too. Forgetaboutit."

But I'm not God.