One of my favorite teachings from Blessed John Paul II is
the Theology of the Body—a series of Wednesday audiences which addressed human
sexuality, marriage and the truth of our human bodies.
JPII
founds his reflections on the beginning—Genesis
1-3. In a special way he proclaims
Jesus Christ as the new Adam—following the thinking of St. Paul and Fathers of
the Church.
St.
Paul writes to the Romans, “Through one
man sin entered the world, and through sin, death, and thus death came to all
men, inasmuch as all sinned…how much more did the grace of God and the gracious
gift of the one man Jesus Christ overflow by the many.”
It
is amazing to note the similarities between Adam and Jesus. Both were in a garden—Adam in Eden and
Jesus in Gethsemane. Both turned
the course of salvation history around through a tree—Adam in eating the
forbidden fruit and Jesus being nailed on the cross. Both had a woman as a helpmate—Eve shared in Adam’s
disobedience while Mary’s obedient fiat
to God allowed Jesus to come into the world.
The
question for us is—do we live for Adam or for God?
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