Sacramentally Speaking

One of our Mass readings today comes from Genesis 3 and is a key text to understanding the typology of the Blessed Virgin fulfilled in the New Testament:

Gen. 3:9-15, 20:

“After Adam had eaten of the tree,
            the LORD God called to him and asked him, “Where are you?”
He answered, “I heard you in the garden;
            but I was afraid, because I was naked,
            so I hid myself.”
Then he asked, “Who told you that you were naked?
You have eaten, then,
            from the tree of which I had forbidden you to eat!”
The man replied, “The woman whom you put here with me—
            she gave me fruit from the tree, and so I ate it.”
The LORD God then asked the woman,
            “Why did you do such a thing?”
The woman answered, “The serpent tricked me into it, so I ate it.”

Then the LORD God said to the serpent:
            “Because you have done this, you shall be banned
                        from all the animals
                        and from all the wild creatures;
            On your belly shall you crawl,
                        and dirt shall you eat
                        all the days of your life.
            I will put enmity between you and the woman,
                        and between your offspring and hers;
            He will strike at your head,
                        while you strike at his heel.”
The man called his wife Eve,
            because she became the mother of all the living”

Here we see Eve, the mother of all the living, has urged Adam to eat of the forbidden fruit of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. After Adam shifts the blame to his wife, Eve tells the Lord that it was the serpent who deceived her into eating of the tree. Eve was still punished for her responsibility in the act and cursed to suffer pains in her child birth.

To contrast this encounter, we look at the interaction between the Angel Gabriel and Our Lady in Luke 1:26-35. The Angel of the Lord does not attempt to deceive Mary as the serpent did but instead, he salutes her: “Greetings, you who are highly favored! The Lord is with you.” When the Angel tells Mary the will of the Lord, she submits in humility as the Handmaid of the Lord. The cooperation of her immaculate heart brings into salvation history the fruit of her womb, Jesus Christ who will be nailed to a cross for the salvation of the whole world. Just as Eve, the mother of the living, pointed humanity towards sin and destruction, so too does Mary, mother of those alive in Christ, point us to consume the fruit of the the tree on Calvary. That is, the body and blood of her son, our Lord.

Just as Mary was the physical mother of the body of Christ, she is also the mother of the mystical body of Christ.

Blessed Mother of the Church, pray for us.