As It Was In The Beginning
In the beginning God created marriage as sacred. Such a marriage, a sacred marriage, allowed for his love to be brought forth into the world. In the beginning God had a perfect plan for humanity, a plan for our good and our happiness. This plan placed God, who is love, at the center of our lives. Yes, God originally intended for his children to experience love, goodness and happiness with him. However, sin entered into the world and things changed.
A Sphere of Light
I invite you to envision a sphere of light in your mind, with the understanding that this sphere is God. The light is God’s infinite love. See this sphere extending infinitely in every direction. It is limitless. Allow yourself to understand that the material of this sphere, love, contains all aspects of love – all frequencies of love. All the comfort, nurture, protection, and provision that come with God’s love. All the masculine and feminine aspects of God’s love are present.
Given that love’s natural inclination is to expand, allow, in your mind’s eye for this sphere to give birth to a smaller sphere. See this sphere permanently tethered to the larger sphere – Father God. This sphere, mankind, is created in the image of God, and yet, permanently tethered to, and inside, the infinite sphere of God. Then allow this smaller sphere to divide into two spheres. One sphere holds the image of the masculine side of God and the other an image of the feminine side of God. See them permanently tethered to each other and to Father God; a triangle with God at the top showering them with love. Now you have in your mind’s eye a spiritual image of the birth of Adam and Eve.
Adam and Eve
In the beginning God created the world out of his love, a love that not only filled the space of all he created, it was the glue that held his creation together. Think of the light in the sphere here. The light is all there is, it is everywhere. This light is the very foundation of God’s universe. It is the foundation the world is built upon. And it is here, in this love centered earth, that God created Adam.
In today’s Gospel Jesus draws from the story of creation in Genesis II (there are two accounts of creation in Genesis). In Genesis II God created Adam out of the dirt and Eve was born in the garden. I believe this account of creation beautifully reveals to us the foundation that undergirds sacred marriage.
God created Adam and Eve out of love and in perfect order. After creating the heavens and earth God created Adam. Many scholars, including Saint Pope John Paul II, refer to this Adam as the first human being, who, like God, is neither male or female (think the first little sphere here), This thought makes sense to me as well. This Adam, who was born of the dirt, experienced his first love relationship with God. They worked together, they tended the garden together, and they even named the animals together. Adam had no knowledge of living outside of this relationship with God. Talk about a great best friend!
Then God noticed something, Adam needed a suitable helpmate. You see, Adam had been working hard, tilling and cultivating God’s garden. He needed someone to be at his side – a perfect companion. So in that garden God cast Adam into a deep sleep where he created for him his perfect helper – Eve. The one created from his side, from his rib, was bone of his bone and flesh of his flash. She was created in the beautiful garden and, being creative as such, it was natural for her to receive the gifts of love reflective of comfort, nurture and beauty. Gifts she would give to her husband Adam. He would become the archetypal provider and protector and she would become the archetypal comforter and nurturer. Each would give to the other within the union of sacred marriage what they could not give themselves. The union was prefect – two little spheres coming together with God at the center.
Why Sacred Marriage
In the beginning God’s plan for Adam and Eve was that they become one flesh – one sacred little sphere. This sacred sphere contained within itself God’s glue, a substance that enabled them to remain together as one. This glue is God’s love. With God’s love now at the center all potential for God’s goodness and blessings exist. The door opens wide for God’s abundant blessings to enter in not only for Adam and Eve, but for their offspring and the generations that would follow them.
Yet, alas, forces were at play in the garden. Satan had his eye on Adam and Eve. With one bite of the fruit from the tree of knowledge, the fruit of good and evil, Adam and Eve would now experience good and evil for the rest of their lives first hand. This pattern would pass down to their children and their children’s children – all the way down to you and I. All men, and all women, would now have firsthand knowledge of both good and evil. They would experience it in their lives and it would harden their hearts.
Now Enters Jesus
Being God, Jesus knew the truth. Sin has entered into the sphere of sacred marriage. Sin has caused pain, which in turn led to a hardness of heart’s of God’s children. Adultery and divorce were now part of the fabric of the world. Jesus was very clear on the topics of marriage, divorce, remarriage, and adultery. I will let his words speak for themselves as I do not feel the need to add to the words of Jesus.
He said to them, “It was because you were so hard-hearted that Moses allowed you to divorce your wives, but from the beginning it was not so. And I say to you, whoever divorces his wife, except for unchastity, and marries another commits adultery.” Matthew 19:8-9 (NRSVC)
Simply put, adultery is a sin regardless of the “why” behind it. Like all sin, adultery diminishes our bond with God. It opens the door to heartache and hardened hearts. There is a price to be paid for sin, and the price is often a broken or hardened heart. The light, God’s light, begins to dim in our sphere when sin and darkness entered in. God’s glue of love begins to dissolve a bit.
The disciples saw this truth. They had a very good understanding of the gravity of sin and the pain it caused. They knew that when we entertain sin we are playing with fire. They also must have understood a bit of the dangers inherent in marriage. Marriage as defined by God, is spiritually powerful, and given this, it has been under attack since the Fall.
God’s Grace
While sin opens the door to the forces of evil, God’s grace is greater – every time! We must turn to this grace if we are to be free of our pain. Scripture reveals to us some interesting stories about God’s grace. Exodus 18:2 suggests that Moses divorced his wife Zipporah and remarried (Numbers 12:1.) And Moses was at the Mount of Transfiguration speaking with Jesus! Then we have Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, David, and Solomon. All of whom had multiple wives – certainly not the model of one man and one woman that God gave us in Adam and Eve. Yet, we all expect to see these men in heaven. Even God “divorced” adulterous Israel (Jeremiah 3:8.) You see, God’s grace is powerful beyond our human imagination and we can trust in his grace.
God Understands Our Pain
God not only understands our pain, he also offers us a way out. He wants u to come home to him. Marriage is special, and sacred marriage is part of God’s plan for humanity. It is a sacrament to be taken seriously. Husband and wife each enter into marriage with their own wounds, wounds that have likely been passed down through the generations. Sacred marriage provides a space for those wounds to heal.
My husband and I have been married for almost 28 years. During this time we have certainly had our share of “wound healing”. We are now blessed to live in a sacred marriage today, a marriage with God in the center. However, this was not always the case my friends. We have experienced the pain, and hardness of heart, passed down from the generations before us. However, at some point along the way God called us to him.
A Bit of My Story
Sadly, my parents, my maternal grandparents, and my maternal great-grandparents all suffered the pain of divorce. There was much suffering in the lives of all family member as a result. I still hold painful memories of my childhood in my mind from the discord in our home. Seems the odds were stacked against me and I was destined to repeat the same painful pattern. However, somehow I broke the cycle – it wasn’t easy my friends… And it couldn’t have been done without God and his guidance.
As I surrendered to God, he directed my steps along the path to healing. With God’s help, the generational wounds that have been passed down in my family have been transformed into something very good in my life. God repaid what the locust had stolen indeed. Through the pain I have learned how to love more and how to be of greater service in the world. Through the pain God has shown me how to help others heal from their generational wounds so that they can live as God originally intended as well. Without God in the center of my marriage, my life, and my healing, who knows where I would be. It’s a funny thing, I can now see that God was there all along – even when I didn’t know who he was. Thank you God.
What To Do?
For those who have suffered the pain of divorce, or a broken marriage, know that God sees your pain and he desires to heal you. Only God knows the best path forward and he alone will guide you and those you love. Trust in his grace and turn to him. He will bind up all your wounds and heal them. Remember, he continually draws close to himself his brokenhearted children.
For the single person I believe it is best for him, or her, to work towards strengthening their personal bond with God prior to marriage. Words of wisdom here my friends. This will allow their sphere to become filled with God’s love to the fullest. When striving to live a God centered life, a chaste life, prior to marriage one enters into marriage with a more light filled sphere. There will be less wounds to heal and less opportunity for deep heartache and pain down the road. As the two light filled spheres enter into a sacred marriage, the husband can better become his wife’s Adam, and she can better become her husband’s Eve. They, and the generations who follow them, can more easily live as God originally intended for man and woman.
Be blessed my friends in Christ – Carolyn
My Prayer for Generational Healing
On my website I have a prayer for generational healing that I believe will help heal the wounds we have experienced as a result of the sins our fathers (and mothers) committed. I invite you to visit it here: Love Heals the Sins of the Father
Today’s readings: Joshua 24:1-13, Psalm 136, Gospel Matthew 19:3-12
