(This content which follows the Biblical account of Creation is written in a meditative way with some imaginative narrative).
The Most High Father before Whom even the most Seraphic and unspeakably lofty Angels are said to cover their faces, was always a Person of broad vision and great challenge. What He wanted was a manifestation of the wonderful Deity in the form of Creation. And being kindness itself, He wanted to share what made Him so happy. That object of His happiness was in fact Himself, the Divinity. He was always going create but He needed to decide on what was the right creation plan to put into action. Did you know that there is an immense number of similar, possible versions of you whom the Lord decided not to call into being? It was you whom He elected to exist in this world and in the time of history that you live in now and in the country and location you are in now. God made that decision that you would be. Who you are and where you are has been determined by a mysterious power Who dwells outside the confinements of time and space.
Being Divine, He knew from everlasting ages that it would be our world and our universe that He would effortlessly yet decisively call into existence. Oh, how happy for all who would forever benefit from this decision to create from the Most High God! And Oh, how terrible for all those who would abuse the gift of creation and turn themselves against so mighty and yet so loving a Father.
In the end, so to speak, the Father made His decision. He would create our universe and our world. Yes, this fallen world. He decided that this one was right. This one was just. This one was the one that He, God, not so much ‘should’ but ‘would’ call into being.
And so it happened.
He made that initial act of will that started creation, like the first match in a box that bursts into a bright flame. He most likely started with something that was closest to His own nature which is pure spirit. Before our universe, there was most likely an entirely spiritual universe, so to speak. It consisted in the first images of Himself. And He loved them all. But He would not yet take them to Himself because these were not pets. These were persons, free agents.
He brought the first spiritual beings into existence and placed them in the Empryen Heaven. All completely spiritual. This heaven was more a state than a physical place. Bear that in mind. I’m afraid it is impossible to imagine this abode and these beings because we are only human and whatever we imagine is always something that the senses can grasp. But spirits are beyond all sense because they are designed to be free from all matter which includes bodies, such as we have with arms, legs, heads and all the rest. You will never really know an Angel as he really is until you get to heaven which I pray you do! Because, again, this is due to the fact that your imagination considers only visible and physical things. You are extremely different from your angelic brothers, the entirely spiritual ones. If you must assign a gender to them, it should be masculine as they are active agents, but in truth, your older brothers, the Angels have no gender at all. Only humans have gender because we have bodies and God made us male and female as we shall see and elaborate on further on in this article.
Suddenly, the first sons of the Most High and Eternal Father burst into being, like a huge and immense display of bright lights suddenly flashing on, all of different brightness and colour. Go on, you poor human! Just think of a fireworks display! But know that it was far, far more wonderful, beautiful, sublime and awe-inspiring than that! And the Love! That was most surely present in a truly immense degree in that first act of creation, but also in every act of creation.
“Let there be Light.” Thus said the Lord. “And there was light.” But what light? The light of the Angels is certainly one possibility. The light of their intellects, perceiving God but not yet seeing him in Lumen Gloriae, the Light of Glory.
They were still in a place of testing. They were not yet in the ‘Heaven of the Vision,’ or ‘The Heaven of the Holy Trinity,’ Caelum Sancte Trinitatis. That would have to be merited, freely chosen, freely embraced by humble, grateful and loving loyalty to the Most High Father. How He longed to share Himself with them in the blessed raptures of eternal bliss! But being God, He knew that creatures should not be pulled against their will into this most intimate, eternal embrace before demonstrating true loyalty and love by the exercise of their free will.
And while God cannot make any mistakes, He knew all too well that His poor creatures could indeed make mistakes. But He saw it fit to let them be tested. The good would forever be rewarded by being admitted into Heaven, while the wicked would have to be punished without respite and without end.
And so for a very long time in human terms, the angelic spirits lived in their natural heaven, each one of them spending the equivalent of the longest human life, not in human terms but in spiritual value and intensity. Each would have to make a final decision to answer the call to a supernatural life which required great humility and obedience, or to remain in their natural state and go their own way.
The Father knew that obedience, loyalty and above all, love, are not virtues that you can impose and force on creatures because if you did that, obedience would then be slavery, loyalty would be a façade and love would be fake. And so, He left it in the hands of His own creatures to make the decision to be for Him or against Him. He allowed this, knowing how terrible it would be if the creature and Creator could not make peace. In that case, the creature would have to be separated from Him. But that creature, being designed for eternal bliss, would have to be punished in eternal misery by the most terrible and sad, yet necessary decree of eternal damnation.
Yes, it was a very, very serious business. But the Father decided it would be right and just for the sake of the Elect and for the manifestation of His Grandeur, Goodness and Justice.
As it happened, a great Angel turned against the loving God and led others with him. This Angel we know to have been called Lucifer, ‘The Light Bearer.’ Many say that the test of the Angels consisted of a representation of the Virgin Mary with the Christ Child in Her arms. The Angels carefully examined this and realised that it would mean that the Most High God would quite literally become a human baby and a woman would rule over them, since she would be His Mother. At this, Lucifer decided that he would remain in his natural state and have nothing more to do with such a God. “Non Serviam!” He cried – “I will not serve!” He would be as much like the great God by himself as he could. “I shall be like the Most High!” cried Lucifer. Many, many lesser angels followed this great and arguably, intimidating Angel and together with him, they all raised the standard of revolt against the offended, yet terrible Creator, Who was after all, their true God.
Another Angel, named Michael, as we are told, rose up, inflamed with the love of justice and truth and went about saying “Quis ut Deus?” “Who is like to God?” The other good Angels followed him and all, both loyal and wicked Angels clashed with each other. God was furious and without hesitation, gave the evil ones what they deserved by letting St. Michale triumph gloriously over them. They knew that they were not going to turn St. Michael and his fellow Angels away from God. And with St. Michael and the good Angels at His side, so to speak, God very angrily and terrifyingly drove them out of the Angel Paradise and struck them all down to a place of eternal punishment that He had prepared – the frightful flames of Hell.
But the fallen Angel was just getting started. His war against God had only just begun. At one point, it came to his attention that God had created an entirely new species of creatures. They were part spirit and part matter. Human beings. But of course! That representation of little Jesus and Holy Mary was no deception. The human race was real. And since he couldn’t hurt the Divine One Himself, he could at least tear down this pathetic new species. He would lie in wait, and if given any power whatsoever to attack, he would take it and begin his ever-determined career of diabolical temptation.
The blessed Angels began to feast most happily on the unspeakable and rapturous joys of the Beatific Vision that they had indeed merited. They would be friends of the Divine for all eternity.
And the wicked Angels were left to feed, not on the Divinity, but on the fires of Hell which was as relentless and hostile towards them as the unchanging and everlasting Justice of God.
But at last, God created another universe. A physical one this time.
Over billions of years it slowly took shape, becoming more and more magnificent. He got his Angels to observe it, take care of it and comment on it and they all told Him in greatest sincerity and love that it was indeed very good.
“And God saw that it was very good” as the Scriptures say.
The very highest Angels He kept close to Himself and near to His Throne as it were. But many lower Angels He commissioned to take care of His new, physical universe. While we cannot see them, countless Angels are at work to this very day, keeping the entire cosmos, the marvellous, visible creation, in correct order.
But where was this going? Some Angels may have thought this if they didn’t already know. God had not yet created Man in the midst of all this physical grandeur.
But when the time was right, He focused His attention of one of the many billions of planets. The Angels watched in awe as He visited this planet and majestically exercised His Divine power over a pile of dry earth.
Out of it came an entirely new creature. It was physical which was very strange to the Angels. But it also moved, breathed and had eyes. Angels don’t have eyes. They see with their minds. But here was a creature raised from the dust who was both spirit and physical matter. It was exciting and they all spiritually cheered and sang and beat drums when the First Man, Adam, stood up and began to walk. God turned to His Angels and modestly allowed them to shower Him with new praises that they had hitherto not sung to Him before.
“And new canticles sing unto Him” as the Scriptures say.
They all watched as Adam began to realise himself and explore his surroundings. They noticed he wasn’t yet one of the blessed but that he was still a wonderful creature.
God often called on some of His closest Angels to examine closely how well His new creature was getting on. He was wandering through the gardens, he was feeling and tasting the water, He was naming every animal that was sent his way.
As His closest Angels delighted in this and congratulated Him, God told them that this type of creature needed another like himself and that the human’s first companion would be human but yet different to him.
One Angel said “and so woman will come next, will she not my Lord?”
God assured the Angel that it would be so.
After a sleep, Adam walked to one of his familiar spots and found Eve who simply smiled at him and bowed.
He put his hand on her head. The Angels watched intently with God Who fed the information into their intellects as things unfolded.
“This is now bone of my bone and flesh of my flesh.” Eve put on a solemn face. “She shall be called woman because she was taken out of man.”
He then took her hand and began leading her around the Garden of Paradise.
They had many, many happy days and nights together, talking, wondering, praising God and also having fun times with much laughter. For example, they liked bathing in the waters and Adam would splash Eve and she would briefly scream but it was a very happy scream and she would then splash him back.
Adam’s heart couldn’t be happier. With a woman in his life, he counted himself truly blessed. And yet, he had no notion of such things as Angelic beings and the Beatific Vision.
He continued his life, showing Eve more and more of what he had so far discovered before she came across his path. She loved everything he showed her but she also discovered some berries that he had not yet discovered. They were exceptionally good and they began collecting them together.
In the back of their minds, they were aware of the Tree of Life and also the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil but they simply kept away from those trees and enjoyed their lives together for many happy years.
Every time they looked on the forbidden tree, they sensed a big “No” and the Divine message to them which said “of all the trees in the garden you may freely eat. But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for on the day you eat thereof, you shall surely die.”
They just didn’t think about it most of the time. It was just that tree that you don’t approach, like a bee’s nest.
Adam and Eve were innocent and very happy together and this went on for a very long time.
But the fallen Angel was very patient. He needed to show himself if he was to have leverage. And eventually, he took form. Was it the form of another man? No. But it was something physical. He asked God if he could appear like an elegant man but God refused his request. But He did let him take on a form that was more attuned to his wicked nature. There were several vile options that the fallen Angel had to choose from, ranging from a rat, to a vicious water creature and even a large bat. But in the end, the evil one chose to take the form of a snake.
Again and again, he tried to talk to the human beings. Adam’s mind was completely shut. But he noticed that Eve seemed a little more open to him so he kept trying to communicate with her. But even she dismissed his voice and calls for a long time until one night when she was lying awake after another magical day with Adam and feeling adventurous. She suddenly listened to him like never before and thought she may as well go over to him.
He was curled up in the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil.
A thought came to her that this wasn’t good and she should go back and lie next to Adam. But her curiosity was aroused and she saw one of the fruits hanging and catching the light of the moon.
But after a first look, she just wasn’t tempted one bit and began to feel bored. So she turned back again, meaning to go back to bed. But it was then that the Serpent spoke to her.
We know that animals do not talk the way we humans do, except for some exceptional ones, and even then, we know that they are trained by other humans. But Eve wasn’t surprised that a snake could talk because she and Adam were very new to this world.
It simply poked its head out, looking at her and said “hath God forbidden you to eat?”
She sighed audibly. There was a tone of sarcasm in her sigh and a sense of needing to explain things to someone who was ignorant and possibly quite stupid. Little did she know that she was talking to an incredibly knowledgeable, cunning and malicious being; the supreme spirit of evil, later to be named the Devil and Satan.
It was him versus her in the darkness of the night. Sadly, Eve simply didn’t know who she was talking to or whom she was up against in the talking match that quickly ensued.
Once he had her talking, the Fallen Angel cherished a hope that he would win.
Many, many ages later, the Wise and Holy Catholic Church would say in warning to Her sons and daughters, “one on one, the Devil’s got you. Do not fight your own battles against him.”
Eve looked back at him with the expression one might have when annoyed at having to explain something to an amateur. She defended God and gave the serpent the facts. “We may eat of all the trees here in this garden, but of this tree, of the knowledge of good and evil, God hath said that we shall not eat, lest perhaps we die.”
She then glared at him confidently and expected him to retreat. But he kept looking at her.
There was a lot of hissing and finally that strange voice spoke again. “You shall not surely die. For God doth know that on the day you eat thereof, your eyes shall be opened and you shall be like unto gods, knowing good from evil.”
Eve thought for a moment, then squinted her eyes and tilted her head back in confusion.
The voice spoke again. “As gods shall you be, knowing good from evil.”
She was innocent and had not yet experienced deception. And suddenly she found that she believed him and that she wanted to taste of that fruit in that moment, on that night and while still in that adventurous mood.
She approached the fruit and glanced at the serpent who pretended not to be very interested.
Before long it was in her hands and she casually took a bite. It was alright but nothing amazing. She then waited for some kind of transformation to happen.
“What?! Eve, tell me, what have you just done?”
It was Adam’s voice from behind her.
She explained that it was a path to becoming like gods themselves and handed it to him.
Adam didn’t feel danger and wanted to stay connected with Eve so he too, casually took a bite of the fruit.
“Okay, let’s go now. Morning approaches. Let us get some more rest” he said.
Eve agreed and the fruit was dropped on the ground.
As it fell, a kind of darkness was sensed and they both looked at themselves. A new experience hit them. It was shame and the first thing they decided needed to be done about it was to cover their nakedness.
They didn’t need to say anything. They knew by nonverbal communication and eye contact that they needed to cover themselves, at least around their loins. Adam went in one direction while Eve went in another.
Once partially covered, they met again.
None of them dared to say anything to each other. For the time being, they just huddled up against a tree until they eventually both fell asleep.
When they awoke, they sensed that there was more than simply the early morning sun. There was another light and an all too familiar presence with it.
It was Him!
God was coming for them.
The strong inclination they both felt was not to go to Him, but to get away from Him which they decided to do.
But the voice of the One Who sees everything was heard and even physically vibrated through their bodies.
“Adam.”
They ignored it the first time. And it spoke again, this time more compellingly.
“Adam.”
They hid themselves as best they could from the approaching Deity.
“Adam, where art thou?”
This time the voice felt too much to resist any long and Adam felt he simply had to give an answer.
Eve glanced at him, indicating that it was probably best that he answer God. So he did.
“I heard thy voice in the garden.”
There was a silent pause.
Eve looked away as Adam went even more red and shaky than ever with embarrassment and fear. “And I was afraid because I was naked and I hid myself.”
For a moment God was silent while they listened intently to hear what He would say. Was there any chance He would depart and leave them alone?
But God spoke back.
“And who has told thee that thou wast naked? Hast thou been eating of the fruit whereof I commanded thee that thou shouldst not eat?”
Adam, still not ready to repent, blamed his wife, much to Eve’s shock and dismay.
“The woman whom thou gavest to be with me, she gave me of the fruit and I did eat.”
Again, there was a moment of silence.
Eve glared at Adam with a look of someone who had just been betrayed by one who was close to them.
Adam hung his head and didn’t look back at her.
God spoke again.
“What is this thou hast done?”
She knew He was speaking to her. But nor was she ready to repent. She would blame the snake.
“The serpent beguiled me and I did eat” she said to Him.
The Father knew that this was the time when He must execute punishment on the man, his wife and the serpent.
He would however, leave them with some hope. In time to come, this ancient Serpent would be crushed and mankind, though fallen, would be given a Redeemer. But who? It would have to be His Only Son.
And thus, Christ and the Blessed Virgin Mary would become the central figures of Salvation History.
“For God so loved the world that he gave it his only Son” as St. Paul would one day say, a former persecutor of Christians who would later become the Apostle of the Gentiles.
“Mother, behold thy Son,” Christ would say to the resilient and strong Mary while wasting away on a cruel instrument of death prepared by the Romans – the Holy Cross.
“Son, behold thy Mother,” He would say to John, the beloved and virgin disciple, indicating that the Most Holy Mary was Mother of both the Head and Members of His Mystical Body, the One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church.