Creation of Adam and Eve, and its undoing in the New Adam and the New Eve
The knot of Eve’s disobedience was loosed by the obedience of Mary. For what the virgin Eve had bound fast through unbelief, this did the virgin Mary set free through faith.ST IRENAEUS OF LYONS · AGAINST HERESIES III.22.4 · c. 180“The first will be last, and the last will be first” (cf. Mt 19:30)1
I · ORIGINAL DESIGN Eden: the gift
II · DAMAGE The Fall: the wound
THE INVERSIONEVE · Fall: Adam’s disobedience ⟷ Christ’s obedience: Redemption · MARY
III · RESTORED DESIGN Mary: the gift renewed
IV · EFFICACY In the Church and in us
Original Holiness & Justice
Created good, in God’s image, in friendship with him (CCC 374)
Sanctifying grace: a real share in the divine life
The only creature God willed for its own sake (GS 24)
“God created mankind in his image; in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them.” Gn 1:27
Grace Lost
Tempted by the devil, man let trust in his Creator die in his heart (CCC 397)
Holiness and justice lost for himself and all his descendants (CCC 416)
A deprivation, not a total corruption of nature (CCC 405)
“The LORD God therefore banished him from the garden of Eden.” Gn 3:23
IGRACEThe Word Heard
EveA virgin hears a fallen angel, believes the lie and reaches for the fruit (Gn 3:4–6)
MaryA virgin hears the angel Gabriel, believes the truth: “May it be done to me according to your word” (Lk 1:38)
“Eve… conceived the word of the serpent and brought forth disobedience and death; the Virgin Mary received faith and joy.” St Justin Martyr, Dialogue 100
Immaculate Conception
DOGMA · PIUS IX, INEFFABILIS DEUS, 1854
Preserved from every stain of original sin from the first instant, by the merits of Christ (CCC 491)
Redeemed in a more exalted way: preserved, not healed (CCC 492)
The innocence Eve was created with, given anew
“Hail, full of grace, the Lord is with thee.” Lk 1:28 DR
Justification & Sanctification
Baptism takes away original sin and pours in sanctifying grace (CCC 1263, 1266)
Not only remission of sins but renewal of the inner man (Trent; CCC 1989)
In Mary the Church already exists without spot or wrinkle (LG 65)
“Through the obedience of one the many will be made righteous.” Rom 5:19
Union with God
Harmony with God, within oneself, between man and woman, with creation (CCC 376)
Called to share by knowledge and love in God’s own life (CCC 356)
God walks with man in the garden (Gn 3:8)
“The LORD God planted a garden in Eden, in the east, and placed there the man whom he had formed.” Gn 2:8
Estrangement
Fear of God: they hide from his presence
Intellect darkened, will weakened, inclination to evil (CCC 405)
Eve becomes mother of all the living, but of a wounded race
“I heard you in the garden; but I was afraid, because I was naked, so I hid.” Gn 3:10
IICOMMUNIONMother of the Living
EveNamed “mother of all the living” (Gn 3:20): she hands on natural life, and with it death
MaryMother of the Living One (Rv 1:18); at the Cross made mother of every disciple (Jn 19:27)
“Mors per Evam, vita per Mariam” death through Eve, life through Mary. St Jerome, Letter 22.21
Mother of God2
DOGMA · COUNCIL OF EPHESUS, 431
Theotokos: mother of the one divine Person, not of a nature only (CCC 495)
She truly gave birth to God incarnate, the Word made flesh
Queen Mother: the gebirah at the King’s right hand (1 Kgs 2:19)
“And how does this happen to me, that the mother of my Lord should come to me?” Lk 1:43
Divine Filiation & Theosis
Sons and daughters of the Father by adoption in the Son (Gal 4:4–7)
“Partakers of the divine nature” (2 Pt 1:4; CCC 460)
Mary is our mother in the order of grace (LG 61–62)
“Woman, behold, your son… Behold, your mother.” Jn 19:26–27
Integrity & Nuptial Harmony
Mastery of self: the senses ruled by reason, reason by God (CCC 377)
Man and woman: equal dignity, a communion of persons (CCC 369–372)
The body speaks the language of self-gift
“The man and his wife were both naked, yet they felt no shame.” Gn 2:25
Concupiscence & Pain
Shame: the urge to cover what was given (Gn 3:7)
Union of man and woman marked by lust and domination (CCC 400)
Labour pains in childbearing; toil in work
“In pain you shall bring forth children. Yet your urge shall be for your husband, and he shall rule over you.” Gn 3:16
IIIINTEGRITYFrom the Side, From the Womb
EveWoman taken from the side of the sleeping Adam (Gn 2:21–22): woman from man
MaryThe New Adam born of the Virgin’s womb: man from woman. From the side of the sleeping Christ, the Church is born (Jn 19:34; CCC 766)
The order is reversed: the first becomes last, and the last first.
Perpetual Virginity
AEIPARTHENOS · CONSTANTINOPLE II, 553; LATERAN, 649
Virgin before, during and after the birth of Christ (CCC 499)
An undivided heart, wholly given to God’s plan (1 Cor 7:34)
Ark of the Covenant: overshadowed by the Most High (Lk 1:35; Ex 40:35)
“How can the ark of the LORD come to me?” 2 Sm 6:9; cf. Lk 1:43
Chastity & the Bride
Grace heals concupiscence: chastity integrates the whole person (CCC 2337)
Like Mary, the Church is both virgin and mother (CCC 507)
Marriage raised to a sign of Christ and the Church (Eph 5:31–32)
“I betrothed you to one husband to present you as a chaste virgin to Christ.” 2 Cor 11:2
Body & Soul, Made for Life
The soul is the form of the body: one nature, not two (CCC 365)
Gift of bodily immortality: man was not meant to die (CCC 376, 1008)
Free access to the tree of life (Gn 2:9)
“The LORD God formed the man out of the dust of the ground and blew into his nostrils the breath of life.” Gn 2:7
Death & Corruption
Death enters the world through sin (Rom 5:12; CCC 1008)
Soul torn from body; the body returns to dust
The just wait in Sheol, the realm of the dead (CCC 633)
“For you are dust, and to dust you shall return.” Gn 3:19
IVLIFETwo Trees
EveReaches for the tree of knowledge: death. The way to the tree of life is barred (Gn 3:22–24)
MaryStands beneath the Cross, the true Tree of Life, whose Fruit is given “for the life of the world” (Jn 6:51; 19:25)
“Blessed are they who wash their robes so as to have the right to the tree of life.” Rv 22:14
Assumption
DOGMA · PIUS XII, MUNIFICENTISSIMUS DEUS, 1950
At the end of her earthly life, taken up body and soul into glory (CCC 966)
The body that bore the Incorruptible sees no corruption
Woman clothed with the sun: Queen of Heaven
“God’s temple in heaven was opened, and the ark of his covenant could be seen… a woman clothed with the sun.” Rv 11:19; 12:1
Resurrection of the Body
Christ will raise our mortal bodies on the last day (Jn 6:54; CCC 989)
Mary’s Assumption anticipates our own (CCC 966)
The whole person becomes a temple of the Spirit (1 Cor 6:19)
“For just as in Adam all die, so too in Christ shall all be brought to life.” 1 Cor 15:22
AdamEve
BIOLOGICAL PARENTS OF ALL THE LIVING
Order of the Fall: the serpent deceives Eve; Eve gives to Adam; Adam, the head, falls (Gn 3:1–6)
Original sin is handed on by propagation, not by imitation (Trent; CCC 404, 419)
“Through one man sin entered the world, and through sin, death” (Rom 5:12)
THE FIRST GOSPEL
I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and hers; they will strike at your head, while you strike at their heel.
Gn 3:15 · the Protoevangelium (CCC 410–411)
ChristMary
SPIRITUAL PARENTS OF ALL THE BELIEVERS
Order of Redemption: Gabriel reveals to Mary; from Mary comes Christ, the new Head (Lk 1:26–38)
Grace poured out: “the abundance of grace and the gift of justification” (Rom 5:17)
Mary: Daughter of the Father · Mother of the Son · Spouse of the Holy Spirit