When my sister and I were younger, if we were getting into something we shouldn’t (it was usually the cookies on the tiptop shelf of the pantry, or looking for hidden Christmas or birthday presents), and we heard either of our parents coming, we’d get this pit in our stomach and try really hard to make it look like we were doing the OPPOSITE of whatever we really were doing. I still sometimes get that pit in my stomach if I know I’m not doing something I should be or doing something I shouldn’t be. I think this is the exact reaction Adam and Eve had when they heard God walking in the garden. Eek! He’s coming! Quick—hide!
“…the man and his wife hid themselves from eh presence of the Lord God among the trees of the garden,” Genesis 3:8
Yep. They knew what they’d done was wrong, and they also now knew they were naked, which they equated with shamefulness and embarrassment. God calls out to Adam and Eve, and in my mind’s eye, I imagine Adam skulking out to meet God with his tail between his legs.
God and Adam talk. God asks Adam why he was hiding, to which Adam replies that he’s naked and so he hid himself. God asks Adam who told him he was naked, and if he ate from the tree He commanded him not to eat.
“The man said, "The woman whom You gave to be with me, she gave me from the tree and I ate,” Genesis 3:12
It kind of sounds here like Adam is simultaneously blaming either God for giving him Adam, or Eve, for giving him the fruit from the tree. It sounds eerily similar to the response my sister or I would have given when we were little, had we gotten caught doing something we shouldn’t have been.
There’s something almost childlike about Adam’s response, and I don’t mean that in a derogatory way. If you think about it, children are the most innocent of all of us. Adam had just lost his innocence, and was trying to get away with it. He knew what he’d done was wrong, of course, or he wouldn’t have hidden himself from the Lord.
Luckily, today, we have something Adam didn’t. The Sacrament of Reconciliation, created so we may reconcile ourselves with the Lord. Compared to the other sacraments, this one is a little harder, I think. It’s not easy to go to a priest in the confessional and admit all of our wrong-doings
Study Questions
When was the last time you received the sacrament of Reconciliation?
The beginning of a new year sounds like a great time to make a good confession.
What better way to start the year off than with a clean soul?
Let us not hide ourselves from the Lord, who loves us dearly, just because we’ve sinned. Take some time to reflect before going into the confessional, and take some time to work on your relationship with the Lord. Think of how wonderful the burden lifted from your shoulders will feel when you receive absolution.
Go, sweet sisters, and work on your relationship with the Lord! Ask Him for forgiveness, and He shall give it!
