We are very familiar with the Creation story from the book of Genesis. It is important to state that many, if not all cultures have their own native creation stories. Tribes like the American Indians, The Maori of New Zealand, the Norse Vikings all have their own Creation stories. From the Middle East we have the Babylonian Creation story and from ancient Israel we have the Creation story from the Book of Genesis. These stories have a fable mythical quality. They have to be interpreted to understand their symbolism. People say they appreciate when I give an introduction to the readings. Hopefully I can give a context so that the reading can be made intelligible. The same with ancient Creation stories. In this part of the Creation story we are told about the plan of God to create man and woman to be companions to each other. The execution of the plan sounds a bit crude to our ears. God creating woman from the rib of man is a bit crude. He could have created Opera at that point to allow the creation of woman to be exquisite, but he didn’t. The fundamental message is that man and woman were created for each other. That symbiotic relationship, meaning, a mutual beneficial relationship between man and woman continues to this day. History reminds us that that relationship has been challenged in every way imaginable. There is a coming together and a going apart. Today we will talk about how many happy marriages end in divorce. Every family has been riddled with divorce and separation. The shape of families has been affected. Children spend “quality” time in Mom’s house and in Dad’s house. Families and bits of families have been welded together to try and protect the family unit that has been under siege. I guess we do the best we can. The bottom line is that God wishes for us to be happy. He wishes for us to enter into happy relationships. He wishes for our children to grow up in the security of a happy home. Unfortunately, we do a fine job of making a mess of that. Married and divorced come to the Church asking for us to try and figure out their mess. We do the best we can. New beginnings that are unscathed can be hard to come by. We hope for the best. We do the best we can.
With love, Fr. Pat