Searching for the Garden of Eden

I went to one of my closest friends wedding's last night, and I heard something said in the homily that has been resonating in me ever since I heard it. "that the blessing of marriage was a gift of life that was present before the fall of man" Think about that for a second, because it dawned on me that we can learn so much about happiness now from what God originally intended for us in Eden. John Paul II would always speak about Jesus proclamation, "In the beginning it was not so," So what was in the beginning that is so important. What did God originally intend for us in Eden that is so important.

I want to offer two area's of life that were "in the beginning" that we need to learn from. Number One, "Marriage"- The love between man and women. "In the beginning" there was no disconnect between "Language" (What we say), and "action" (What we do). In marriage, we say "I will love you faithfully forever," so we have to live that in all our actions, to be a constant gift to the other person. This being a "gift" effects everyone, because living and thinking about others (selfless love) is the only path towards happiness. This "self-gift" is not only about sex, its about all the One thousand small ways that we can serve our spouse everyday, but also in sex, the message is clear, "In the beginning" words and actions were connected, Adam said to Eve "I will give you 100% of myself" with his words, and his actions bore witness to this proclamation. This is why birth control is so wrong, because its not true. The husband says to his wife, "I will give you 100%", but with contraception you are holding back the very essence of yourself, the ability to create and to give. (Not everyone can have and raise children people say, this is true, I will cover this next week.)

The second area that was "In the beginning" is "work". Before the Fall, Adam would have had to have worked to support and "be a gift" to his wife. So Work was something that was present in the life of man before the Fall, meaning "work" is a gift. Think about it, if a person had all the money in the world, and decided to stop working and just relax for his entire life, this would not be a recipe of happiness. In fact, it would probably be a recipe for disaster.

We can learn so much from God's original intention for us, marriage and work are just 2 of the gifts that were present before the Fall, and they speak about a theme that is a key for us. "Self Gift". The more our marriage and our work reflects an attitude of joyful service the more happy we will be. But we can't wait until everything is "perfect" to have this attitude. We have to start now, in almost any form of work, we can have an attitude of "Joyful service", and just for today, may we be a "cheerful giver" to our spouses.