Memory of the Church

Reading of the Word of God

Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia

I am the good shepherd,
my sheep listen to my voice,
and they become
one flock and one fold.
.

Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia

Genesis 2,18-25

Yahweh God said, 'It is not right that the man should be alone. I shall make him a helper.' So from the soil Yahweh God fashioned all the wild animals and all the birds of heaven. These he brought to the man to see what he would call them; each one was to bear the name the man would give it. The man gave names to all the cattle, all the birds of heaven and all the wild animals. But no helper suitable for the man was found for him. Then, Yahweh God made the man fall into a deep sleep. And, while he was asleep, he took one of his ribs and closed the flesh up again forthwith. Yahweh God fashioned the rib he had taken from the man into a woman, and brought her to the man. And the man said: This one at last is bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh! She is to be called Woman, because she was taken from Man. This is why a man leaves his father and mother and becomes attached to his wife, and they become one flesh. Now, both of them were naked, the man and his wife, but they felt no shame before each other.

 

Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia

I give you a new commandment,
that you love one another.

Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia

God cared about creating for man "a helper as his partner." "It is not good that the man should be alone..." God's statement made at the beginning of human life encapsulates a great secret of wisdom and life that concerns not only man and woman and their union, but all of humanity. Communion lies at the beginning and end of everything. This is why it is not good to be alone. The biblical author notes that the man sees and names all the animals but does not have anyone with whom he can "relate" and who can fill his need for love. Here seems that God almost correct Himself: there is nothing in the creation that may truly make Adam happy. And here is the God's new endeavour: the creation of the woman. Woman is the true company for man. Or better humanity is in the duality of man and woman. The word man pronounces as soon as he sees her underline this well: "This at last is bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh." These words indicate that the diversity between man and woman is congenial to what is human and determines the entire dimension of existence. This becomes true in the family as well as in the nations and in the entire humanity. They indicate a mutual belonging, a communion, an alliance that requires a commitment. The passage collocates in this context the origin of the family as the first response to loneliness and individualism, but the indication is true for the entire humanity that is called to be family of peoples.