Christmas Journey: The angel who crawls

"Now the serpent was more crafty than any other wild animal that the Lord God had made. He said to the woman, 'Did God say, "You shall not eat from any tree in the garden?" ' The woman said to the serpent, 'We may eat of the fruit of the trees in the garden; but God said, "You shall not eat of the fruit of the tree that is in the middle of the garden, nor shall you touch it, or you shall die." ' But the serpent said to the woman, 'You will not die; for God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.' " Genesis 3:1-5

In the Book of Genesis, we see that "God formed man from the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and the man became a living being" (Gen 2:7). Christian theologians refer to this as "original justice" or "original righteousness." It is the condition of existing in grace, which means "living through the divine life in intimacy with God, from the first moment of existence" (5-Lesson 5). 

When we hear that our Blessed Virgin Mary was "immaculately conceived," we are claiming that she existed in this state of grace from the moment of her conception. On the other hand, all other human beings born after the fall of man are born with "original sin," which means we lack God's grace. "Living without grace means living in a state unfit for God's true intentions for us" (5-Lesson 5). It means that we are slaves to the material world and that is not what God wants for us. But without grace, we are limited to living within the boundaries of a merely material existence.

This is what the two trees in the Garden of Eden represent. The Tree of Life represents life in grace or in complete covenant with God. We can live in this world which was founded on love, or we can live in a different world. That different world is represented by the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. It is a world of materialism and paganism which promotes a culture of death and consumerism. And the serpent is its primary spokesperson.

Another image that represents the devil in the Bible is the serpent. "Behind the disobedient choice of our first parents lurks a seductive voice, opposed to God, which makes them fall into death out of envy. Scripture and the Church's Tradition see in this being a fallen angel, called 'Satan' or the 'devil'" (CCC 391).

The serpent in the Garden suggests to Adam and Eve that God doesn't have humanity's best interests at heart. He claims that God is self-centered and wants to control human beings for His own purposes. And so, the cunning serpent, seduces them into sin, with devastating consequences for all of us.

Thanks to that "original sin," we now live in a world where power struggles are the norm, where selfishness is the order of the day and where most people have turned their backs away from God. The serpent persuaded humanity to reject the world of Love and Life and to choose instead a culture of death. This is the "pagan" view and the struggle against paganism has become the primordial struggle for humanity since the beginning of time. The serpent "crawls on his belly and eats dust" which is the very stuff out of which humanity was created. Like the dragon we met on our last meditation, the serpent seeks to destroy us from the moment of our birth. 

The world created by the first sin is a broken world, imprisoned by death. And it is the world the serpent tempts us to accept, just like it tempted Adam and Eve in the Garden. But we have a choice. We do not need to accept this world of consumerism and materialism as our reason for living. We can choose a world of love, which emerges entirely out of the goodness of God. As we enter into Advent, let's think about ways where we can make this Christmas different from previous ones. Let's not get distracted by all the external lights that blind us and let's make room in our hearts for God's light to truly shine from within. And as we do that, we will crush the serpent and God will once again reign in our world.

  

Sources: 

1-The Catholic Edition of the Revised Standard Version of the Bible

2-Catechism of the Catholic Church (CCC)

3-"Entertaining Angels" by Mike Aquilina (Catholic Scripture Study International 2013)

4-"Angels and Saints" by Scott Hahn 2014

5-"Angels Throughout the Ages" by Dr. Richard Bulzacchelli (Catholic Scripture Study International 2013)