With Opened Bible

"It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make a suitable partner for him." (Genesis 2:18)

The first reading and the Gospel of this Sunday guide us to the divine plan for humanity since the beginning of time: the family. "It is not good for man to be alone." This remark from the Creator is a testament to the divine purpose of family and marriage.

After having named all the earth's animals (naming in Hebrew means having power over), Man felt alone because none of the animals resembled him. (Cf. Gen 2:19). And that is where it all began. With a rib, God created a woman. The rib is symbolic, signifying the equality between men and women. It is a way of saying that men and women are equal in the eyes of God. And here is the amazement of the man on seeing his other half: "This one, at last, is bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh; This one shall be called 'woman,' for out of man this one has been taken." (Gen 2:23)

The solitude of Man in the Garden cannot be compared to that which we live today. It is easy to identify someone who attracts one's soul in a world full of human beings. But the sin of indifference, the lack of concern for others and the failure to recognize their inherent dignity as children of God, prevents us from doing so.

Adam (this word means "taken from the earth") had no equal. He was the only being created in God's image. He was gifed with human speech and language. Everything about him made him diferent from other creatures. By giving him a woman, God created and made (man and woman) providers of life. Through them, creation could continue. They, in turn, became co-creators with God.

For creation to survive, "a man leaves his father and mother and clings to his wife, and the two of them become one body." (Genesis 2:24). If a man must leave his father and mother to be attached to his wife, why then are priests not married? 

The answer (apart from the historical situations of the Church) lies on the lips of Jesus: some are not married for the sake of the Kingdom of Heaven." (Mathew 19:12) In preparaton for eternal creaton, those who are not married become the models of the world to come, where man and woman will not need to marry or have sex because they will be like the angels. (Cf. Mathew 20:30) This is the role of celibacy in the context of eternal creaton. "Whoever can accept this ought to accept it." (Mathew 19:12)