Isolation

“‘I am the Lord’s servant,’ Mary answered. ‘May your word to me be fulfilled.’ Then the angel left her.” (Luke 1:38).

Imaculate COnception with Saints (Piero di Cosimo)

Sin is isolating.

When we really consider what sin really is – from the very first sin – we can see that sin isolates.  This is why sin makes the Evil One so happy.  Because the more we sin the more isolated we become and the more isolated we become the less we rely on God and the less we rely on God the more we rely on ourselves and the more we rely on ourselves the more we sin.  This is because sin is the rejection of the Holy Will of God.  And in rejecting God’s Will we are relying on our own version of events rather than the version that God has prepared for us.

This is why Eve sinned – she rejected God’s Will that she relied on HIS judgement and instead ate from the tree of knowledge because she was convinced by the serpent that God was concealing power from her that she would be able to use for her own benefit.

“Now the serpent was more cunning than any beast of the field which the Lord God had made. And he said to the woman, ‘Has God indeed said, ‘You shall not eat of every tree of the garden’?’  And the woman said to the serpent, ‘We may eat the fruit of the trees of the garden; but of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God has said, ‘You shall not eat it, nor shall you touch it, lest you die.’’  Then the serpent said to the woman, ‘You will not surely die.  For God knows that in the day you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.’  So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree desirable to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate. She also gave to her husband with her, and he ate.  Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves coverings.” (Genesis 3:1-6).

When I compare this with the response of the Blessed Virgin – the NEW EVE – I can see the difference.  Not really understanding the Will of God, she submitted herself to it TRUSTING that God would make a way…

“‘How will this be,’ Mary asked the angel, ‘since I am a virgin?’  The angel answered, ‘The Holy Spirit will come on you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. So the holy one to be born will be called the Son of God.  Even Elizabeth your relative is going to have a child in her old age, and she who was said to be unable to conceive is in her sixth month.  For no word from God will ever fail.’  ‘I am the Lord’s servant,’ Mary answered. ‘May your word to me be fulfilled.’ Then the angel left her.” (Luke 1:34-38).

And in this Christ CAME INTO the Blessed Virgin.  For Eve, she lost God and hid from Him.

And I have been reflecting on that today as I reflect on sin – for it seems to me that I terribly isolated from my God…

For with prayer, I stand on Holy Ground where everything is clear. Here. At the Foot of the Cross.