Lesson 9: The Creation of Men and Women
1. Why did God create the visible universe?
God created the visible universe because man needs material things in order to live.
2. What are the most important passages of the Bible that deals with the creation of the visible universe and man?
The most important passage of the Bible that deals with the creation of man and the visible universe are chapters 1 and 2 of the book of Genesis. According to Genesis God created eh world in six days. He created ma in his image and likeness on the sixth day. God then rested on the seventh day.
3.Can the 7 days of creation as presented in Genesis chapter 1 be understood symbolically?
Yes, the New Catechism states: “Scripture presents the world of the Creator symbolically as a succession of six days of divine work, concluded by the rest of the seventh day.” (CCC, 337)
Scott Hahn gives a possible interpretation for this symbolism. At the root of the Hebrew word for covenant is the number “7”. The symbolism of 7 days could thus refer to the purpose of the world’s creation, rather than how long God took in creating it. God created the world in order to establish a covenant with man. In other words God created the world in order to come into friendship with man.
THE THEORY OF EVOLUTION
4. What is evolution?
Evolution is not a scientific fact. It is a theory. IT states that higher forms of life were the offspring of lower forms of life. These higher or variant forms of life, being more capable of surviving, lived to reproduce. According to the theory, this process of gradual transformation of life forms took billions of years.
5. Does the theory of evolution contradict the Catholic Faith?
The theory of evolution does not contradict the Catholic Faith as long as the following are held:
-The process of evolution was entirely guided by and directed by and directed by God.
-The human race descended from one man and one woman.
Man and woman are essentially different from all other animals because they have an immortal soul, and are called to live in the friendship with God for all eternity. All the animals and material things in the world could e sacrificed for one child in his mother’s womb.
6. Why do we hold that the human race came from one man and one woman?
We have to hold that the whole human race descended from one man and one woman to safeguard:
-The doctrine of original sin;
-The unity of the human family; and
-The universal need for Jesus Christ.Original sin was passed on the whole human race from Adam and Eve. It is passed on from the bodies of the parents to their children at conception. Since all are conceived and born in sin, all need to be redeemed by Jesus Christ.
“For just as through the disobedience of the one person (Adam) the many were made sinners, so through the obedience of one (Jesus Christ) the many will be made righteous.” (Romans 5:19)
7. Does scientific research give any support to the truth of our faith that the whole human race came from one couple (monogenesis)?
Yes, recent scientific research gives support to the truth of our faith that the whole human race came from one couple. Research has indicates that the entire human race has descended from one woman.
Men and Women
8. Who are men and women?
Men and women are persons, created in the image and likeness of God.
Because they are persons they have the capacity to know, to reflect, and they are free. They can find happiness and fulfillment only in loving and receiving love like the three Persons of the Holy Trinity.
9. What will happen to the body and soul?
The body will soon die and decay. Our bodies will be raised again, becoming immortal at the end of the world.
The soul is immortal. It is in the soul that the image and likeness to God primarily resides. The soul will be judged immediately after death, and will eventually live for all eternity either in heaven or hell.
10. Who made every human person?
God made every human person.
“Now Adam knew Eve his wife, and she conceived and bore Can saying, ‘I have gotten a man with the help of the Lord.” (Genesis 4:1)
While God, in his providence, uses the parents to bring about the formation of each person’s body (“Adam knew Eve his wife”); the soul is created directly by God at the moment of conception (“with the help of the Lord.”) It is a mystery’ but there is no such thing as an “unwanted” child for God. He has desired every human being from all eternity.
11. Why did God make me?
God made me because He loves me.
“I have loved you with an eternal love.” (Jeremiah 31:3) God has known and loved each one of us from all eternity. He loved us into existence.
God wants me to know Him, love Him, and serve Him in this world, so that I can be happy with Him forever in heaven. We can only do this by being united to Jesus.
12. Does God love every human person?
Yes, God loves every human person.
God loves people of every skin color, every nation, every language, every culture, and every religion.
There is no human person that God does not infinitely love.
13. Who were the first man and woman?
Adam and Eve were the first man and woman.
“The Lord God formed man out of the clay of the ground and blew into his nostrils the breath of life, and so man became a living being. (Genesis 2:7) … The Lord God said: ‘It is not good for man to be alone. I will make a suitable partner for him.’ (Genesis 2:18) … So the Lord God cast a deep sleep on the man, and while he was asleep, he took out one of his ribs and closed up its place with flesh. The Lord God then built up into a woman the rib that he had taken from the man.” (Genesis 2: 21-22)
14. Are men more in the image and likeness of God than women?
No, both men and women are created equally in the image and likeness of God. They are equals as persons. God created them however with complementary roles. The man is to be the authority of the family, willing to sacrifice himself for the good of his wife and children. A woman is to be the heart of the family. Her special genius is her capacity to understand the man heart and to love.
15. Is work natural, or is it a consequence of original sin?
Work is natural. Man is called to cooperate with God in perfecting creation by means of his work. When we work we also perfect something within ourselves. We cannot be happy without some form of work. Because of original sin suffering is part of work. When we live in the state of Sanctifying Grace, and we do our work with love, Jesus uses our work to purify our souls of sin, to unite us more deeply to Himself’ and to draw other persons more closely to his heart.
St Germaine of Pibrac (1579 – 1601)
Germaine was born however with a right hand that was deformed and disease that cause her neck to be swollen. Her mother died when she was very young and her father remarried. Germaine’s stepmother disliked her because of her physical appearance and as a result she was mean to her. Germaine was not allowed to sleep in the house, but had to sleep in the barn. Her stepmother often yelled at her. Her duty from childhood was to take care of sheep in the fields from sunrise till sunset.
Despite all this suffering Germaine came to know that God loved her. She spent in the presence of Jesus in the tabernacle in the Church. She knew of His loving presence in her soul through Sanctifying Grace, and she spoke to Him in her heart. She loved the Blessed Virgin Mary and often prayed the rosary. She went to Mass every day. She loved the Mass, because Jesus is there. She would plant her staff in the ground and ask her Guardian Angel to look after the sheep while she went to Mass. None of her sheep every wandered off. None of her sheep were every attacked by wolves, though there were many in the area
The little children loved her. She taught them their prayers and the simple truths of catechism. She. Led them to love God.
Her stepmother continued to be mean to her. She forgave and prayed for her stepmother so that she would get to heaven also. She always spoke kindly of her stepmother, and made excuses for her mean behavior.
Toward the end of her life beautiful things began to happen. One Spring there was so much rain that the river overflowed, so that even grown men were afraid to cross it. Germaine wanted to go to Mass, but she could not get to the other side because of the flood. She prayed, and God caused the water to separate, so that she could walk across dry ground. Some people saw this, and were amazed.
Germain was in the habit of sharing the little food that she received with beggars who were hungry. One cold winter morning her step-mother thought that Germaine had taken some bred to give to the poor. She began running after Germaine with a club in her hand, saying that she had stolen some bread. Germaine stopped, and dropped her apron. Instead of pieces of bread, flowers that did not bloom at that time of the year fell from her apron. It was a miracle. All who saw it were amazed. After this even the heart of her stepmother began to change.
Germain did not live much longer. God was so pleased with Germaine and love her so much that He soon called her home to heaven. One night two men who were passing through Pibrac saw angels taking someone very beautiful to heaven. A priest who was also passing through the village saw the same vision. They told what they saw to some people in the town saying that a saint must have died in the village that night. The following morning Germain’s father found her dead underneath the stairs in the barn where she always slept. Her rosary was in her hands and her face was ‘shining like an angel.” Germaine’s stepmother bought her a new dress to wear in her coffin. She was sorry for the way she had treated Germaine. Because of Germain’s prayers her heart became good. 43 years later, in 1644, Gernaine’s tomb was accidentally opened. Her body was beautiful. It had not decayed. Many miracles began to happen though her prays in heaven.
