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GARDEN OF PARADISE - Presence of Evil
Adam and Eve were
created by God in good and grace with the gift of free will. All
created things were good and wonderful and made by God and
placed under the dominion of mankind for the use and enjoyment
of all. Man was to live in the Garden of Paradise and walk in
the presence of God. He was to manifest his gratitude to God by
his free will obedience to the command of God.
There was also another presence, the
power of evil under the dominion of Satan or the Devil. Satan,
the father of rebellious pride will tempt Adam and Eve to pride
and thus to disobedience to the Will of God. Evil triumphs over
good and the wonderful plan of God is destroyed. The conflict
between the Will of God and the will of man begins an eternal
contest. Man is driven from the Garden to begin the hard
struggle of his salvation and survival in a hostile world.
Darkness envelopes the work of God's creation. By his free will
man had chosen his own destiny and now had no right to complain
or demand a restoration of his primal position. Restoration
could only come from the Will of God in His Profound Mercy. It
could only come from a total unity between the Will of God and
the will of man. thus was set the stage for the drama of
redemption.
Jesus Christ, the Son of God is sent by
His Father to restore that which was lost. The price would be
awful and the suffering would be awesome.
The Garden of God was destroyed by man
and now the restoration begins in the Garden of Olives. Far more
was involved that dread night than the prayer for strength to
bear the sufferings of the Passion. It was the terrible struggle
for unity between the perverse will of man and the Will of God
and only the God-Man Jesus could bring this about. This unity
once attained would forever destroy the disobedience of man in
the Garden of Paradise and the restoration of the Plan of God
would be secured.
The will of man cries out from the soul
of Christ, "No, no, please Father let this cup of suffering
pass. What you ask me to do is so terrible, so awful, that I
shrink from it. Let it pass from me my loving Father. My human
will which represents every person who will walk the face of the
earth cries out against this ordeal, but the piecing light of
Your Divine Will breaks through my reluctance and draws out of
my spirit, my heart, my total surrender. Not My Will but Yours
be done. I bow in obedience."
The unity of wills accomplishes not
only the Redemption of Mankind, but wipes away forever the sin
of disobedience and brings with it the promise of God, that
mankind will once again walk through the reopened gates for a
thousand years in the Era of Peace.
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