book of genesis

Come Out From Hiding

by Father Brian J. Soliven on Saturday January 14, 2023

Have you ever felt ashamed in the eyes of someone? Genesis chapter 3 reveals why. It depicts the fall of our first parents, Adam and Eve. Immediately after the first bite of the Forbidden Fruit, sin rushes in faster than the ocean water into the Titanic after being struck by the iceberg. Our first reaction is to run and hide: "Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they realized they were naked; so they sewed fig leaves together and made coverings for themselves. Then the man and his wife heard the sound of the Lord God as he was walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and they hid from the Lord God." (Cf. Genesis 3: 7-8).

Humanity has been hiding from God and from one another ever since. Jesus has come to set us free as we hear in today's first reading from the Letter to the Hebrews. We no longer need to stay hidden behind the trees.