The Silence of Man

...who was with her...

- Genesis 3: 6

I wonder about the silence of Adam.

The Serpent at the Tree of the Knowledge of good and evil, did not represent evil, though - in that very particular - it carried an evil will.

Not all Serpents, however, are evil inspired - the Seraph Serpent in the Sinai at the time of the Patriarch Moses, was raised to save many lives.

The Tree itself was not representative of an evil in the Garden of our common origins but of a good. For all things at the time were indeed, very good.

The command of the LORD about the Tree itself which is complete allegiance to God represented "the Knowledge" that was represented by the Tree of the Knowledge of good and evil as the not partaking of it, was truth itself.

And in the symbology of Genesis, I am convinced, the Serpent represented the strangest of strangers to Man - the creature most unlike himself. And woman, the most familiar... In fact, the only one, the ONLY one who is like Man, the only living soul (i.e. a soul congnizant of its cognizance of itself) in all of creation Adam could identify with - his faithful helper upon whom he could depend, his loyal friend unto whom he could trust, and his beloved wife whom he was destined to love and to hold as one - forever.

So Adam just looked by as the Strangest of Strangers whispered into Eve's own heart? We all know the result - for we all know of it's inescapable pains. Why was Man silent in Woman's most desperate hour?

I know I wouldn't. The Man in me would most definitely revolt at the sight and would very probably have intervened in some way.

This strange silence, it seems to me, had something to do in the suffering of Woman through the ages just as much as the Fall of our First Parents had something to do with the death of our common humanity from the Original Truth we were once completely alive unto in the LORD and in All living creation.

BUT at the Cross of our Redemption, our blessed Lord, Jesus Christ, was NOT silent in Woman's most desperate hour.

In that most tender and loving of moments, as our Savior waited in agony for the embrace of death, He gave unto each of us through Saint John, His Mother - the Blessed Virgin Mary - to be our Mother - the Mother of the Church - and just as importantly - afterwards, our Savior gave Adam back to his Eve and Eve back to her Adam - making peace whole again between Man and Woman - eternally.

"Qui Tacet Consentire" - "Who is Silent Gives Consent".

Can Man afford to remain silent again?
---<--@

There is no weaker sex, only the perception of weakness wrought by the division that the sin of the Devil had also placed between the man and his most faithful helper.

There is only man and there is only woman. And there is only man and woman joined together by God in their particular strengths to form the nucleus of every human family.

Salutation #172 - The Parity of the Sexes

Salutation #107

A COMMUNITY DEPRIVED
of the feminine expression is barren and desolate.

It knows of no hearth,
no home, no place of rest...

no company to renew,

no heart to come home into;

no cheer to grace with solace,

no warmth to bless with courage;

no gaze to remind of beauty,

no love to bear with injury;

no touch to soften the harshness,

no fire to tame the wilderness;

no peace to prosper life,

no strength to ward off strife.

---<--@

(Woman)

When God made Woman,

the LORD fashioned her as a companion to Man;

a faithful helper, equal in dignity and promise,

without which Man

shall never be complete

as himself.

For there are no creatures

- upon the earth -

like Woman is to Man.

From this new community

God fashioned out of Man in Woman

comes the lineages

of all the generations

of the children of Mankind.

The truths established by God

in the story of the joining of Man and Woman

form the common foundations

of the institution of the human family.

It is the strength of the family

that determines the strength of the nations

unto which the preservation

of both human dignity and human promise

is universally entrusted by God

for the sustenance and protection

of all our generations

to the very last of our generations.

When the dignity of Woman

is left unprotected - and her promise -

is left undefended,

Man is not elevated but diminished.

When Man and Woman

exist in conflict with each other,

no nation will hope to survive the test of time.

That is the truth.

- selah -

Truly, truly,
each human relationship, no matter how humble,
have a lasting impact on individuals.

For these are the bonds
that God deigns to place in our way
not to entangle our spirits
and create more brokenness in our lives
but to liberate us
and allow us to freely enter
into the Truth with Him
and in Him.

Community is the LORD's way
of enlarging the love kept in our souls,
because our God is a great and good God.

We can see this in the way
God created the first community
in Adam and Eve.

Let us ask ourselves
how instead of reprogramming Adam,
which was not beyond the LORD's power to do,
why did our God choose to bless him
with a partner in Eve?

- selah -

Relationships matter
just as much as individuals -
each creates and recreates the other
and does so in a way and a fashion
that only the LORD can generate and perfect
with our willing cooperation.

One who seeks maturity
and longs for wholeness in the self
should always tread the holy ground of relationships
(either thine own or others like thine own)
carefully, gently, and with love.

- selah -

This is why

it is important for us to celebrate

International Women's Day -

We must ever be reminded

of this fundamental community of Man and Woman

and must always live in remembrance

of this most vital of all human relationships

- established by God Himself -

which forms the nucleus of every human family.

The success of any nation depends on it.

The ultimate destiny of all Countries is shaped

by how deeply we understand its truth.

Man and Woman

together form a common bond

and this bond guarantees

not only the order of our generations

but the quality of our everyday human living.

Man and Woman

together form a common witness
for the universal example

of the peace of their marital togetherness

- safeguards -

not only the transmission of human life

but the divinely ordained purpose

of the nations of the children of Mankind.

---<--@

Think about it -

I once thought that Filipina hair

was just plain black hair and that was all.

Obviously,

I was not at all in love

with my Philippines then.

I never really noticed

that our women sported not just plain black hair!

Framed by the warm light of our tropical sun,

our women's hair is actually cast

- in many subtle hues -

in darkest shades of golden brown.

Subtle, not obvious -

and pretty but

- only when -

love is in the eye of the beholder.

Exactly in keeping with our conservative nature.

As far as I am concerned,

all our Filipinas are princesses.

Beauty being what it is, inherited.

We should work to make sure

- this Country of ours -

is more a suitable place for all our women!

---<--@

March 8 is International Women's Day.

I love my Miyang. PERIOD.