Dear Parishioners of Mary Immaculate and Saint Rose,
In the first chapters of Genesis, there is a very brief description of the life of Adam, the creation of Eve as his helpmate, and their fall from grace by eating of the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. I often wonder what life was like in the days of original innocence when Adam and Eve were so aware of the presence of God that they “walked” with Him in the Garden of Eden.
My favorite painting in the Vatican museums hangs very near the entrance. It is one of the first works of art one sees upon entering. It is titled Adam and Eve in the Earthly Paradise. It is a painting by Johann Wentzel Peters. It shows a profusion of life in the Garden of Eden. Lions stroll past cattle without a glance.  A tiger frolics near a camel. A leopard watches an ostrich without giving chase. The sky teems with flying birds. It is a painting filled with life and activity, yet with mountains in the background and a river running through it, it also gives one the sense of a pervading peacefulness.
Adam and Eve are at the center of this wonderful, beautiful earthly paradise. As you look a little more closely, Eve is handing something to Adam: it is the forbidden fruit. There is the realization that everything is about to change. The earthly paradise will be no more. Adam and Eve will fall from grace and sin will enter the world.
It is so easy to wonder why this original sin could have happened. Why would God put this tree in the garden and then tell Adam and Eve not to eat of it? God wants us to love Him. The only way to love is to have the choice not to love. Free will is necessary for love to exist. God, in love, created us with this true freedom.
From the time of the fall of Adam and Eve, God has worked to restore humanity to grace. He sent His Son Jesus as the Savior of us all. Jesus took on our humanity to live among us. Jesus showed the depth of God’s love when He offered Himself as the sacrifice for our sins.
Let us look forward to the day of the fulfillment of the Kingdom of God, when we will once again “walk” with God. Then all humanity, indeed all of creation, will be restored to our original innocence. True freedom is becoming all that God has created us to be.

Msgr. Cox.

Adam and Eve in the Earthly Paradise Johann Wenzel Peter (1829) The original is 8ft high and 11ft wide! Enlarge it to see all the different animals, the birds especially!