FIFTEENTH HOMILY. "But there was no help for Adam like him. So God sent Adam a deep sleep; and while he slept, God took one of his ribs and put flesh in his place. And God produced the woman from the rib that he had taken from Adam. (Gen. II, 21, 22.)

ANALYSIS.

1. Saint Chrysostom, after congratulating his hearers for their zeal in hearing the divine word, proves the excellence of the woman by these words: "It was not for Adam to be helped like him; And he brings out his superiority over the animals who are only the servants of man, while the woman is his companion. 2. He then explains the mysterious sleep sent to Adam, and the manner in which the Lord formed the woman. 3. The only mode of this formation shows, according to the word of the Apostle, that woman was created for man; also seeing her. Adam exclaimed in consequence of a prophetic revelation: "Here is the bone of my bones and the flesh of my flesh! The speaker then explains how Adam and Eve did not blush with their nakedness, saying that they were clothed with innocence and purity, and that their lives, before sin, were all angelic. 5. In closing, he brings back the attention of his hearers to the manner in which they spent the first half of Lent, and urges them to avoid the various sins that are committed by language.

1. I am very grateful to you that sorting you listened to me so kindly. The length of our conversation has not seemed to tire you, and your attention has been sustained from beginning to end. I am therefore hopeful that you will put my advice into practice. For he who listens to the holy word with so much pleasure, shows that he wishes to conform to it; and besides, the numerous contests of tonight alone would suffice to assure me of your happy dispositions. A good appetite is a sign of good health, and so the hunger for the divine word is the sign of a very well disposed soul. But since your zeal promises me abundant fruits, and that it guarantees me that you will conform to my teachings, how not to give you, dear brothers, the reward that I promised you yesterday? I hear this spiritual doctrine which I distribute to you without impoverishing you, and which nevertheless makes you richer. Such is the nature of spiritual goods, which in this respect are very different from temporal goods. For with regard to the latter, one can not be prodigal, nor enrich the others at his expense; on the contrary, one increases one's own treasures by distributing them, and one multiplies the riches of one's brothers.

On my side, I am very disposed to communicate to you these spiritual goods, and of yours the souls open and expand to receive them; I must give you my fullness, and repay my debt by explaining to you the verses of Genesis which have just been read. Yes, my dear brethren, I wish to make the subject of this conversation, to search carefully for its hidden meaning, and to enrich you with their abundant treasures. The Scripture tells us: But for Adam there was no help that was like him; what does this word mean, but for Adam? and why use this conjunction here? was it not enough to say: for Adam there was no help? It is not without reason, nor out of mere curiosity, that I enter into this detail, and I propose to teach you by the minute examination due in the Scripture, that we must pass lightly neither on a word nor on a syllable. . For it is not here (82) words thrown at random, but the language of the Holy Spirit. So we can discover precious treasures even under a single syllable. So please, I entreat you, listen to me carefully, and do not show cowardice or nonchalance. On the contrary, be attentive, and do not be distracted by the preoccupations of business, or the cares of temporal things. For everyone must be touched by the dignity of this holy assembly, and not forget that it is God himself who speaks to us through the mouth of his prophet. As you in your ear and mind are open and awake so that you do not lose a single word, and the seed of the divine word does not fall on the stone, or along the way, nor among the thorns. May it, on the contrary, spread on good ground! I mean in well-prepared hearts, then it will multiply and produce you abundant fruits.

So let us explain the meaning of this sentence: But for Adam there was no help that was like him; and see first how exactly Holy Scripture is expressed! After having said to us: But for Adam, there was no help, it continues and adds these words: which was similar to him. This addition makes us understand the meaning of the conjunction. I think that among you, some enlightened minds almost guess what I am going to say; but it is my duty to instruct all my listeners, and to make myself understood by each of them. That's why I'll explain to you why Moses said that, but it takes a little patience. You remember that the sacred writer previously reported this word of the Lord: Let us make a similar help to Adam, and then return to the creation of beasts, reptiles, and all animals. And God, he said, made all the animals and birds of the air from the earth, and brought them before Adam, that Adam might see how he would appoint them. So Adam charged them all with a name, as the master of all; and according to the wisdom which he had received from the Lord, he gave the ferocious beasts, the birds, and the domestic animals the name which has remained their own name. But even though animals serve the purposes of man, and help him in his labors, nevertheless because they alone are deprived of reason, they are far inferior to him. That is why we can not think that it was from them that the Lord wanted to speak when he said: let us help Adam.

No doubt animals help us, and they are useful to us in many things; but they are none the less deprived of reason. That they are useful to us, experience proves it, because we use some to pull burdens and others to cultivate the earth. Thus the ox drags the plow, opens the furrows and operates the various works of agriculture. The donkey is very fit to carry burdens, and most other animals serve the needs of our existence. The sheep gives us wool to clothe us, and the hair of the goat lends itself to a thousand uses; moreover, she feeds us with her milk. Thus, so that we can not apply to the animals this word: let us help Adam, the sacred writer begins his story with these words: But for Adam there was no help that was similar to him. It is as if he were telling us: All the animals were created for the service of man, and they received his name from him, but none is worthy of being his help. Also wishing to tell us the formation of the woman, is he careful to introduce the Lord who pronounces this word: give to Adam a help that is similar to him, that is worthy of him, produced of the same substance and his equal . This is why Moses said: But for Adam there was no help that was like him; and he indicates to us that no matter how great the services of animals are to man, the help of women will be for Adam far more excellent in every way.

2. Also only after having. He created all the animals, and brought them to the first man to give them a name, and God to make him a help like him. Already man had been the goal of all creation, and he had produced for him all creatures. But God wanted then to add the help of the woman, and observe here with what precision details Scripture describes the formation of the woman. She had already told us that the Lord intended to give man a help that was similar to him, for she had told us this word: let us give Adam help according to him; and again this: But for Adam there was no help (83) that was similar to him. Now she is going to teach us that God formed the woman of the very substance of man. And the Lord God, she said, sent a deep sleep to Adam, and while he slept, he took one of his ribs and put flesh instead. And the Lord God produced the woman from the rib that he was taking away from Adam and brought it to Adam. (Gen. 21, 22.) The energy of these words is great, and they surpass the understanding of man. That is why we can understand them only by deepening them with the eye of faith.

God, said Moses, sent a deep sleep to Adam while he slept. What exactness of doctrine and what sublimity of language! The sacred writer, or rather the Holy Spirit, by his pen, here teaches us two things, the deep sleep of Adam, and the consequences of this sleep. But this sleep did not resemble ordinary sleep. For the Creator God, wise and powerful, wanted to prevent Adam from feeling the slightest pain lest this painful memory would sour him against the woman who was to be formed of one of his ribs. That is why he sent him a deep sleep, or rather a deep slumber which deprived him of the use of his senses. Then the Lord, like a clever worker, took Adam off one of his ribs, put flesh in his place, and from the removed side formed in his goodness the body of the first woman. So he sent Adam a deep sleep, and while he slept, he took off one of his ribs, and took flesh instead. It was so that when he woke up Adam would not notice what had happened. For he was to be informed of it later, although at the very moment he had no knowledge of it. So the Lord arranged all things to take away all feelings of pain and sadness. So he took off one of his ribs without suffering any pain, and put flesh in his place so that he would not notice anything. It is from this coast that God formed the woman. An admirable account, and far surpasses the intelligence of man. Moreover, such is the character of all the works of God; and it is no less a miracle here than to have formed Adam with a little dust and mud.

But watch as Scripture adjusts to our weakness. And God, she said; took one side of Adam, Let us be careful not to interpret these words in a very human manner, and see in their humble simplicity only a pure condescension towards our infirmity. For if Scripture had not been so expressed, how could we have understood these profound mysteries? Let us stop, therefore, far less in the literal sense than in thoughts worthy of God. So this word: And God took and all like are only to be proportioned to our weakness. For the rest, Scripture uses here the same expressions which it had used when speaking of Adam. She had said previously: The Lord God took the man; the Lord God made this command to Adam; and again The Lord God says: why do you give him help that is similar to him? So here she says: The Lord God formed the woman of the ribs he had taken from Adam; and a little before she said, And the Lord God sent to Adam a deep sleep. Thus these expressions indicate no difference between the Father and the Son, and Scripture employs them indifferently, because these two divine persons have only one and the same nature. So we find the same way of expressing ourselves when it comes to the formation of the woman: And the Lord God formed the woman of the rib which he had taken from Adam.

What will the heretics say here, who want to examine everything curiously, and who flatter themselves to know even the generation of the Creator? But what word would explain this mystery! and what intelligence could understand it: The Lord, says the Scripture, took one of Adam's ribs, and from that one rib he formed the whole woman. Hey! why speak only of this second miracle? For tell me first how God removed this rib, and how Adam felt no pain? These are so many mysteries that you can not explain, and that the Creator alone who has operated them can understand. But since we can not conceive of things that are before our eyes, nor understand the creation of the woman who has been formed of the substance of man, it belongs only to delirium and madness to search curiously for the essence of the Creator, and to boast of having intelligence. The celestial spirits can not themselves probe this abyss, and they content themselves with glorifying the Lord with fear and trembling.

3. And the Lord God produced the woman (84) from the rib which he had taken from Adam. Admire the accuracy of Scripture! It does not say, God formed, but produced, because he took a portion of flesh already formed, and he only increased it, so God produced the woman, not by the act of a a new creation, but taking away from Adam a portion of flesh, and producing from this weak portion a complete being in all its parts. How great is the power of the Creator who, with so little matter, has formed the supple and elegant limbs of the woman, and has produced that being so perfect, endowed with exquisite sensibility, and which gives to the man a sweet society and great consolation! For it is for the consolation of man, that the woman is formed, and the Apostle says that man was not created for the woman, but the woman for the man. (1 Cor. 2:9)

See how all things are made for man! The universe was created, as well as the animals that were to be used for its food, or to help it in its works; but he lacked a companion who could converse with him, and who, being of the same nature, could embellish his existence. That is why God took one of his ribs, and by an act of his supreme wisdom formed a being endowed with reason, in all likeness to the man, and capable of assisting him in the needs, as in the sweets of life. Now it is God Himself who in His infinite wisdom has thus arranged and arranged all these things, and though our minds are too weak to understand them; we do not fail to believe them because everything is subject to His will and command.

And the Lord God made the woman from the ribs he had taken from Adam, and brought him to Adam. As the woman was only formed for Adam, the Lord brings her to him, and seems to say to her: The whole creation could not offer you any help that was similar to you, so I promised you a companion worthy of you. I am fulfilling my promise today by presenting you this new perfect and accomplished being. And the Lord brought the woman before Adam, and Adam said, Behold now the bone of my bones, and the flesh of my flesh. This word shows us that Adam then received from God the spirit of prophecy, just as he had received the admirable gift of science. It was indeed because of this gift that he imposed on each of the many species of animals their proper and true name. But here the sacred writer was very careful to warn us that Adam had been plunged into a deep slumber, so that he had had no sensation of what had happened in him. So when, at the sight of the woman, he is instructed in everything, we can not doubt that he did not receive the prophetic spirit, and that he did not speak by the inspiration of the Holy Ghost.

Adam did not know humanly the creation of the woman, and yet as soon as God brings it to him, he says: Here now is the bone of my bones, and the flesh of my flesh. Another interpreter, instead of the word, now, write once; as if Adam had declared that for this time only the woman was formed in this way, and that this mode of generation would not be renewed any more. It is as if he had said: now the woman has been formed of man, but henceforth the man will be born of the woman, or rather of the union of the two sexes. For, says the Apostle, the man was not taken from the woman, but the woman was taken from the man; and the man was not created for the woman, but the woman was created for the man. (I Corinthians II, 8, 9.) Eh! you say, interrupting me, these words show that the woman is made of man. Wait a little, and admire how accurately the Apostle speaks. However, he continues, neither is man without woman, nor woman without man (Ibid., 2), meaning that since the formation of the first woman, and the man and the woman are born in the same way, by. the union of the sexes. Such is the meaning of this word which Adam says of woman: Here now is the bone of my bones, and the flesh of my flesh.

4. But do you want to know even better the certainty of this prophecy, and its brilliant fulfillment that will last until the end of the world? Listen to these other words of Adam: This will be called by a name taken from the name of man, because it was taken from man. That is why the man will leave his father and his mother, and will attach himself to his wife, and they will be two in the same flesh. Do you see how carefully Adam himself explains his thought, and how he penetrates the future of his prophetic gaze? This one, he says, will be called by a name taken from the name of the man, because it has been drawn from the man. This first word reminds us that God took one of Adam's (85) ribs to train the woman, and the next reveals the future. That is why the man will leave his father and his mother, and will attach himself to his wife; and they will be two in the same flesh. But who had taught him all these things? from where could he know the future, and the mode of the propagation of the human race? What idea could be formed above all of the union of the two sexes, since this union did not exist until the fall of our first parents? until that moment they lived in the earthly paradise of a life entirely angelic, and knew neither the fires of concupiscence, nor the revolt of the passions. They also ignored the diseases, and the various needs of the body, because they had been created incorruptible, and immortal.

As for the use of clothing, Scripture tells us that they were naked and that they did not blush. That before sin and disobedience, divine grace was like their garment; so they did not blush with their nakedness. But as soon as they broke the Lord's precept, they knew they were naked, and they blushed. Who suggested? So to Adam the words he uttered then? and is it not evident that he received the gift of prophecy, and that he discovered the future of the eyes of the mind? It is not without reason that I press these details, for they show us the Lord's immense goodness toward the first man. He led in principle the life of angels, was enriched with a thousand benefits, and possessed even the prophetic spirit. So when you see him, after so many graces and favors, become a misguarder, beware of blaming God, and only blame the man. It is he alone, as I will say later, who has deprived himself. so many goods by his disobedience, and who has been legitimately condemned for his sin.

Let us recall, then, the state of innocence in which the Lord had established him, and the innumerable benefits with which he had filled him. And first of all, even before man existed, he had produced for himself the universe and all creatures; he created it himself, that he might fully enjoy it, and gave him the abode of earthly paradise. Moreover, he raised him above all the animals he submitted to his power, and desired him to name each of them as a master named his slaves. Finally, because the man was alone, and he needed a help that was similar to him, the Lord did not fail to give him this satisfaction; and having created the woman according to the type of his divine wisdom, he put it into his hands. Finally, the Lord crowned these immense benefits by the honor of the gift of prophecy and the privilege of reigning as sovereign over the entire universe. He even wanted Adam to be frightened of all anxiety and worry about the needs of the body and the use of clothing: so that on earth he led the lives of angels. Yes, by the mere memory of these ineffable benefits, I know only how to admire the goodness of the Lord, and I am astonished to see the man so ungrateful, and the devil so filled with a black jealousy. For this evil spirit could only endure in a mortal body the man was the equal of the angels.

5. But I stop here not to prolong this speech too much, and I will postpone until tomorrow the explanation of the pitfalls which the demon handed to our first parents. I will conclude by begging you to retain my words today, and to make them the subject of your talks, so that you can write them deeper into your memory. For the habitual memory (the graces with which God has filled the first man can only bring us to a just recognition, and powerfully excite us to virtue, for it is certain that he who nourishes in his heart the thought of the blessings of the Lord, He will strive not to be unworthy, and he will strive to be grateful that God will give him new ones, and that our God is not generous. we are grateful to him for his first graces, he will give us still more, so let us always be attentive to the business of our salvation, and let our days go by in a cowardly idleness. to have spent half of Lent, to know whether we have advanced in virtue, and whether we have corrected ourselves for any want.

And indeed, if, nourished every day by the holy word, we remain always the same, without growing in virtues, and without uprooting from our heart no germ of sin, fasting will become more harmful to us than useful; for he who renders unsuccessful so much spiritual help is preparing for rigorous punishment. I urge you, therefore, to make good use of what remains of Lent; and for that, every week, or rather each day, we return to ourselves, purify our souls from all sin, and apply ourselves to the practice of good works. This is the advice given to us by the Psalmist when he says: Depart from evil, and do good (Ps. XXXVI, 27); and that is the essence of true fasting. Thus the violent and carried man must moderate his anger by pious thoughts, and become gentle and patient; thus the intemperate and the lazy must be sober and laborious; and the voluptuous, too much in love with a mortal beauty, must drive from his heart all criminal desire, and engrave in his mind this oracle of the divine Savior: He who has looked upon a woman to lust for her, has already committed adultery in her heart. (Matthew V, 28.) This thought will help him to escape incontinence and practice chastity.

I also exhort those whose precipitate and reckless word ventures to chance, to say with the Psalmist: Lord, put a guard to my mouth, and a door to my lips (Ps. CXL, 9); henceforth, they will utter only wise and useful words, according to this precept of the Apostle: Let all bitterness, all wrath, all wrath, all quarreling, all slander, and all malice be banished from you; and again: Let every word be good, useful, uplifting, and able to give grace to those who listen to it. (Eph IV, 31, 29.) As for the habit of swearing, it is absolutely necessary to extirpate it from the midst of us, for Jesus Christ said: You have heard that it was said to the elders: You do not you will not perjure yourself; and I tell you not to swear by any means. (Matthew V, 33, 34.) Do not therefore object to me swearing for a legitimate cause, since it is never permissible to swear, whether the thing is right or wrong. But so that our mouth utters no oath, let us moderate our language, our words, and even our thoughts; for by preventing evil thoughts from occurring in our minds, we will avoid translating them out of guilty words. Finally, be careful also to close your ears to all vain and slanderous speech, according to this opinion of Moses: Do not listen to the path of lies. The Psalmist also tells us: I took away the one who secretly smote of his neighbor. (Exodus XXIII, 1, Ps. I, 5.)

Conclude from all this, my dear brother, that the acquisition of the Christian virtues requires generous efforts and constant vigilance. The slightest negligence sometimes suffices to ruin everything; and it is the reproach that the holy king David addressed to the Jews. Quietly seated, he told them, you speak against your brother, and you prepare a trap for your mother's son. (Ps. XLIX, 20.) This attention to regulating all our senses will greatly facilitate the various exercises of piety. Thus, our tongue will praise and glorify the Lord, our ears will be opened to the holy word and its salutary instructions, and our mind will apply to meditate the truths of faith; our hands, pure of every act of avarice or robbery, will practice good works and alms, and our feet will not lead us to the theater and its dangerous spectacles, nor to the circus and chariot races; but to the churches, to the houses of prayer, and to the tombs of the martyrs, that by intercession we might obtain the blessings of heaven and grace not to succumb to the pitfalls of the devil. This active solicitude for our salvation will still make the fast of Lent very useful to us, that we will avoid the snares of the tempter, and that we will obtain the divine mercies; may they be poured out upon us all, by the grace and goodness of our Lord Jesus Christ, to whom be with the Father and the Holy Spirit, glory, honor and the empire, now and always, and for ever and ever. So be it.