The beginning of the beginning - Gen 1:1-19
The beginning of the beginning ... Today’s first Reading - The first chapter of Genesis. In the beginning, God created heaven and earth. Heaven and Earth” meant everything for the Jews. Nowadays, saying: heaven and earth, we see our here and now ... The planet we live on. But God created the whole universe. Many rationalists are rebelling. They try to deny the truth about God's creation of the universe. How popular is the Big Bang theory, but does it deny the existence of God? I do not think so. All kinds of scientific theories do not in any way exclude "intelligent design."
Let us look at this picture again. The primal reality is an immeasurable dark ocean. God creates light in the first place ... And separates it from darkness. Then He separates one water from another. Let us try to imagine this picture drawn by the author of the Book of Genesis. Imagine a ball full of water. Now let us split it in half. The top half is filled with water - it is the sky ... the bottom half is also filled with water - it is the earth. On the third day, God separates again - this time the land from the ocean ... A dry space and the surrounding waters are created. End of analysis. The first three days are separation .... The next three days can be described as decorating a previously created reality. The fourth, fifth and sixth days are like pieces of a puzzle that connect to the first, second and third days.
The fourth day is connected with the first day. God creates heavenly bodies under the canopy of heaven ... He adorns the sky with stars, sun, moon. This is where today's passage ends, but later in Genesis, on the fifth day, sea creatures are created they fill the ocean (which was formed in the second day) and the birds that fill the air. Finally - the sixth day connects to the third day, when the land is formed ... Then God said: “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. And that is a sufficient analysis for today’s passage of Genesis.
We all know, however, that this description is only a poetic metaphor. After all, science speaks of billions of years of the formation of the universe. The age of the Earth is estimated at 13.5 billion years. And, of course, the Earth is not flat: (as every child knows) All this, however, does not exclude the basic truth. It was God who created the entire universe ... How did he do it? We do not know ... but from the beginning of our existence we have been trying to explore this mystery. The inspired author drew a beautiful picture of God - an artist who carefully refines every detail of the creation of the world. The whole creation carries God's plan in itself. And the crown of creation is man. It is he who, in the name of all creation, expresses his relationship with God. That is why his sin spread to all of creation. This is clearly seen today in the catastrophic consequences of human activity. That is why God wants to heal man first of all, and only through him will heal the whole world.
Reflection on Today’s Gospel
I think that until the Lord Jesus came to them, the inhabitants of Galilee did not realize that there were so many sick and disabled among them. We get used to human misfortunes. We cannot notice suffering people even when they live next door. The Lord Jesus turned out to be a light for the Galileans also in the sense that they felt obliged to bring them to Jesus.
This is one of the criteria by which to know that we are close to Jesus - that we begin to notice more suffering, needy and homeless people around us. And as far as possible, we try to help them a little.
I would like to devote a moment of attention to the tassel that the Lord Jesus wore on his cloak, which were touched by the sick and regained their health. The Old Testament commanded to wear such tassels as an external sign of belonging to God - so they played more or less the same function as our medals or other religious signs we put on ourselves. Let me remind you what is written about these tassels in the Book of Numbers: "When you use these tassels, the sight of the cord will remind you of all the commandments of the LORD and you will do them, without prostituting yourself going after the desires of your hearts and your eyes " (Numbers 15:39)
The Lord Jesus did not have to fulfill the command to wear these tassels. Just as he was under no obligation to pay temple tax. Yet he obeyed both of these laws - He who so unequivocally rejected the strict laws concerning the keeping of the Sabbath. So, let us not take lightly the outward signs of our religious attitude. Let us not be ashamed to carry a medal around our neck or a rosary in our pocket, let us not neglect to decorate our house with the sign of the cross. The Son of God himself did not excuse himself from wearing external religious signs.
Until Tomorrow
fr. george