26 February 2023
First Sunday of Lent
The Sistine chapel lays out a vast expanse of human history. God’s creation of the universe is seen over the main altar of the chapel and the Michelangelo’s famous fresco ends with the drunkenness of Noah. Although one of the more famous images in the fresco is the famous creation of Adam, the key painting is the creation of Eve. Michelangelo positioned the creation of eve in the middle, thus giving it great importance. The story told today in the first reading is familiar to us on how Eve or Eva in the Latin vulgate, took the apple, ate it, and passed on to Adam. In do this act, Adam and Eve disobeyed the will of God. The choice of Eva continued and was evidenced in the drunkenness of Noah and humanity continued, it would seem, to go right out the door. But that was not how the story ended. A daughter of Eve, Mary, heard the word of God and accepted the will of God into her life. The angelic salutation began with Ave Maria and theologians noted that Eva disobeyed, it was “Ave’s” reverse response that assisted in humanity’s redemption.
Art historians have identified one of the themes of the Sistine chapel as that of choice. Humanity can choose either with Eva and move away from God’s original intention of humanity or choose with Ave (Mary) who not only moves us towards God’s original plan for humanity but participates in the bringing of Christ. Although Mary’s role in salvation history was unique, we share in this same calling as hers, in responding to the invitation to make Christ present to ourselves and then to others. We can understand lent as an opportunity examine our lives and see when, at times, we imitate Eva when we should be imitating Ave.