One day, under the shape of a serpent with gleaming scales, Satan slipped into the garden. He approached Eve, greeted her with a soft and soothing voice, then, feigning compassion, asked whether she was truly perfectly happy and why she did not eat from the fruit of the tree that stood at the center of Paradise.
Eve replied, “The Lord has forbidden us to eat of it, and He has warned us that if we touch these fruits, we shall die.”
Then the devil, a liar from the beginning, answered, “No, you shall not die. On the contrary, your eyes will be opened. You will know good and evil, and you will be like gods. God does not want you to be like Him; that is why He has forbidden you to eat this fruit.”
As he always does, the devil played upon human pride. Through flattery and lies, he often succeeds in seducing us.
Eve felt her heart waver. For a moment, she resisted, remembering the words of God. But stirred by curiosity, she began to question the command: “What could be the hidden reason behind this prohibition?” Within her, a quiet murmur began to rise.
God has every right over His creature. When one begins to analyze God’s commands in this way, one opens the door to pride, the source and root of all evil. Indeed, pride slipped into her like a slow poison. She went to Adam and told him what the serpent had said.
The more she looked at it, the more the forbidden fruit now seemed more beautiful than all the others. She took it, brought it to her lips, tasted it, and then offered some to her husband. Adam, too, had the weakness to eat of it.
At that very instant – faster than lightning that tears through the night in a storm – something broke within them. It was the bond of love that united them to God. Their eyes were opened, but not to become like gods. Adam and Eve had listened to the devil and committed the first sin, called original sin.
The light with which God had clothed them faded away. They discovered themselves guilty, naked, vulnerable, and afraid. Their inner peace turned into turmoil; their minds and senses were thrown into confusion.
Filled with shame and fear, Adam and Eve sought to flee from the gaze of God. With heavy hearts, more frightened than repentant, they hid behind big trees. But no one can hide from God. He came to them, no longer with the serene countenance of a Father walking with His children, but with a grave and sorrowful face.
His powerful voice, filled with deep grief, resounded through the garden:
“Adam, where are you?”
Trembling, Adam answered, “I heard Your voice in the garden, and I am afraid, because I am naked, so I hid myself.”
God said,
“Who told you that you are naked? Have you eaten of the tree of which I forbade you to eat?”
Seeking to excuse himself, Adam shifted the blame onto his wife:
“The woman whom You put with me gave me the fruit, and I ate it.”
It was as though he blamed God for having given him a companion.
With great sadness, God turned to Eve:
“Why have you done this?”
Eve answered, her eyes lowered,
“The serpent deceived me, and I ate the fruit.”
She too sought to excuse herself and blamed the devil.
God looked at the serpent and declared with authority:
“Because you did this, you are cursed above all animals. You will crawl on your belly and eat dust all the days of your life. I will put enmity between you and the Woman, between your offspring and Her offspring. She will crush your head, and you will tray to strike Her heel.”
When God spoke of “the Woman,” He was referring to the Blessed Virgin Mary, who would become His Mother and play a vital role in the Redemption of humanity. In this way, She would fight directly against Satan and crush him through Her humility.
Then God turned again to Eve and said:
“I will multiply your sufferings. You will bring forth children in pain, and your children will be a source of great sorrow to you. You will be under the authority of your husband, and he will rule over you.”
Finally, God spoke to Adam in a very grave voice:
“You have listened to the voice of your wife and have eaten from the tree that I commanded you not to eat. Because of you, the ground is cursed. In toil you will eat from it all the days of your life. It will bring forth thorns and thistles for you, and you will eat the plants of the field. By the sweat of your brow you will eat your bread, until you return to the earth from which you were taken; for you are dust, and to dust you shall return.”
God withdrew, deeply saddened. A heavy silence fell upon the garden. Adam and Eve then understood, with trembling, all that they had lost.
After this terrible sentence, Saint Michael the Archangel, the first defender of the rights of God, drove them out of the Garden of Paradise. Adam and Eve left the garden of delights with broken hearts, and the gate of Paradise closed behind them like a radiant door, forever sealed.
For a long time, the two ancestors of the human race remained silent, side by side, crushed beneath the weight of their fault. Before their inner eyes opened the immense abyss of suffering they had dug for themselves and for all their descendants. Remembering all the blessings they had lost – and above all the sweet intimacy with their Creator, which they would never again experience in the same way – they shed bitter tears. Day and night, they lamented their foolish act and wept for the beautiful Paradise they had lost.