§2335Each of the two sexes is an image of the power and tenderness of God, with equal dignity though in a different way. the union of man and woman in marriage is a way of imitating in the flesh the Creator's generosity and fecundity: "Therefore a man leaves his father and his mother and cleaves to his wife, and they become one flesh."120 All human generations proceed from this unio…

Analysis of Knowledge and of Procreation To our analyses dedicated to the biblical beginning, we wish to add another short passage, taken from chapter 4 of Genesis. For this purpose, however, we must refer first of all to the words spoken by Jesus Christ in the talk with the Pharisees (cf. Mt 19 and Mk 10), in the compass of which our reflections take place. They concern the c…

The Mystery of Woman Is Revealed in Motherhood In the preceding meditation, we analyzed the sentence of Genesis 4:1 and, in particular, the term "knew." The original text used this word to define conjugal union. We also pointed out that this biblical knowledge establishes a kind of personal archetype of corporality and human sexuality. That seems absolutely fundamental in orde…

The Knowledge-Generation Cycle and the Perspective of Death We are drawing to the end of the cycle of reflections wherein we have tried to follow Christ's appeal handed down to us by Matthew 19:3-9 and by Mark 10:1-12: "Have you not read that he who made them from the beginning made them male and female, and said, `For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be…

And Abel was a keeper of sheep, but Cain was a tiller of the ground. Here Moses describes the first worship offered to God and the first fratricide. God had respect to Abel and his offering, but to Cain and his offering he had not respect. The difference lay not in the outward offering but in the faith and sincerity of the offerer. Cain's anger and murder of his brother shows t…