Adam V. Eve

The battle of the sexes started on the fateful day in the Garden of Eden. While Eve had to battle the “serpent” in a war of words and deceit, Adam stood by silently.  And when God asked Adam why he ate from the apple, he replied, “"The woman whom you put here with me--she gave me fruit from the tree, so I ate it."  They were ultimately convinced by Satan that God didn’t care about them and couldn’t be trusted.

As a result, God levied a series of consequences upon them including for woman, that their “urge shall  be for your husband, and he shall be your master." This is a prophecy of how men and women will wrongly treat each other. And the battle begins and rages on.

Fully understanding the spiritual battle of marriage, as well as fully understanding marriage as a sacrament and what "the two shall become one flesh" really meant, Tobiah and Sarah, in the Book of Tobit, were much wiser. Before he and Sarah consummated their marriage, this is the prayer they prayed together:

" 'Blessed are you, O God of our fathers; praised be your name forever and ever. Let the heavens and all your creation praise you forever.

'You made Adam and you gave him his wife Eve to be his help and support; and from these two the human race descended. You said, 'It is not good for the man to be alone; let us make him a partner like himself.'

'Now, Lord, you know that I take this wife of mine not because of lust, but for a noble purpose. Call down your mercy on me and on her, and allow us to live together to a happy old age.'

They said together, 'Amen, amen,' and went to bed for the night" (Tobit 8:4-8).

Clearly, Tobiah's and Sarah’s prayer is words of a married couple that clearly understand the sacrament of marriage. A sacrament is a visible sign of an invisible reality. This sincere gift of oneself is also called "a communion of persons becoming one flesh" which reflects in a mysterious way the self-giving love between God and Jesus and the Holy Spirit. Our bodies and conjugal love is a sign of the self-giving love between God the father and His son, Jesus Christ.

Christopher West in his book The Theology of the Body for Beginners says “If we want to know what is most sacred in this world, all we need to do is look at what is most violently profaned.” God’s plan of self-giving love in a communion of persons is part of His original plan we must diligently protect.