Challenges of men and women in the face of the year 2000

Abstract

The Holy Father John Paul II has expressed in his catechesis:

"As had happened in the origin of mankind and the history of salvation, in God's project the eschatological ideal should not be revealed in a person, but in a couple. Therefore, in heavenly glory, next to the risen Christ there is a new woman, Mary: the new Adam and the new Eve, firstfruits of the general resurrection of the bodies of all mankind. Certainly, the eschatological condition of Christ and Mary must not be placed on the same level. Mary, the new Eve, received from Christ, the new Adam, the fulness of grace and heavenly glory, having been resurrected by the Holy Spirit by the sovereign power of the Son."

It means this, then, that God's will has been for the eschatological ideal to be revealed in a couple. That's clear and it's important to guide us in life. In this way we must understand the beautiful biblical text of the creation of man, which is the creation of man and woman: "God said: 'Let us make man in our image, according to our likeness...' And God created man in his image: in the image of God he created him; male and female created them. And God blessed them, and said unto them, 'Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth, and subdue it.' He saw God all he had done, and behold, he was very well."