Genesis 2:15-25
God has placed man at the centre of His beautiful creation to administer it like a manager. He forbade him only one thing: to eat of the fruit of the tree of knowledge. This putting to the test of his obedience tallies with his position as a responsible creature. Man is not, like the animal, subject to irrational impulses. He is created free, and so is anxious to obey the Creator. We are present at Adam’s first act of administration: to give names to the living creatures. These are there to serve man, but whatever their degree of intelligence, none of them corresponds to Adam’s superior faculties, nor to the intimate needs of his affections. Thus loneliness was not good for man. He needed someone to share his thoughts, to enjoy the divine gifts with him and to give thanks with him to the One who had given them. The love of God understands this need and responds by giving man a companion, an intelligent help and one endowed with affections like he was.
At the same time we have there the mystery of the Church, the bride of a Christ, who has entered into the sleep of death, and whom He receives now from the hand of God to nourish and cherish her (Ephesians 5:29). "This is a great mystery", exclaims the apostle; "we are members of his body, of his flesh and of his bones."