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By Fr. Jerry Pokorsky, Catholic Culture - In the Book of Genesis, God witnesses the marriage between Adam and Eve. Adam delights in his new bride during his honeymoon: “At last, bone of my bone and flesh of my flesh!” God establishes a covenant with our First Parents and gives them the gift of the fruit of the tree of everlasting life if they agree to obediently avoid the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. A good deal, when you think of it. In perfect goodness, why would they want to know anything about evil? God honored His side of the bargain. But Adam and Eve broke the agreement and brought sin, suffering, and death into the world. ...

By Carl E. Olson, Catholic World Report - Looking on thee, O Unwedded One, and dreading a hidden wedlock, O Sinless One, the chaste Joseph was riven in mind with a storm of doubts… That is how the anxious state of Joseph was poetically described by the unknown author of the great Akathist hymn (c. 6th century) to the Blessed Virgin Mary as he considered what to do with his young and pregnant betrothed. Joseph, following the usual Jewish practice, had been covenanted to Mary; their betrothal was, for all intents and purposes, as legally binding as marriage. According to Jewish law, this meant the betrothal could only end in one of two ways: divorce or death (Deut. 24:1-4). ...