The proof that God is good is that she is here. - Jean Valjean (in Les Misérables, by Victor Hugo)

My first thought was, who? Who is here? (well… technically my initial thought was Jean Valjean just called God a woman?!…but I digress) Why does Valjean feel so strongly about her? So enamored by her, that she is all the proof he needs to know that God is good. With all the evidence that seems to point to the contrary, that is quite a counter weight. What must I do for someone to think that of me? I want to be her to have someone react to me in that manner. It strikes the chord of the deeper truth. The truth is, from the beginning we’ve been a gift. A suitable companion couldn’t not be found in all of creation so God went about creating the perfect companion for Adam. Can you imagine Adam’s excitement? At last she is here! We long for that one person to exclaim, at last you are here! We get so focused on searching for our individual value that we miss the point. In our soul and our being as a woman we were and still are created as a gift, a valuable one. In the same way Eve’s sin still infects us, her purpose does also.

I must thank Sister Beatrice for most of these thoughts, if she didn't actually utter them... she sparked ALL of them.