It is not good for the man to be alone

Loneliness can be a terrible thing.

Loneliness can be an insatiable hunger that leads a person into darkness or into temptation and sin.

In today’s first reading (Genesis 2:18-25), God says,
“It is not good for the man to be alone.
I will make a suitable partner for him.”

It is very important to note that God is not simply observing the man’s feelings and trying to make him feel better. The focus is not loneliness but rather the unfolding of God’s will. It is not a matter of God saying, “Awww. He looks lonely. Let’s fix him up.” but rather the creation of gender and establishment of what would be understood as matrimonial union – much as was expressed in the previous chapter (1:27-28a):

God created man in his image;
in the divine image he created him;
male and female he created them.

God blessed them, saying:
"Be fertile and multiply..."

We can all get lonely, but ultimately our loneliness can only be satisfied by God, who has created us for himself, and the path to that satisfaction is adherence to his will. For most of us, holy matrimony is part of that will, but not for all and it is only part of the answer. Marriage by itself will not solve our loneliness. Only God can.

It is not good for the man to be alone, but ultimately God has created us for himself and our loneliness will be lesser as God fills our hearts more.