I am the Way, the Truth and the Life, says the Lord;
No one can come to the Father except through me. JN 14:6
GENESIS 4:1-15,25
My Soul's Beloved,
It's not so much the gift as the disposition with which we offer it that gives it meaning and value. Cain's heart was earthbound unlike his brother Abel's who was generous in spirit this is why he found favor in God's sight. Too often we are disappointed, disgruntled, and frustrated when, despite praying and fasting, our prayers are unanswered. Today we are reminded that it is not the number of prayers we pray, the novenas we make, and the pilgrimages we undertake that move God's heart but a life rooted in the Gospel. When we allow Your Word and Your Spirit to direct our hearts, minds, and will, the floodgates of heaven will open and fill us.
The Lord looked with favour on Abel and his offering. But he did not look with favour on Cain and his offering, and Cain was very angry and downcast. The Lord asked Cain, ‘Why are you angry and downcast? If you are well disposed, ought you not to lift up your head? But if you are ill disposed, is not sin at the door like a crouching beast hungering for you, which you must master?’
Instead of heeding God's word and repenting humbly, he allowed his envy to fester in his soul. Filled with murderous rage against his brother who had done him no harm, he killed him in cold blood. He thought he acted in secret but You O Lord are all-knowing, all-seeing, nothing is hidden from Your sight. We stand naked before You and will be called to account not only for every unrepented sin - grave and small, but also for every useless word we've spoken.
It would do us well to keep a close guard over our hearts, minds, and our tongues lest it is too late and we find ourselves hauled before the righteous Judge and find ourselves in the place where the fire does not go out and the worms do not die.
Yet O Lord, You are merciful. When Cain cried out to You that his grief was too much to bear as he was condemned to live the life of a fugitive and a wanderer and a target for anyone to kill him, You put a mark on him and assured him that if anyone dared to kill him his death would be avenged with a sevenfold vengeance. Although we are born in original sin, O Lord, the baptismal seal on our soul makes us children of the family of God and will preserve us from the hand of the Enemy. Thank You for Your mighty protection, for the Blood of the Lamb, and the seal of the Holy Spirit.
Then Cain said to the Lord, ‘My punishment is greater than I can bear. See! Today you drive me from this ground. I must hide from you, and be a fugitive and a wanderer over the earth. Why, whoever comes across me will kill me!’ ‘Very well, then,’ the Lord replied ‘if anyone kills Cain, sevenfold vengeance shall be taken for him.’ So the Lord put a mark on Cain, to prevent whoever might come across him from striking him down.
PSALM 49(50):1,8,16-17,20-21
Pay your sacrifice of thanksgiving to God.
The God of gods, the Lord,
has spoken and summoned the earth,
from the rising of the sun to its setting.
‘I find no fault with your sacrifices,
your offerings are always before me.’
has spoken and summoned the earth,
from the rising of the sun to its setting.
‘I find no fault with your sacrifices,
your offerings are always before me.’
‘But how can you recite my commandments
and take my covenant on your lips,
you who despise my law
and throw my words to the winds?
you who despise my law
and throw my words to the winds?
‘You who sit and malign your brother
and slander your own mother’s son.
You do this, and should I keep silence?
Do you think that I am like you?’
You do this, and should I keep silence?
Do you think that I am like you?’
Pay your sacrifice of thanksgiving to God.
MARK 8:11-13
My Soul's Beloved,
My Soul's Beloved,
Some of us are insatiably greedy. We demand proof of Your love. We grumble when life is hard, the cross grows heavy, our prayers remain unanswered, and we complain and harden our hearts to the innumerable ways in which the constancy of Your love is palpable for those who have eyes to see, ears to hear, and hearts to respond.
Signs abound - they come in a myriad ways. Through the day and every day of our lives, experience Your goodness, Your faithfulness, Your tender, merciful, and compassionate love. We, however, are cold, tepid, lukewarm, changeable, and stubborn, our love is anything but, and as long as we receive blessings and good gifts from You we are happy but even that is shortlived. We forget so quickly just like the Israelites in the desert who after having their needs met in the manna and the quails were still panting for the fleshpots of Egypt.
Lord Jesus, pity us, fill us with Your Holy Spirit, take away our hearts of stone, and give us hearts of flesh so we may always be grateful for Your infinite goodness in saving us, redeeming us, and reserving a place for us with You in the Kingdom of God.
The Pharisees came up and started a discussion with Jesus; they demanded of him a sign from heaven, to test him. And with a sigh that came straight from the heart he said, ‘Why does this generation demand a sign? I tell you solemnly, no sign shall be given to this generation.’ And leaving them again and re-embarking, he went away to the opposite shore.
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