July 4, 2025
Please read the passage before reading the comments.
Cain was the first child of Adam and Eve., Abel was the second. Cain killed Abel because he saw that God showed a marked preference for Abel. Thus began a long series of events in which God chose the younger in place of the older. Thus also began a long series of bloodshed from people’s greed and hurt feelings. How do we recall this reading on the Fourth of July? Is it because Congress has just passed a big bill that seems to favor the rich over the poor? Or is it because we all have a tendency to greed and jealousy? We can certainly find fault with legislation and policies that seem to favor the rich over the poor, but then we must also find fault with our own policies and actions that tend to favor ourselves over others. We are blessed with a wealth of natural resources, and we must criticize ourselves for our selfish use of our personal resources. Our national policies follow our personal trends, and our individual decisions influence our national decisions.
If Cain is still killing Abel on a national level, we must ask how we are killing Abel on our personal levels. We can only stop Cain by welcoming in ourselves generosity, that gift from God that gives life.