Reflection on Gen 4:7
If you do well, will you not be accepted?
And if you do not do well, sin lies at the door.
And its desire is for you, but you should rule over it.
The Lord spoke these words to Cain before he committed fratricide. Why did he commit fratricide? Because his heart was filled with envy at his brother Abel, who was righteous before God and offered God-pleasing sacrifices of his first-born sheep. Cain, on the other hand, was an egoist and had no good relationship either to God or his brother. He reproached God for not hearing his insincere prayers from a heart full of jealousy, resentment, even hatred, which he felt towards his brother, and for no reason at all. The Lord says that it is not enough just to be passive, but we should do well both to God and to our brethren. If we do not do well, God warns us that sin lies at the door of our soul and seeks to blind us and dominate us like it did with Cain. That is why God commands us: You should rule over sin and not be its slave. You should not listen to deceitful inspirations or false feelings of envy or anger, but you should repent, that is, cut off these thoughts and feelings. What is more, you should overcome these feelings of self-pity or resentment towards your brother and take the first step towards reconciliation, as Jesus counsels in the Gospel when He says: “If your brother has something against you, first go and be reconciled to your brother.”
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