Two brothers had different interests and skills. Two brothers didn’t get along. Two brothers lived survival of the fittest and thus created the Culture of Death. It sounds like a story as old as the history of the world—because it is.
Today’s first reading, just in time to feed our reflection as we prepare for Lent, is the story of the two brothers, Cain and Abel. Cain grew crops. Abel tended livestock. Natural differences. No big deal. That wasn’t the problem.
In the beginning…continues
The problem was that both brothers brought their produce to God. Cain brought “some” of his first fruits. Abel brought the best. God was pleased with Abel. He was not as pleased with Cain—although he was patient and sought to lead him to pleasing him.
So the LORD said to Cain:
“Why are you so resentful and crestfallen?
If you do well, you can hold up your head;
but if not, sin is a demon lurking at the door:
his urge is toward you, yet you can be his master.”
Cain didn’t take the coaching God offered him. The story continues: Cain said to his brother Abel, “Let us go out in the field.” When they were in the field, Cain attacked his brother Abel and killed him.
STILL, God was patient with Cain. God did not turn away from him. He continued the conversation:
Then the LORD asked Cain, “Where is your brother Abel?”
He answered, “I do not know.
Am I my brother’s keeper?”
The LORD then said: “What have you done!
Listen: your brother’s blood cries out to me from the soil!
EVEN THEN, God had mercy, even though he took away from Cain his work in the soil. Even then, God continued to give Cain life and insist that others on the earth treat him with respect. So the LORD put a mark on Cain, lest anyone should kill him at sight.
St. Pope John Paul II
St. Pope John Paul II made the story of Cain and Abel the biblical centerpiece of his encyclical, Evangelium Vitae, the Gospel of Life. About this part of the story, he says: “He thus gave Cain a distinctive sign, not to condemn him to the hatred of others, but to protect and defend him from those wishing to kill him, even out of a desire to avenge Abel’s death. Not even a murderer loses his personal dignity, and God himself pledges to guarantee this. And it is precisely here that the paradoxical mystery of the merciful justice of God is shown forth.” (paragraph 9)
St. Pope John Paul sees the story of Cain and Abel as the beginning of the Culture of Death, “a page re-written daily, with inexorable and degrading frequency, in the book of human history.” (Para 7).
He quotes what the catechism says about Cain and Abel, “Scripture reveals the presence of anger and envy in man, consequences of original sin, from the beginning of human history. Man has become the enemy of his fellow man.” (CCC 2259)
We know the many, many signs of this around us: from contraception to abortion to euthanasia to diminishment or violation of rights of those with disabilities or mental illness to treatment of immigrants to violence and war to policies about poverty to the death penalty to… We see it in social policies of administrations of governments who choose whose lives they favor and choose whose lives they discount. In choosing to determine such matters, they (we) forget that God in his goodness set the standard for care of others: it is the standard of His own love—both merciful and just. Life and death are not for us to choose. God, the Creator, is author and Lord of life and death.
Maybe because my work has always been about relationships, this quote stands out to me for what our role should be:
“Yes, every man is his brother’s keeper, because God entrusts us to one another. And it is also in view of this entrusting that God gives everyone freedom, a freedom which possesses an inherently relationship dimension.” (para 19)
Questions for me, as I pray this Scripture and think about that “relationship dimension”: I do not kill my brother or sister. But do I see myself as my brother and sister’s keeper? How far does my caring for others and their life-sustaining needs extend?
Pope Francis
The centerpiece scripture of Pope Francis’ Fratelli Tutti, “Brotherhood of All,” is the story of the Good Samaritan. As he introduces the Good Samaritan as a way for us to counter the Culture of Death, Pope Francis says, “Cain’s answer is one that we ourselves all too often give: ‘Am I my brother’s keeper?’ By the very question God asks [What have you done?], God leaves no room for an appeal to determinism or fatalism as a justification for our own indifference. Instead, he encourages us to create a different culture, in which we resolve our conflicts and care for one another.” (para 57)
Here I really ponder: How can I create a different culture—a culture which helps others see God as the one legitimately in charge of life and death, a culture of dialogue with others with whom I sometimes passionately disagree, a culture that extends care for one another beyond the people I personally know?
Speaking of Fratelli Tutti
Last week some readers asked to be part of the Fratelli Tutti study I will be leading in my parish. Joy tells me to say yes, and prudence tells me, since this would be a very new thing for me to do, to keep the groups separate for now. I will be very happy to lead one or two groups for A Catholic Moment readers.
How do we arrange this? My thought is to have A Catholic Moment readers who would like to participate to email me at mary@skillswork.org From among those people we will find times for one or two groups. We will use Zoom. Groups will start the week of February 21. I can be very flexible on Saturday and Sunday to match time zones across the world. I have limited availability during the week. About half the A Catholic Moment readers come from outside the US. I am very excited about the prospect of looking at Fratelli Tutti through the eyes of readers from many places. I will restrict each group to 12 people. My experience leading zoom groups for work is that more than that is too many. I will need to have at least 6 people to form a group. If more than 2 groups are needed to accommodate everyone who wants to participate, I will do other groups during Easter or later. Each person will need to get their own copy of Fratelli Tutti. It can be ordered as a book or downloaded for free from the Vatican. Groups will be held in English. I’m excited!
Prayer:
Lord, let me walk the road of Lent with You at my side. Let me listen to what You teach me. Let me ask You questions—not to escape responsibility, but to discover responsibility. Ask me questions to poke my mind, heart, and way of living. Help me to emerge at Easter more my brother’s keeper, more my brother’s sister, more formed in Your image. Lead me, guide me, Lord.
