Catholic Verses - Bible Meditation #0004 - Genesis 4 - All the Crosses You Need
There are 6 episodes in the Verses:Genesis series.
Recorded February 4th, 2018
Catholic Verses - Bible Meditation #0006 - Genesis 6 - Yes to grace and no to sin
Recorded September 4th, 2017
Catholic Verses - Bible Meditation #0005 - Genesis 5 - Called To Be Ordinary
Recorded April 13th, 2017
Catholic Verses - Bible Meditation #0004 - Genesis 4 - All the Crosses You Need
Recorded December 29th, 2016
Catholic Verses - Bible Meditation #0003 - Genesis 3 - There is no other way
Crawl on your hands and knees and lay face down at the foot of the cross and Jesus in His mercy will look down on your humility and bring you with him on his cross: he'll give you all the crosses you need to make it to heaven.
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Under Construction
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chapter 4 Cain and Abel the men had relations with his wife eve and she conceived and bore Cain saying I have produced a man with the help of the Lord next she bought his brother Abel Abel became a keeper of flocks and came a tiller of the soil Cain is the firstborn he's the first human born with original sin Adam and Eve were created sinless in the Garden of Eden created with free will they fell and only then was came born than firstborn so Abel was a keeper of flocks Cain a tiller of the soil the soil won't yield its fruit his red lays it should have had Adam and Eve not soon so I think it's fitting that Cain's a tiller of the soil Abel on the other hand is a keeper of flocks so Abel here a type of Christ the ultimate good shepherd and a type of Peter and the successors appear hopes in the course of time Cain brought an offering to the Lord from the fruit of the soil while able for his part brought one of the best firstlings of his flock the Lord looked with favor on Abel and his offering but on Cain and his offering he did not lip service is worthless it's worse than worthless it's damnable this is the danger of being religious we may find ourselves presenting offerings to God that aren't acceptable because they don't come from a true and sincere love of God they come from other motives which ultimately must by definition be selfish if they're not godly they're selfish those are the only two ways there's the love of God unto contempt of self or there's the love of self onto contempt of God there is no third way God is not fooled by the semblance a--'s of religiosity of an outward piety to the untrained eye it's indistinguishable from his brothers true piety only God knows the hurt the only thing that God finds me irresistible is humility and Cain lacked humility and the punishment of pride is pride the punishment of not giving yourself completely to God is that you will not have given yourself completely to God Cain greatly resented this and was crestfallen 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 looking at the door his urges to what you yet you can be his master Cain resented Abel his brother he resented God he probably resented the soil on which he gathered firstfruits for his sacrilegious offering he probably cursed the firstfruits themselves and birds chirping in the sky this is the psychology of the unrepentant sinner I'm not saying that Abel was not a sooner I'm saying that Abel was a sinner who knew how to repent he knew how to clean his heart and come to God with a clean heart and present offerings with a clean heart so resentment is not appropriate here what's appropriate here is repentance what's appropriate here is the love of correction oh I've gone astray thank you for correcting me God thank you for correcting my pride in my hypocrisy thank you for pointing out to me that I have committed idolatry and adultery because I haven't loved you first above all things as i know i should thank you for the first fruits that you gave me to give to you and now here are those same first fruits and God would have smiled on but sin is lurking at the door and when we leave our comfort zone and our little bubble of delusion the false religion Hilson address and rip us to shreds so we need to be on guard and obviously Cain was not on guard because he was so dumbfounded by his rejection that his reaction was resentment not love and as it ought to me Kane 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 then the Lord asked came 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 Cain answers God's question with another question this tactic of diversion will not work with God the very blood of his brother Abel is crying out from the soil everything we commit speaks when we die and undergo judgment we're going to hear the voice of our sins each and every sin every careless word we utter will be judged the little sins that are is dainty and light as a snowflake they're so small but the problem is that there's so many and they're speaking we're speaking now and we can't hear it it's only a judgment that will hear the voices of our sin whispering speaking or screaming as in the case of certain seems like sodomy and abortion so we should take care we should we should learn from Cain that's why dark things are included in Scripture it's not because religion is evil it's because people are evil God is holding up a mirror to us and saying look at yourself listen to yourself know yourself we have to confront ourselves we have to do an examination of conscience daily if you don't know yourself you can't go to heaven you have to know yourself therefore you shall be banned from the soil that opened its mouth to receive your brother's blood from your hand if you till the soil no longer give you its produce you shall become a restless wanderer on the earth the soil is already cursed but here God is adding to that mal addiction because of Cain's enormous pride and his soon and his lack of repentance is lack of contrition his lack of humanity sin brings curses repentance brings blessing happiness life we need to look at this story we need to understand that it's a choice we should choose wisely and choose life Kate said to the Lord my punishment is too great to bear since you have now banished me from the soil and I must avoid your presence and to become a restless wanderer on the earth anyone may kill me at sight what we see in Cannes complaint is a lack of faith a lack of trust in God's goodness a lack of trust in God's mercy and a denigration of God's perfect justice our punishment is not too great for us to bear that's a lie we see here how the lies of Satan flow naturally into the heart of the unrepentant sinner what comes to mind for me is Judas when he betrayed our Lord she could have repentance he knew that he was wrong he knew that he made a mistake I like to think there's a chance that he did repent in it he's in heaven but the overwhelming opinion of the scientist that Judas is damned and he's in hell we can't know that for certain but he could have repented this is what we need to learn when we look at people like Cain and Judas he could have he had the possibility he was given the grace of free will that's what our free will is for its to choose that Oh to repent when we've sinned Judas newly made a mistake he could've repentance he needed to Humble himself no the paranoid mindset of came there is no rest in the world for those who don't have rest in her hurt you don't have peace because we haven't repented ever confronted themselves and been honest with themselves they're insane we've unbalanced themselves they're disordered McCain is no different he's the first example of this someone whose mind is wracked with paranoid fantasies persecution complex he pictures everyone as an enemy everyone as potential threat that was out to get him not so the Lord said to him if anyone kills Cain Cain shall be avenged sevenfold so the Lord put a mark on Cain lest anyone should kill him at sight Cain then left the Lord's presence and settled in the Land of Nod East of Eden justice is a real thing the apparent lack of justice here below is temporary it's passing it's bleeding we don't need to concern ourselves with vengeance God will take care of Cain vengeance is mine Siskel or so the spirit of vengeance which is a sinful disordered vengeance I hate full vengence that is forbidden by coolidge and that's forbidden by God of course we need to fight against injustice but in a healthy sane holy way with righteousness so there's a Sevenfold punishment to anyone that would avenge the death of able by killing Cain descendants of Cain and Seth King had relations with his wife and she conceived and bore Enoch Cain also became the founder of the city which he named after his son Enoch st. Augustine talks about the two cities the city of man and the City of God I don't think it's coincidence that we see the first city in Scripture being attributed to an unrepentant sinner he is hunkering down for battle against his enemies his perceived enemies Cain's perceived enemy is his neighbor it's his friend it's his first lieutenant among his thugs his perceived enemy is everyone it's God Almighty it's designs it's the church Cain's perceived enemy he's probably even in the mirror when he looks at his tattooed face he doesn't recognize the twisted features he's confused he's lost because when he had the chance to repent he didn't he was proud very chilling story and we have to understand that that city that he built his thriving today we're to be in the world but not of the world precisely because of Kings City to Enoch was born arid and arid became the father of Maha jail Magoo GL became the father of Methuselah and Methuselah became the father of Lamech Lamech took two wives the name of the first was a dar and the name of the second Zilla a DA gave birth to Jabal the ancestor of all who dwell in tents and keep kettle his brother's name was Jubal he was the ancestor of all who played the lyre and the pipe Zilla on her part gave birth to two balkan the ancestor of all who forged instruments of bronze and iron the sister of Cuba Cain was niama lanik took for himself more than one life so this was contrary to God's law at that time later there was a dispensation given to the holy man the patriarchs to have more than one wife and I think st. Augustine said that when it was the custom it was not sin but it was not the custom when la Meck did it and landmark is placed clearly and unambiguously in the lineage of Cain so there's an atmosphere here of the genealogy goes on to talk about the artisans those who work with precious metals those that form instruments of music and we can admire on the one hand the skill of the craftsmanship of the ingenuity but the irony is that they don't practice the art of true religion which is the only heart that matters so this city is thriving the city of Kane is exciting I think it's very alluring when we live on the surface the flashing lights and sexy women what happens in Vegas stays in Vegas but unfortunately it doesn't stay in Vegas the sin of Vegas is everywhere Sin City is everywhere where does the pilgrim find shelter in this world where can we go and not offend God by participating in the flesh the worldly ways of king and his city when I picture the city of Cain I don't picture mud huts I picture skyscrapers well-dressed CEOs firm handshake friendly smile clean white teeth power and money success which are all good in and of themselves it's good to have clean teeth it's good to have a firm handshake and a good work ethic to get up early and to work that's good but only God knows what motivates that and these people that populate the city of Satan these people are working harder for death than I am for life is what Thomas a Kempis says in the imitation of Christ it's shameful because it's true those who soo evil are very diligent in their work they are motivated they're self-sacrificing there's almost nothing they won't do to achieve their ends we can be tempted to join them because appearances are very deceptive in our day-to-day lives when we meet the person of Cain if we have the spiritual wherewithal the self-awareness the alertness the vigilance to recognize the Mark of Cain and to recognize that this is Cain we have to immediately go back to his unrepentant hateful sin all the distractions his shiny shoes and his expensive watch that allow him to move through this world safely all of those are distractions from the essential point which is that he did not repent he was not contracts he blamed able he blamed God he blamed everything on himself so he's an enemy he's an enemy to himself first and foremost because he's an enemy to God and to neighbor and so he's our enemy too we have to love Cain we need to be aware and to beware okay the danger that he poses because he's not moving through this world the same way that we are called to move as pilgrims through this changeable world he's here to stay this is his home if you want to think about it this way we're guests in Cannes home we're unwanted guests it's better to say that we're trespassers on kings or maybe it's better to say that we are cultures of Cain's game his ill-gotten gain and when we come and we try to take one of his flaw and bring them into the flock of Jesus Christ you better believe that his enmity will show itself Cain will hunt down his lost sheep and unlike Jesus Christ he is not love incarnate King his hatred lemax said to his wives Adah and Zillah hear my voice wives of Lamech listen to my utter ins I have killed a man for wounding me a boy for bruising me if Cain is Avenged Sevenfold then Lamech 77 fold the city of Cain is thriving lanik comes along and we see not a lessening or a moderation of kane's wrath and anger and pride we see an augmentation if Cain was avenged seven times blahnik will be avenged seventy times seven times when Peter asked Jesus in the gospel how many times should he forgive those who offend him and who asked for forgiveness jesus said seventy times seven times so Jesus is giving us a remedy and he's showing us the way Adam again had relations with his wife and she gave birth to a son whom she called said God has granted me more offspring in place of Abel she said because Cain slew him to Seth in turn a son was born and he named him enough now we have the introduction of the city of god because Abel is dead but he's been replaced the name Seth I think means replacement or substitute so here we have a sort of resurrection of Abel Abel was the type of Christ and Seth is a type of Christ and they are the spiritual parents of all of us who are striving to belong to the city of god and they are the ancestors of Jesus Christ at that time men began to invoke the Lord by name we know that cane Abel offered sacrifice to God the firstfruits of the soil the first wings of the flock but now with the birth of Seth and the City of God there's a renewed or an elevated liturgy the primitive form of worship is replaced by a growing body of right symbols and rituals Cain city is growing they're growing in the arts they're building their trumpets fanfare and their armies and their fortifications and the city established by set will also grow and we see the first indication of that growth in the liturgy the delicate musical instruments and define clothing are certainly part of the liturgy or they certainly will be eventually but they're not mentioned here what's mentioned is the name of the Lord people calling with the voice we come into the world naked will go to the world naked but we'll have the voice to call on the name the word even if we don't have a tongue even if we don't have vocal cords we can call on the name of the Lord even if our brother came kills us our voice will call out to God on the soil this is what we have as followers of Christ we have a when revelation talks about the great dragon Satan falling from heaven and taking one third of the stars with him as his tail sweeps the heavens one-third of the angels fell with Satan there's a 2 to 1 ratio we have the upper hand if God as far as who can be against us okay Lucas cities with his instruments of torture and destruction warfare is control of the media art theater at the upper hand we have set and able and so a third I've fallen but two-thirds of the angels did not fall God is unity Satan seeks division so they are disabled because the disorder they're disabled because they handicapped their hearts and minds they're handicapped the godless children of Cain are lame spiritually the blind the death they're done so we have the upper hand we'll have to suffer our award is not here our rewarded in heaven with pilgrims between the perfect paradise in the Garden of Eden and heaven lies city of Cain as we passed through would try to bring as many with us as we can I said earlier the cane seeks diligently after his lost sheep but not as diligently as the Good Shepherd seeks his lost sheep the City of God has the advantage there too it's just more difficult to perceive we're operating on a spiritual level when Jesus was arrested and st. Peter impulsively sliced the ear off the soldier jesus said if you live by the sword you die by the sword did not know that if I wanted to engage in a physical battle I have more than twelve legions at my beck and call regions of angels and later he would say my kingdom is not of this world Christ allow self to be persecuted despised tortured and killed by the city of man by Cain and until the very end he was mocked he was able to save others why can't he save himself if you're the Son of God come down from the cross moberly come down off the cross this is an example to us of how we engage in the world and what we're up against people will be asking us why don't you save yourself why don't you come down off your cross come down off the cross you're suffering needlessly life is here and now come down off your cross this is the constant message bombarding those who would follow Christ come down off your cross we don't want to see you suffering come and join us that child inconvenient just kill it your parents are inconveniencing you just kill them you're doing them a favor take them off their cross their suffering needlessly put it into it we have clinical methods that are prompt cost-effective and paints we have the answers technology has the answers science has the answers join us you're invited to come down off the cross and but he toughed it out to the end his prayer needs to be our prayer before his passions we prayed twice if it's possible let this chalice pass from me but not my will done your will be done Heavenly Father so climb back up on the climb back up the way to climb back up the cross is to crawl hands and knees and lay face down at the foot of the cross and Jesus in His mercy will look down on your humility and bring you with him on his cross he'll give you all with him on his cross he'll give you all the crosses you need to make a dad