From the desk of the pastor for September 13, 2026

The Lord be with you! After the Fall, Adam and Eve did not idle - nor did the Lord. The stories of their children - Cain and Abel - reveal the centrality of worship to the beginnings of society.

The story of Cain and Abel seems simpler than it really is. Cain, the older brother, is a farmer whereas Abel is a shepherd. We can confer that they are adults with families because each is offering a sacrifice to the LORD, and that duty is naturally that of the father of a household. We do not learn why, but God prefers Abel’s offering enraging Cain. Instead of emulating Abel, Cain decides to kill him so that his offering will be the best.

After burying Abel in a field, Cain is interrogated by God answering with his famous line, “Am I my brother’s keeper?” Cain has explicitly rejected his brother’s job - keeping sheep - and relied on his skill of farming in committing murder and trying to get away with it. God punishes Cain by removing him from the land that he loved - he must become a wanderer never truly being home. God marks Cain so that other people will not lay a hand on him. The careful reader should be asking, “Where did other people come from?”

The story of Cain does not end there. He knows his wife, has a son E’noch, and founds a city! In eight verses (Genesis 4:17-24) a whole civilization emerges that is vengeful but advanced in technology and industry. Adam and Eve have another son, Seth, from which will come Noah, the righteous man.

In showing the fall of Cain and the degradation of his descendants, Genesis is not criticizing civilization. It is a warning, however, that being more advanced in the arts is not advancement in morality. Most importantly these chapters are showing that right worship is needed for right living. Cain kills his own flesh and blood because he did not give his heart rightly to God. That one sin reverberates as his descendants grow further and further away from the LORD.

Although Genesis should not be read primarily for insights into how civilization started, it is interesting to see the themes preserved by it. Farmer versus rancher; city versus rural. Moreover, these early chapters are highlighting how changes in society are affected by and effect changes in morality. In our current time Artificial Intelligence is discussed often with respect to jobs and environmental impact. As Pope Leo has reminded us, however, it is how AI will change our virtues and vices that is most important.

Whenever we go to Communion, we offer God our hearts. Like Abel we must strive to give more and more of our souls to the LORD in thanksgiving. May we never tire of growing in His grace.

In His Sacred Heart,

Fr. John