12 February 2027 · Syro-Malabar Rite
Open in the Daily Word appAlso: Syro-Malankara Rite · Latin Rite · മലയാളം
“Then the Lord said to Cain, “Where is your brother Abel?” He said, “I do not know; am I my brother's keeper?”” Genesis 4:9
Yesterday God asked Adam, “Where are you?” Today he asks Cain, “Where is your brother Abel?” Sin that began as distrust of God quickly turns against the brother. Cain and Abel both bring offerings; God regards Abel's, and Cain's face falls. God speaks to him like a father warning a son: “If you do well, will you not be accepted? And if you do not do well, sin is lurking at the door; its desire is for you, but you must master it.” Cain does not master it. He leads his brother into the field and kills him. When God asks where Abel is, Cain answers with a lie and a shrug: “I do not know; am I my brother's keeper?” But the earth cannot keep the secret: “Listen; your brother's blood is crying out to me from the ground!” And yet even here God shows mercy: he puts a mark on Cain “so that no one who came upon him would kill him.” Jesus speaks to the root of Cain's sin, the comparing and judging eye: “Do not judge, so that you may not be judged.” “Why do you see the speck in your neighbor's eye, but do not notice the log in your own eye?” “You hypocrite, first take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your neighbor's eye.”
On the Fridays of the Great Fast our parishes walk the Way of the Cross, often in the evening, and many keep a stricter fast. Abel's blood cried from the ground for justice; on the Cross we see another blood, “the sprinkled blood that speaks a better word than the blood of Abel”, the blood that cries for mercy. The second reading shows the Jordan in flood at harvest time. As soon as the feet of the priests carrying the ark touch the edge of the water, the river stands up “in a single heap”, and the whole people crosses on dry ground. Twelve men lift twelve stones from the riverbed, so that when the children ask, “What do those stones mean to you?”, the answer will be told. Paul holds up Abraham as the father of all who believe: “Hoping against hope, he believed.” He knew his body was “already as good as dead” and Sarah was barren, yet “No distrust made him waver concerning the promise of God, but he grew strong in his faith as he gave glory to God, being fully convinced that God was able to do what he had promised.” These words were written for us too, who believe in the God who raised Jesus, “who was handed over to death for our trespasses and was raised for our justification.” Every Friday of the Great Fast walks toward that Friday, and through it to Easter.
Theme: “Where is your brother Abel?”
Cain's question, Abraham's hope, the stones of the Jordan, and the eye that judges.
“Then the Lord said to Cain, “Where is your brother Abel?” He said, “I do not know; am I my brother's keeper?”” Genesis 4:9
“Those who say, “I love God,” and hate their brothers or sisters, are liars; for those who do not love a brother or sister whom they have seen, cannot love God whom they have not seen.” 1 John 4:20
Apply: Do one concrete thing this week for a brother, sister or neighbour in need.
“And he believed the LORD; and the LORD reckoned it to him as righteousness.” Genesis 15:6
“Hoping against hope, he believed that he would become “the father of many nations,” according to what was said, “So numerous shall your descendants be.”” Romans 4:18
Apply: Bring one hopeless situation to God every day of this week.
“For I know my transgressions, and my sin is ever before me.” Psalm 51:3
“You hypocrite, first take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your neighbor's eye.” Matthew 7:5
Apply: Each time you are tempted to criticise someone today, name one of your own faults instead.
God asks where our brother is, and the Cross answers with mercy.
Keep your brother, hope against hope, and let Christ heal your eyes.
Take-home resolution: Walk the Way of the Cross on every Friday of the Great Fast.
Dear friends, God asked Adam: where are you? Today he asks Cain: where is your brother Abel? (Genesis 4:9). Sin against God soon becomes sin against the brother. Cain answers: am I my brother's keeper? God's answer is yes.
God had warned Cain: sin is lurking at the door; its desire is for you, but you must master it (Genesis 4:7). Jealousy began with comparing. That is why Jesus says: do not judge. First take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly (Matthew 7:5).
Abraham teaches us another way: hoping against hope, he believed (Romans 4:18). He did not look at his weakness but at God's promise. And Israel crossed the Jordan because God held back the waters.
Today is a Friday of the Great Fast. As we walk the Way of the Cross, we see the blood of Jesus, which speaks a better word than the blood of Abel. Let us become keepers of our brothers and sisters. Amen.
Children, God asks each of us: where is your brother? where is your sister? Jesus wants us to take care of each other. Do something kind for your brother, sister or friend today.
Lord Jesus Christ, your blood speaks a better word than the blood of Abel. Master the sin that lurks at the door of our hearts, take the log from our eyes, and make us keepers of our brothers and sisters. Give us the faith of Abraham, hoping against hope, and lead us through the waters of these days to your Easter. Amen.
The sin that began as distrust of God now becomes violence against a brother. Genesis tells of Cain and Abel. The second reading shows Israel crossing the Jordan and setting up stones, and Paul in Romans holds up the faith of Abraham. In Matthew, Jesus warns against judging and asks us to attend first to the log in our own eye. Cain is angry about his brother's standing with God; the Gospel removes the grounds for that kind of comparison. The key words are brother, lurking and measure.
Setting.
This is the first story outside the garden and the first in the Bible about brothers. In one generation, sin has moved from eating a forbidden fruit to murder. It is also a story of ways of life, the farmer and the shepherd, and it does not explain everything: the reason why God accepts one offering and not the other is left unstated.
Structure.
Key words.
Verse by verse.
“If you do well, will you not be accepted? And if you do not do well, sin is lurking at the door; its desire is for you, but you must master it.” (4:7)
God speaks to Cain before the crime, as a father to a son. Anger is not yet murder, and Cain is still able to choose. The Hebrew of this verse is hard, but its sense is clear: no one is forced to sin.
“Cain said to his brother Abel, “Let us go out to the field.”” (4:8)
A note on the text. The standard Hebrew text has “Cain said to his brother Abel” with no words following. The Greek, Syriac and other ancient versions supply “Let us go out to the field”, and the NRSV and POC follow them. Once they are in the field, the word “brother” keeps sounding, seven times in the passage: this is what is being killed.
“He said, “I do not know; am I my brother’s keeper?”” (4:9)
God again asks a question, as in the garden. Cain answers with a lie and then with a sneer. The whole Bible answers yes.
“Listen; your brother’s blood is crying out to me from the ground!” (4:10)
The one who never spoke is heard after all. God hears the cry of those no one defends. Hebrews says that the blood of Jesus “speaks a better word than the blood of Abel” (12:24): it asks for mercy.
“And the Lord put a mark on Cain, so that no one who came upon him would kill him.” (4:15)
The mark is not a brand of shame, as people often think. It is a sign of protection, and God keeps the murderer alive.
How the Church reads it.
The Catechism says that this account reveals the presence of anger and envy in man from the beginning of history (CCC 2259), and it counts the blood of Abel among the sins that cry out to heaven (CCC 1867). St John Paul II gave a long meditation on the passage in Evangelium Vitae (7–10), and wrote that not even a murderer loses his personal dignity, which God himself pledges to guarantee (9). Why was Cain's offering refused? Hebrews says that Abel offered “by faith” (11:4), and 1 John that Cain's “own deeds were evil” (3:12).
Setting.
Near the end of the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus turns to the way disciples treat one another. They have just heard about prayer and trust. Now he warns them against the temptation of religious people everywhere: to use their progress as a measuring rod for others.
Structure.
Key words.
Verse by verse.
“Do not judge, so that you may not be judged.” (7:1)
The passive means: by God. This is the sense of the warning: do not stand where God alone stands. It does not forbid telling right from wrong, for later in this chapter Jesus asks his disciples to recognise false prophets by their fruits (7:15–16), and in 18:15 he speaks of correcting a brother.
“You hypocrite, first take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your neighbor’s eye.” (7:5)
He does not forbid helping with the speck. He gives the order. One who has known the pain of the log will be gentle with another's eye.
“Do not give what is holy to dogs; and do not throw your pearls before swine,” (7:6)
A hard proverb whose meaning is not certain. It is not a description of any people. It asks for reverence in handing on what is holy, and so balances vv. 1–5. The Didache (9:5) applied it to the Eucharist: only the baptised are to receive it.
How the Church reads it.
The Catechism names rash judgment as a sin against truth and asks us to interpret others' words and deeds as favourably as we can, quoting St Ignatius of Loyola (CCC 2477–2478). The Fast is a good time for this: the Church gives us the Sacrament of Reconciliation, where each person speaks only of the log in his or her own eye.
Why did God prefer Abel's offering? Isn't that unfair?
The text does not say why, and this silence is deliberate. It notes that Abel brought the “firstlings” and “fat portions”, the best, and it says of Cain only “the fruit of the ground”. The New Testament sees the difference in the heart (Hebrews 11:4; 1 John 3:12). The story's question is what Cain does when he feels passed over, and that is a question for all of us.