Tuesday, March 11 (February 26), 2025
No Liturgy ─ no New Testament reading appointed                   

“And Cain said unto the Lord, My punishment is greater than I can bear” [Gen. 4:13].  How could he talk like this before the face of God, albeit strict in His justice, but always merciful to a repentant sinner?  Cain’s envy has darkened his mind, his deliberate crime has hardened his heart, and now he is giving the Lord a rude answer: “Am I my brother’s keeper?” [Gen. 4:9].  God wanted to soften Cain’s heart, a heart of stone, with the sledgehammer of His harsh judgment ─ but Cain wouldn’t give in; as if locked and hardened in his malice, he was handed over to the lot which he had prepared for himself by his envy and murder.

What’s amazing here is that later he lived just like anyone else: had family, children, engaged in social relations, ─ yet the stamp of his rejection and despair was still visible upon him.  From this we see that such a stamp is an inner condition, something inside one’s conscience, based upon one’s relations with God, shaped by the burden of sins, passions and sinful habits.

Let us heed to this, especially in our days!  But at the same time let us revive the belief that no sin could possibly overcome God’s mercy ─ although softening one’s heart takes quite a bit of time and effort, of course.  Yet there are only two choices: either salvation, or doom!

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