Gen 4, 3-7 Sin is a demon lurking at the door

(Gen 4, 3-7) Sin is a demon lurking at the door

[3] In the course of time Cain brought an offering to the LORD from the fruit of the soil, [4] while Abel, for his part, brought one of the best firstlings of his flock. The LORD looked with favor on Abel and his offering, [5] but on Cain and his offering he did not. Cain greatly resented this and was crestfallen. [6] So the LORD said to Cain: "Why are you so resentful and crestfallen? [7] 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."

(CCC 2358) The number of men and women who have deep-seated homosexual tendencies is not negligible. This inclination, which is objectively disordered, constitutes for most of them a trial. They must be accepted with respect, compassion, and sensitivity. Every sign of unjust discrimination in their regard should be avoided. These persons are called to fulfill God's will in their lives and, if they are Christians, to unite to the sacrifice of the Lord's Cross the difficulties they may encounter from their condition. (CCC 2359) Homosexual persons are called to chastity. By the virtues of self-mastery that teach them inner freedom, at times by the support of disinterested friendship, by prayer and sacramental grace, they can and should gradually and resolutely approach Christian perfection.

Gen 4, 1-2 I have produced a man with the help of the LORD

Genesis 4

(Gen 4, 1-2) I have produced a man with the help of the LORD

[1] The man had relations with his wife Eve, and she conceived and bore Cain, saying, "I have produced a man with the help of the LORD." [2] Next she bore his brother Abel. Abel became a keeper of flocks, and Cain a tiller of the soil.

(CCC 2335) Each of the two sexes is an image of the power and tenderness of God, with equal dignity though in a different way. The union of man and woman in marriage is a way of imitating in the flesh the Creator's generosity and fecundity: "Therefore a man leaves his father and his mother and cleaves to his wife, and they become one flesh" (Gen 2:24). All human generations proceed from this union (Cf. Gen 4:1-2, 25-26; 5:1). (CCC 2336) Jesus came to restore creation to the purity of its origins. In the Sermon on the Mount, he interprets God's plan strictly: "You have heard that it was said, 'You shall not commit adultery.' But I say to you that every one who looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery with her in his heart" (Mt 5:27-28). What God has joined together, let not man put asunder (Cf. Mt 19:6). The tradition of the Church has understood the sixth commandment as encompassing the whole of human sexuality.

Gen 3, 24 To guard the way to the tree of life

(Gen 3, 24) To guard the way to the tree of life

[24] When he expelled the man, he settled him east of the garden of Eden; and he stationed the cherubim and the fiery revolving sword, to guard the way to the tree of life.

(CCC 350) Angels are spiritual creatures who glorify God without ceasing and who serve his saving plans for other creatures: "The angels work together for the benefit of us all" (St. Thomas Aquinas, STh I, 114, 3, ad 3). (CCC 351) The angels surround Christ their Lord. They serve him especially in the accomplishment of his saving mission to men. (CCC 352) The Church venerates the angels who help her on her earthly pilgrimage and protect every human being. (CCC 309) If God the Father almighty, the Creator of the ordered and good world, cares for all his creatures, why does evil exist? To this question, as pressing as it is unavoidable and as painful as it is mysterious, no quick answer will suffice. Only Christian faith as a whole constitutes the answer to this question: the goodness of creation, the drama of sin and the patient love of God who comes to meet man by his covenants, the redemptive Incarnation of his Son, his gift of the Spirit, his gathering of the Church, the power of the sacraments and his call to a blessed life to which free creatures are invited to consent in advance, but from which, by a terrible mystery, they can also turn away in advance. There is not a single aspect of the Christian message that is not in part an answer to the question of evil. (CCC 310) But why did God not create a world so perfect that no evil could exist in it? With infinite power God could always create something better (Cf. St. Thomas Aquinas, STh I, 25, 6). But with infinite wisdom and goodness God freely willed to create a world "in a state of journeying" towards its ultimate perfection. In God's plan this process of becoming involves the appearance of certain beings and the disappearance of others, the existence of the more perfect alongside the less perfect, both constructive and destructive forces of nature. With physical good there exists also physical evil as long as creation has not reached perfection (Cf. St. Thomas Aquinas, SCG III, 71).

Gen 3, 23 To till the ground from which he had been taken

(Gen 3, 23) To till the ground from which he had been taken

[23] The LORD God therefore banished him from the garden of Eden, to till the ground from which he had been taken.

(CCC 2428) In work, the person exercises and fulfills in part the potential inscribed in his nature. The primordial value of labor stems from man himself, its author and its beneficiary. Work is for man, not man for work (Cf. LE 6). Everyone should be able to draw from work the means of providing for his life and that of his family, and of serving the human community. (CCC 311) Angels and men, as intelligent and free creatures, have to journey toward their ultimate destinies by their free choice and preferential love. They can therefore go astray. Indeed, they have sinned. Thus has moral evil, incommensurably more harmful than physical evil, entered the world. God is in no way, directly or indirectly, the cause of moral evil (Cf. St. Augustine, De libero arbitrio 1, 1, 2: PL 32, 1223; St. Thomas Aquinas, STh I-II, 79, 1). He permits it, however, because he respects the freedom of his creatures and, mysteriously, knows how to derive good from it: For almighty God…, because he is supremely good, would never allow any evil whatsoever to exist in his works if he were not so all-powerful and good as to cause good to emerge from evil itself (St. Augustine, Enchiridion 3, 11: PL 40, 236).

Gen 3, 21-22 See! The man has become like one of us

(Gen 3, 21-22) See! The man has become like one of us

[21] For the man and his wife the LORD God made leather garments, with which he clothed them. [22] Then the LORD God said: "See! The man has become like one of us, knowing what is good and what is bad! Therefore, he must not be allowed to put out his hand to take fruit from the tree of life also, and thus eat of it and live forever."

(CCC 388) With the progress of Revelation, the reality of sin is also illuminated. Although to some extent the People of God in the Old Testament had tried to understand the pathos of the human condition in the light of the history of the fall narrated in Genesis, they could not grasp this story's ultimate meaning, which is revealed only in the light of the death and Resurrection of Jesus Christ (Cf. Rom 5:12-21). We must know Christ as the source of grace in order to know Adam as the source of sin. The Spirit-Paraclete, sent by the risen Christ, came to "convict the world concerning sin" (Jn 16:8), by revealing him who is its Redeemer. (CCC 314) We firmly believe that God is master of the world and of its history. But the ways of his providence are often unknown to us. Only at the end, when our partial knowledge ceases, when we see God "face to face" (1 Cor 13:12), will we fully know the ways by which - even through the dramas of evil and sin - God has guided his creation to that definitive sabbath rest (Cf. Gen 2:2) for which he created heaven and earth.

Gen 3, 20 The man called his wife Eve

(Gen 3, 20) The man called his wife Eve

[20] The man called his wife Eve, because she became the mother of all the living.

(CCC 489) Throughout the Old Covenant the mission of many holy women prepared for that of Mary. At the very beginning there was Eve; despite her disobedience, she receives the promise of a posterity that will be victorious over the evil one, as well as the promise that she will be the mother of all the living (Cf. Gen 3:15, 20). By virtue of this promise, Sarah conceives a son in spite of her old age (Cf. Gen 18:10-14; 21:1-2). Against all human expectation God chooses those who were considered powerless and weak to show forth his faithfulness to his promises: Hannah, the mother of Samuel; Deborah; Ruth; Judith and Esther; and many other women (Cf. 1 Cor 1:17; 1 Sam 1). Mary "stands out among the poor and humble of the Lord, who confidently hope for and receive salvation from him. After a long period of waiting the times are fulfilled in her, the exalted Daughter of Sion, and the new plan of salvation is established"(LG 55).

Gen 3, 19 By the sweat of your face shall you get bread to eat

(Gen 3, 19) By the sweat of your face shall you get bread to eat

[19] By the sweat of your face shall you get bread to eat, Until you return to the ground, from which you were taken; For you are dirt, and to dirt you shall return."

(CCC 2427) Human work proceeds directly from persons created in the image of God and called to prolong the work of creation by subduing the earth, both with and for one another (Cf. Gen 1:28; GS 34; CA 31). Hence work is a duty: "If any one will not work, let him not eat" (2 Thess 3:10; Cf. 1 Thess 4:11). Work honors the Creator's gifts and the talents received from him. It can also be redemptive. By enduring the hardship of work (Cf. Gen 3:14-19) in union with Jesus, the carpenter of Nazareth and the one crucified on Calvary, man collaborates in a certain fashion with the Son of God in his redemptive work. He shows himself to be a disciple of Christ by carrying the cross, daily, in the work he is called to accomplish (Cf. LE 27). Work can be a means of sanctification and a way of animating earthly realities with the Spirit of Christ.