DAILY HOMILIES #Eve

Be a master of your emotions. Do not be pushed into action by your feelings; think of the consequences. You will always regret any decision made in anger. Instead of listening to God, Cain chose evil. After killing his brother, Cain wished he could turn back the hands of time. When God asked about his brother, Cain tried to dodge the question by asking if he was his brother’s keeper. In the end, Cain could not escape his punishment for murder. There is nothing to be gained from sin.

Every sin carries a mark of rebellion and mistrust in God as the one on whom our life depends. That is why there is a direct and immediate punishment for every sin for direct offenders and those who aid and abet the sin. This is the message behind our First Reading

Jesus condemned Moses’ Law on divorce but excused Moses by saying he responded to the people’s hardness of heart. Today, the choice is up to us: whether to remain hardened in the heart (follow Moses’ instruction; obtain a certificate of divorce from the court) or to embrace Jesus’ stance on Marriage (take the path of sacrifice, remain with our spouses through thick and thin, remove divorce an option). Anyone who still wants to go with Moses today is not yet a Christian.

"Each person is tempted when he is lured and enticed by his desire.” (James 1:14). In other words, the devil that we often accuse of causing temptations lives within us (in our minds). This ‘devil’ that we carry everywhere is called desires. We tempt ourselves with our desires.

Having realized what they had done, Adam and Eve became ashamed and hid away from God. Their eyes had become open and they suddenly felt unworthy of God’s presence, they died to innocence. They could no longer approach God freely as before. God can never lie; He wasn’t joking when He said they would die if they ate of the forbidden tree.

An example of the love that sustains family is what we see in the Gospel passage when a woman was willing to swallow what seemed like an insult just for the sake of the healing of her daughter. She so loved her daughter that she was just not ready to take “No” for an answer. If this kind of love exists in our families, the world would be a much better place.