First reading Genesis 4:1-15,25
The mark of Cain
The man had intercourse with his wife Eve, and she conceived and gave birth to Cain. ‘I have acquired a man with the help of the Lord’ she said. She gave birth to a second child, Abel, the brother of Cain. Now Abel became a shepherd and kept flocks, while Cain tilled the soil. Time passed and Cain brought some of the produce of the soil as an offering for the Lord, while Abel for his part brought the first-born of his flock and some of their fat as well. The Lord looked with favour on Abel and his offering. But he did not look with favour on Cain and his offering, and Cain was very angry and downcast. The Lord asked Cain, ‘Why are you angry and downcast? If you are well disposed, ought you not to lift up your head? But if you are ill disposed, is not sin at the door like a crouching beast hungering for you, which you must master?’ Cain said to his brother Abel, ‘Let us go out’; and while they were in the open country, Cain set on his brother Abel and killed him.
The Lord asked Cain, ‘Where is your brother Abel?’ ‘I do not know’ he replied. ‘Am I my brother’s guardian?’ ‘What have you done?’ the Lord asked. ‘Listen to the sound of your brother’s blood, crying out to me from the ground. Now be accursed and driven from the ground that has opened its mouth to receive your brother’s blood at your hands. When you till the ground it shall no longer yield you any of its produce. You shall be a fugitive and a wanderer over the earth.’ Then Cain said to the Lord, ‘My punishment is greater than I can bear. See! Today you drive me from this ground. I must hide from you, and be a fugitive and a wanderer over the earth. Why, whoever comes across me will kill me!’ ‘Very well, then,’ the Lord replied ‘if anyone kills Cain, sevenfold vengeance shall be taken for him.’ So the Lord put a mark on Cain, to prevent whoever might come across him from striking him down.
Adam had intercourse with his wife, and she gave birth to a son whom she named Seth, ‘because God has granted me other offspring’ she said ‘in place of Abel, since Cain has killed him.’
Responsorial Psalm 49(50):1,8,16-17,20-21
1 The Mighty One, God the LORD, speaks and summons the earth from the rising of the sun to its setting.
8 I do not reprove you for your sacrifices; your burnt offerings are continually before me.
16 But to the wicked God says: “What right have you to recite my statutes, or take my covenant on your lips?
17 For you hate discipline, and you cast my words behind you.
20 You sit and speak against your brother; you slander your own mother’s son.
21 These things you have done and I have been silent; you thought that I was one like yourself. But now I rebuke you, and lay the charge before you.
Gospel Mark 8:11-13
No sign shall be given to this generation
The Pharisees came up and started a discussion with Jesus; they demanded of him a sign from heaven, to test him. And with a sigh that came straight from the heart he said, ‘Why does this generation demand a sign? I tell you solemnly, no sign shall be given to this generation.’ And leaving them again and re-embarking, he went away to the opposite shore.
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Jesus went away to the other side
In today’s gospel, Jesus encountered a group of Pharisees who asked Him for a sign. The purpose of their request was to test Him and discredit Him in front of the crowd. All Jesus did was give a sigh expressing His frustration and hopelessness towards their hardness of heart. He then got back on the boat and went away.
Let us learn from Jesus how to deal with people who set out to find fault with what we do and say, no matter the good we do or the best we give to them. We have been in situations when people are not interested in our intentions or thoughts because they have already made up their minds about us. Arguing with such people would only create more tension. Like Jesus, we can walk away from them. In this time of prayer, let us pray for these people in our lives and ask Jesus to help us love them by accepting them and respecting their opinions of us.
Reflective question:
What is Jesus’ message to me in this time of prayer?
What is Jesus’ message to me in this time of prayer?
Acknowledgment: Reflections are based on “Prayer for Living: The Word of God for Daily Prayer Year A” by Sr Sandra Seow FMVD.
