Saying no to sin is present in the life of every Christian who takes his/her walk seriously. It is to realize the signs leading up to the act of sin, for we are affected by the desires and passions that we do not control or who choose not to control. For an act to be sinful there must be a conscious process, a decision. If it’s not conscious, that is, if the person does not have the ability to choose between doing it or not, this does not characterize sin. In this context, there is a reality that permeates all situations of sin: concupiscense.
In the Catechism of the Catholic Church, we read that concupiscense “unsettles man’s moral faculties and, without being in itself an offense, inclines man to commit sins.” (CIC 2515). In other words, there is an act of reason before the sin, we can say that is “planning” the sin.
In the biblical text that we meditate, we see that Cain minds God’s preference to the offer made by his brother Abel. The Lord, realizing this, asks: “why are you angry and with your face down?” (Genesis 4.6). God intends to change the heart of Cain, but he doesn’t open to the Lord hiding inside him, there was the desire to kill his brother, and not even God’s warning about the consequences, makes him change his mind.
How many times do we find ourselves in situations in which we realize clearly that we are about to commit a reckless act that will result in sin? A man who is attracted to a married woman, for example, realizing this, even though he should avoid her, because persists it pleases him somehow. Inside the human being there is an alert, but we often ignore it, we pass over it, we act and sin. Our conscience, the place where God dwells, is restless in these circumstances, but man can’t see or pretend he doesn’t see and then proceeds with his inclination to evil.
Just look at our final sin and reflect a bit. Let’s see what was generated within us before sin. We knew that the situation would lead us to error; Even so, we proceed. Do we let ourselves be seduced by weakness or sin by choice?
Cain invites his brother to go to the field – here we see that he thought what to do, it is a premeditated act, the first homicide reported by the Bible. This fact also wants to teach us that in us there is a posture of planning the sin and deceiving God; many times, we deceive ourselves, in a conscious and premeditated attitude.
Our reading ends with a sentence that creates in us an impact if we stop and reflect on it: “to you is your wish, but you must master it” (Genesis 4.7). This sentence of God addressed to Cain reveals that he knew of the intent of his heart, so much so that, if one reads the entire verse seven, where God speaks to our character, we see that sin appears, clear signal that “sin was lurking at the door” (cf. Gn 4.7). Yes, the human being gives clear signs that he/she will SIN; These signs, give us the opportunity to fight against sin, to enter into our heart in God and declare: “PHN. Not for today, for today I will not sin “. These signs give us the chance to choose between good and evil.
Then, we will find a key in the struggle for Holiness, a weapon that God himself gave us. As we see in the Catechism of the Catholic Church (CIC), lust features not sin itself it is in the interval between the encouragement we receive and our reaction. So, we can say that, in this range, we can control ourselves change our reaction. Therefore, it is possible to dominate the desire, dominate the lust!
We weren’t raised to be enslaved by our desires, and we need to convince ourselves that alone we can’t dominate them. God puts people on our side, gives us readings, lectures, and more at our disposal so that we grow in self-knowledge and also day by day, he gives us the opportunity to choose what shall we do with the external stimuli we receive. And a chapel, a church, is the ideal place to pour all our anxieties, to be before Jesus and ask for the help necessary for the spirit comes to the aid of our weakness (cf. Rom 8.26). This requires practice, it requires effort and struggle.
God bless us in this battle for holiness.
Paulo Pereira
José Paulo Neves Pereira was born in Nossa Senhora do Livramento (BA). Is the community’s new song and missionary works in the Social Media sector of the new song. Twitter: @paulopereiraCN