The murder of Abel by Cain was a powerful confirmation that the devil had made his permanent mark on the world. And now he starts pulling out his bag of tricks. In this case he takes advantage of natural sibling rivalry and he magnifies it in Cains eyes. We sometimes say that the devil played him - and indeed he had him good because the end result was murder.
This is the way the devil works in the world. He takes some truth about the world - something good and life-giving, and he twists and distorts it so that none of its goodness remains.
We see this more strongly today, I think, than ever. The devil has taken religion - man's desire to worship God and inserted himself into it - many have been harmed deeply by lost souls in the Church as in other faiths. We look at marriage and the procreation of children - and how few young people really can begin to grasp the sacred character of it all.
God says directly to Cain: "Why are you resentful and crestfallen? 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." The devil can neither deceive nor control us if we keep our head up - our eyes on God.
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