Below are the contents of the handout for Session Three, along with a passage from R.R. Reno about the "dead ends" between the Fall and the call of Abraham (Gen. 4-11).
Abel
Be pleased to look upon these offerings
with a serene and kindly countenance,
and to accept them,
as once you were pleased to accept
the gifts of your servant Abel the just,
the sacrifice of Abraham, our father in faith,
and the offering of your high priest Melchizedek,
a holy sacrifice, a spotless victim.
From Eucharistic Prayer 1 (Roman Canon)
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The first righteous man according to the Scriptures
Saint Abel appears in the very first chapters of Genesis. He is the second son of Adam and Eve, younger brother of Cain. While Cain was a farmer, Abel was a shepherd. Both offer a sacrifice to God: Cain the produce of the land, Abel the firstborn of his flock.
The text tells us that God looks favourably on Abel's offering, but not on Cain's. This divine preference provokes burning jealousy in Cain, who ends up killing his brother in a fit of hatred. This is the first murder in human history, and Abel thus becomes the first innocent to shed his blood.
But Scripture tells us that Abel's blood cries out to God from the ground (Gen 4:10). This silent cry becomes a powerful symbol: Abel embodies the persecuted righteous man, the silent witness to scorned innocence.
A prophetic figure
In the Epistle to the Hebrews, Abel is presented as a man of faith:
"It was by faith that Abel offered to God a sacrifice better than that of Cain... and it is by it that he still speaks, though dead." (Heb 11:4)
Abel thus becomes the prototype of the just man, the believer, the martyr. He did not speak, did not demand justice, but his faith and his sacrifice still speak today. Jesus himself refers to Abel in St Matthew's Gospel, denouncing the violence against the prophets:
"From the blood of righteous Abel to the blood of Zechariah..." (Mt 23:35)
The Church saw in Abel a figure of Christ himself: innocent, offered, silent, the victim of jealousy, and whose shed blood cries out for the redemption of the world. But where Abel's blood demands justice, Christ's blood brings forgiveness (cf. Heb 12:24).
"Jesus, the mediator of a new covenant, and to the sprinkled blood that speaks more graciously than the blood of Abel."
A saint venerated from the earliest times
Even though he is not a "saint" in the canonical sense (he was not canonised like later saints), Abel is venerated as a saint from the earliest times of the Church. He is included in the oldest litanies of the saints and his name is mentioned in the liturgy.
He is also a figure of reference for martyrs: the first to have given his life out of fidelity to God, defenceless, without hatred, in the truth.
His cult has developed in certain Christian traditions in both East and West. He is sometimes depicted as a young man carrying a lamb, a symbol of his sacrificial offering and innocence.
Patron of what?
Saint Abel is invoked as the patron saint of shepherds, victims of injustice, silent martyrs, and people killed out of hatred or jealousy. He is also a model for all those who live in discretion, fidelity and deep faith.
His memory reminds us that holiness is not in visible greatness, but in purity of heart and silent offering.
Prayer to Saint Abel
Saint Abel,
you first just man,
you who offered to God the firstfruits of your flock,
teach us purity of heart,
sincere giving and silent faith.
You whose blood cries out from the earth,
intercede for the victims of violence,
for the oppressed, the humiliated, the innocent persecuted.
Be the protector of those forgotten,
and the example of upright and faithful souls.
Teach us to offer ourselves with confidence,
even in silence,
even in pain,
for God sees the heart and blesses what is hidden.
Saint Abel, friend of God,
pray for us.
Amen.
From Lourdes Gift Shop website (https://www.lourdes-giftshop.com/blog/1112-the-story-of-saint-abel.html)
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Some Mentions of Noah in the New Testament
- Salvation of Entire Household
- Noah is saved in the ark together with his whole household. (Genesis 7:1)
- The Philippian jailer is saved via baptism with his whole household. (Acts 16:31-33)
- Noah as an Example of Faith
Noah mentioned as one of the "great cloud of witnesses in Hebrews 11. (Hebrews 11:4)
- Parallel between ark and baptism
God’s patience waited in the days of Noah, during the building of the ark, in which a few, that is, eight persons, were saved through water. Baptism, which corresponds to this, now saves you, not as a removal of dirt from the body but as an appeal to God for a clear conscience, through the resurrection of Jesus Christ". (1 Peter 3:20-21)
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Babel - Quotes From Pope Leo’s Encyclical Magnifica Humanitis
Humanity, created by God in all its grandeur, is today facing a pivotal choice: either to construct a new Tower of Babel or to build the city in which God and humanity dwell together. Each generation inherits the task of shaping its own era, of guiding history to become a place where the dignity of every person is safeguarded, justice is promoted and fraternity is made possible. Yet every era also runs the risk of creating an inhumane and more unjust world. (From Magnifica Humanitis p. 1)
It was an impressive feat: a single language, a single technology, a single direction. However, the project concealed a profound danger. It was a project conceived without reference to God, supported by a uniformity that eliminated diversity and that chose homogenization over communion. When a city is built on pride and the claim to self-sufficiency, communication breaks down, languages are confused and people no longer understand each other. The result is not unity, but dispersion. Babel thus reveals the limits of any effort that, however grandiose, arises from self-affirmation, sacrifices human dignity for efficiency and aspires to reach heaven without God’s blessing. (From Magnifica Humanitis p. 7)
Ultimately, the key question remains the one posed by Saint John Paul II: does AI “make human life on earth ‘more human’ in every aspect of that life? Does it make it more worthy of man?” [138] If the answer is yes, then we can recognize it as an opportunity to be embraced responsibly, on a path of patient, shared reconstruction, akin to the rebuilding of Jerusalem narrated in the Book of Nehemiah. If, however, power grows while the heart withers and human bonds fray, then we are faced with a new form of Babel — a construction that is grandiose, yet fundamentally dehumanizing. (From Magnifica Humanitis p. 129)
Saint Augustine described human history as a struggle between two loves, which give rise to two ways of inhabiting the world and living together — or two “cities,” as it were: on the one hand, the love of God and neighbor; on the other, the exclusive love of self. “Two loves have built two cities: the earthly city, the love of self even to the contempt of God; the heavenly city, the love of God even to the contempt of self.” (From Magnifica Humanitis p. 130)
Dead Ends (Genesis ch. 5-11)
What are we to say about the genealogy flowing from Adam in Gen. 5, the complicated flood narrative in Gen. 6-9, the tower of Babel and further genealogies in Gen. 10-11? As I worked on the later chapters of Genesis and saw the profoundly future-oriented thrust of the promises to Abraham, I realized that, in spite of the long, seemingly forward moving lists of “begats,’ these chapters go nowhere. After Cain kills Abel, Adam and Eve start the human family over again with Seth—yet by the time we get to Noah, the human family is stained by sin once again. God seems to regret creating humanity, and the engulfing floodwaters wipe the slate of creation clean. But the stain of sin remains in the sons of Noah, and God utters words that reveal all we need to know about the future role of universal cleansing in the divine plan: “Never again” (9:11). What looks like new initiatives and forward movements turns out to be dead ends.
From Genesis (Brazos Theological Commentary on the Bible) by R.R. Reno
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