By faith Abel brought God a better offering than Cain did. By faith he was commended as righteous, when God spoke well of his offerings. And by faith Abel still speaks, even though he is dead. Hebrews 11:4
“How pitiful are those who seem to have time for everything except for God… Pitiful too are those who have money enough for so many things but are so parsimonious when it comes to expenditures on God or on other people. Giving always dignifies the heart of the giver and ennobles it. Meanness becomes ingrained and leads to an envious soul, like that of Cain: he could not hear the generosity of Abel.
We should offer the Lord the sacrifice of Abel. Let it be a sacrifice of young, unblemished flesh, the best of the flock; of a healthy and holy flesh; a sacrifice of hearts that have one love alone – you, my God. Let it be a sacrifice of minds that have been shaped through deep study and will surrender to your wisdom; of childlike spud while will think only of pleasing you.”
Francis Fernandez in In Conversation with God: Meditations for Each Day of the Year, volume 3 (London: Scepter, 1990) 319-320.
The Scripture tells us: Abel still speaks. And sadly, Cain missed the message. Most people do. They appear as Fernandez vividly depicts them, as pitiful and parsimonious.
To be pitiful is to deploy yourself and your resources to good things but not the best things. Many do that on holiday weekends. It leads us to think how we might we honor God on holy-days.
And to be parsimonious has two parts. It reflects stinginess but that stingy thinking flows from an unwilling heart. A heart that does not demonstrate an eagerness to share.
Abel still speaks. Today he says, on this Labor Day in USA, to give yourself to a different kind of work: deep study and surrender. If you do, it takes shape as the most holy kind of work.
I call it the most holy kind of work because it shifts our heart from unwilling to eager and it takes our hands from closed to open. May God help us listen to and give like Abel.