Seventeenth Sunday in Ordinary Time
Lectionary: 111
Reading 1
In those days, the LORD said: "The
outcry against Sodom and Gomorrah is so great,
and their sin so grave,
that I must go down and see whether or not their actions
fully correspond to the cry against them that comes to me.
I mean to find out."
While Abraham's visitors walked on farther toward Sodom,
the LORD remained standing before Abraham.
Then Abraham drew nearer and said:
"Will you sweep away the innocent with the guilty?
Suppose there were fifty innocent people in the city;
would you wipe out the place, rather than spare it
for the sake of the fifty innocent people within it?
Far be it from you to do such a thing,
to make the innocent die with the guilty
so that the innocent and the guilty would be treated alike!
Should not the judge of all the world act with justice?"
The LORD replied,
"If I find fifty innocent people in the city of Sodom,
I will spare the whole place for their sake."
Abraham spoke up again:
"See how I am presuming to speak to my Lord,
though I am but dust and ashes!
What if there are five less than fifty innocent people?
Will you destroy the whole city because of those five?"
He answered, "I will not destroy it, if I find forty-five there."
But Abraham persisted, saying "What if only forty are found there?"
He replied, "I will forbear doing it for the sake of the forty."
Then Abraham said, "Let not my Lord grow impatient if I go on.
What if only thirty are found there?"
He replied, "I will forbear doing it if I can find but thirty there."
Still Abraham went on,
"Since I have thus dared to speak to my Lord,
what if there are no more than twenty?"
The LORD answered, "I will not destroy it, for the sake of the
twenty."
But he still persisted:
"Please, let not my Lord grow angry if I speak up this last time.
What if there are at least ten there?"
He replied, "For the sake of those ten, I will not destroy it."
Responsorial Psalm
R.(3a) Lord, on the day I called
for help, you answered me.
I will give thanks to you, O LORD, with all my heart,
for you have heard the words of my mouth;
in the presence of the angels I will sing your praise;
I will worship at your holy temple
and give thanks to your name.
R. Lord, on the day I called for help, you answered me.
Because of your kindness and your truth;
for you have made great above all things
your name and your promise.
When I called you answered me;
you built up strength within me.
R. Lord, on the day I called for help, you answered me.
The LORD is exalted, yet the lowly he sees,
and the proud he knows from afar.
Though I walk amid distress, you preserve me;
against the anger of my enemies you raise your hand.
R. Lord, on the day I called for help, you answered me.
Your right hand saves me.
The LORD will complete what he has done for me;
your kindness, O LORD, endures forever;
forsake not the work of your hands.
R. Lord, on the day I called for help, you answered me.
Reading 2
Brothers and sisters:
You were buried with him in baptism,
in which you were also raised with him
through faith in the power of God,
who raised him from the dead.
And even when you were dead
in transgressions and the uncircumcision of your flesh,
he brought you to life along with him,
having forgiven us all our transgressions;
obliterating the bond against us, with its legal claims,
which was opposed to us,
he also removed it from our midst, nailing it to the cross.
Alleluia
R. Alleluia, alleluia.
You have received a Spirit of adoption,
through which we cry, Abba, Father.
R. Alleluia, alleluia.
Gospel
Jesus was praying in a certain place, and
when he had finished,
one of his disciples said to him,
"Lord, teach us to pray just as John taught his disciples."
He said to them, "When you pray, say:
Father, hallowed be your name,
your kingdom come.
Give us each day our daily bread
and forgive us our sins
for we ourselves forgive everyone in debt to us,
and do not subject us to the final test."
And he said to them, "Suppose one of you has a friend
to whom he goes at midnight and says,
'Friend, lend me three loaves of bread,
for a friend of mine has arrived at my house from a journey
and I have nothing to offer him,'
and he says in reply from within,
'Do not bother me; the door has already been locked
and my children and I are already in bed.
I cannot get up to give you anything.'
I tell you,
if he does not get up to give the visitor the loaves
because of their friendship,
he will get up to give him whatever he needs
because of his persistence.
"And I tell you, ask and you will receive;
seek and you will find;
knock and the door will be opened to you.
For everyone who asks, receives;
and the one who seeks, finds;
and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened.
What father among you would hand his son a snake
when he asks for a fish?
Or hand him a scorpion when he asks for an egg?
If you then, who are wicked,
know how to give good gifts to your children,
how much more will the Father in heaven
give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him?"
MY BROTHERS AND SISTERS,
As Psalm 9 proclaims:
“It is he who judges the world with justice,
who judges the people with fairness.”
God is indeed a just judge, delivering justice and judgement to all His creation. Yet, He is also a God of mercy, who is more apt to forgive than to condemn. He does not want suffering, nor does He want condemnation. There is a great quote from the movie, “The Shack,” where God is having a conversation with the father of a child who was murdered. They were talking about the murderer and about punishment. The father says, “I want you to hurt him.” God response is, “I know you do. But he too is my son. I want to redeem him.” This is where our relationship with God should begin, knowing that we are loved just as we are with Him wanting more for us. There are choices before us always. We are given the free will to make these choices. If we are guided by our faith, these will lead us to a better place and a more fulfilling life, transformed by our relationship with God. If we ignore what God is telling us and make these choices based on selfish motivations, we can easily find ourselves broken and imbittered. Even when this occurs, all is not lost. God does not withhold His love from us. He can show it more in circumstances such as these, trying to get us to see a better way that includes Him instead of alienating Him. He will give us all the time we need to figure out what we need to enact change in our lives.
In the Prayer of Saint Francis, the opening words ask God to make us an instrument of His peace, meaning to have Him work through us. This is one of the many ways that God interacts with His children. Where there is one who listens and reacts to His presence, there is an opportunity too for redemption and forgiveness for those who have not yet found God. Meditate on the conversation between Abraham and God regarding the impending destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah:
“For the sake of the ten, I will not destroy it.”
Even though the innocent would be spared the wraith of God, what would their status be in the face of immorality, sin, and degradation? Obviously, they would be protected and lifted up by the mere presence of God. Furthermore, wouldn’t they also provide an opportunity of redemption for those continuing with their ill-begotten ways? They would truly be points of light in a place with so much darkness. From them, the light of salvation could be spread to others with the darkness eventually being beaten into submission. This is the entire point of missionary work and evangelizing the faith: the bringing of the God Experience and the message of salvation to those who need the most.
For Sodom and Gomorrah, there was no hope, not because of God withholding His mercy, but for the people’s utter rejection of God and His precepts. This was on full display when they tried to accost the two angels being hosted by Lot in his house. Did they know who they were and maybe even why they were there? Their disgraceful reaction to their presence indicates there was a fury about them. It presents a stark picture between light and darkness: in an instant, the light of pure good dispels all the forces of evil. There is hope for us, regardless of where we are in our relationship with God or what we have done. Salvation is not earned; it is given freely. Our part is to either accept it or reject it. With that comes change and responsibility. Jesus said this plainly:
“ Whoever causes one of these little ones who believes in me to sin, it would be better for him to have a great millstone hung around his neck and be drowned in the depths of the sea. Woe to the world because of things that cause sin! Such things must come, but woe to the one through whom they come!”
There is justice, punishment, and God justifiable wraith. But, where there is that there is mercy: “Lord, on the day I called for help, you answered me.”
The Apostle Paul mentions that there is already a bond against us, as defined by the Law. We have already been found unworthy and must be held accountable. Yet, Jesus, through His crucifixion and death, has freed us from that bond and guided us towards eternal life. The bond may be paid, but what we do with this new-found freedom matters. We can easily shackle ourselves to an old way of thinking and living that will lead us back into spiritual death. An avoidance of this can be achieved through persistence. God is always with us and He always answers us when we pray. In times of doubt, it is the persistence that matters. In very much the same way that a professional athlete trains for their sport, we need to focus on our prayer life and our relationship with God if we are to receive the expected results, which is an answer. There is always the temptation to do the bare minimal and still receive what we want in return. As children, how many times were we told to clean our room and were then offered some sort of reward if we completed the task? I can recall many times; I did an awful job at the task assigned yet became really upset when my parents did not follow through on the agreement. In my mind, they were unfair. I had these feelings even though it was me who did not listen to the instructions given and it was me who chose to do a disappointing job. Yet, it was so much easier to be angry at my parents than to recognize the truth: I didn’t do what I was asked.
Jesus taught us how to pray and to how to approach our relationship with God. With no effort there will be little results. This is not a “quid pro quo.” It is about developing a relationship and familiarity. Jesus gives us a guarantee regarding the getting of an answer to our prayers. It is the way we approach Him that matters. It is through persistence and faith that we are going to get an answer to what we are asking for. Persistency matter, because it is through persistency that we get to know God. We learn the motions first, then we can develop an understanding of them through repetition and a pattern of behavior. That is one of the reasons that rituals and ritualistic prayer matter so much: we can get to know and understand what we are saying and doing. It is for our benefit and not God’s. He doesn’t need to hear us. We need to hear ourselves and can own the words and thoughts after they are said.
If God is truly Our Father, then we should be comforted to know that He has already told us that we will be provided for. His part of the relationship has already been established. Now it is up to us to carry that relationship further.
Deacon Tom
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