FIRST READING: Genesis 18:20-32. The Lord said, “Because the outcry against Sodom and Gomorrah is great and their sin is very grave, I will go down to see whether they have done altogether according to the outcry which has come to me; and if not, I will know.”

So the men turned from there, and went towards Sodom; but Abraham still stood before the Lord. Then Abraham drew near, and said, “Wilt thou indeed destroy the righteous with the wicked? Suppose there are fifty righteous within the city; wilt thou then destroy the place and not spare it for the fifty righteous who are in it? Far be it from thee to do such a thing, to slay the righteous with the wicked, so that the righteous fare as the wicked! Far be that from thee! Shall not the Judge of all the earth do right?” And the Lord said, “If I find at Sodom fifty righteous in the city, I will spare the whole place for their sake.” Abraham answered, “Behold, I have taken upon myself to speak to the Lord, I who am but dust and ashes. Suppose five of the fifty righteous are lacking? Wilt thou destroy the whole city for lack of five?” And he said, “I will not destroy it if I find forty-five there.” Again he spoke to him, and said, “Suppose forty are found there.” He answered, “For the sake of forty I will not do it.” Then he said, “Oh let not the Lord be angry, and I will speak. Suppose thirty are found there.” He answered, “I will not do it, if I find thirty there.” He said, “Behold, I have taken upon myself to speak to the Lord. Suppose twenty are found there.” He answered, “For the sake of twenty I will not destroy it.” Then he said, “Oh let not the Lord be angry, and I will speak again but this once. Suppose ten are found there.” He answered, “For the sake of ten I will not destroy it.”

EXPLANATION: This is the continuation of last Sunday’s reading from the book of Genesis. Last week we were told that the Lord, accompanied by two angels, appeared to Abraham, and promised him a son within a year. This week, as Abraham was seeing the Lord and his angels off, the Lord speaks to Abraham about the wickedness of the two towns, Sodom and Gomorrah. These two towns, which were situated near the southern end of the Dead Sea, had become infamous because of their unnatural sexual sins.

I will go down: Anthromorphism, or describing God acting as if he were a man. God, who knew all things, did not need to go down to find out.

Abraham . . . Lord: The angels went their way and the Lord remained with Abraham, who used the opportunity to plead for the innocent in the two cities if God intended to burn them to the ground because of their wickedness.

destroy . . . wicked: Abraham started by asking God if he would spare the cities if ten innocent people were to be found in them. Evidently, ten innocent people were not to be found there, and later the two cities with all their inhabitants were reduced to ashes (see Gen. 19:23).

APPLICATION: The first lesson we can learn from this episode is the power of intercessory prayer. We can pray for others and God will hear and answer our prayers. Abraham has left us a wonderful example of love of neighbor. He did not wish to see the people of those cities suddenly sent to their death. He pleaded for them and he used God’s own justice as a lever to move him from his resolve. How could the just God condemn the innocent with the wicked? If only ten just men had been found in them, the cities and their inhabitants would have been saved, saved by Abraham’s intercession.

How often do we pray for our neighbors when they are in temporal or spiritual danger or difficulties? Most of us can answer truthfully and admit that we do not do so half as often as we should. We entreat God when we ourselves are in need, but God will be much more ready to answer us in our need if we have proved true brothers to our fellow man by pleading for them when they need the divine assistance.

We can learn another valuable lesson, also, from this story. The presence of a group of pious people in our midst, people who are close to God, is a guarantee that we shall be protected from the divine vengeance which we may have thoroughly deserved. There are Catholics who question the purpose of enclosed communities of women or men who devote all their time to prayer and the liturgy. Why don’t they teach or nurse, or earn their bread in some way? Why should the people have to support them? These were the very sentiments expressed by the Reformers when they knocked down the convents in England and banished the sisters. Some Catholics are still of this opinion today.

They forget, however, that the prayers of these devout lovers of God have often saved them from the temporal punishments that they deserve. The contemplatives are the spiritual lightning-conductors in our parishes and towns. They sacrifice their personal freedom and enclose themselves for life behind their convent walls in order to intercede for all sinners, for all of us.

Instead of criticizing them and questioning their sanity, we should thank God for them and pray that they will never be short of vocations—new members in their communities who will continue their good work. The parish or the town that has a community of enclosed religious has a divine blessing in its midst. It has a powerhouse of prayer which will spread the light of God’s grace amongst the citizens of that town and parish, and will turn away the just wrath of God from those who, by their sins, deserve it. “For the sake of those ten innocent people,” said the Lord to Abraham, “I will not destroy the cities.”

Imitate Abraham’s true, unselfish love of neighbor by always remembering your needy neighbor in your prayers. Help to protect your city and your fellow citizens by a special prayer today for an increase in the number of just men living in it.

---

SECOND READING: Colossians 2:12-14. You were buried with Christ in baptism, in which you were also raised with him through faith in the working of God, who raised him from the dead. And you, who were dead in trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made alive together with him, having forgiven us all our trespasses, having cancelled the bond which stood against us with its legal demands; this he set aside, nailing it to the cross.

EXPLANATION: In the early Church the Sacrament of Baptism was conferred by immersion. The person being baptized was immersed for a moment in the bath or receptacle full of water, and then raised from the water. This form of baptism symbolized the death and burial with Christ of the catechumen (the person ready for baptism). This was immediately followed by his resurrection with Christ to a new life, a life in and with Christ, a life which would lead to eternal glory.

In baptism . . . raised: Paul tells his converts that the actions they went through in their baptism were not empty symbols, but actual fact. Through accepting baptism they had put their natural selves, their merely human selves, to death. They had come out of the saving waters as new beings, joined to the glorified risen Christ. Therefore, they had been raised to the status of sons of God.

through faith: They accepted baptism and wanted to be joined to Christ because they believed and were convinced that the power of God had raised Christ from the dead in a glorified body. The full glory of his divinity (of which he had “emptied himself ” during his sojourn on earth amongst us), was then restored to him. The catechumens were well instructed in the faith of the gospel, in the truth of the Incarnation and all it meant for the human race.

dead . . . uncircumcised: The Gentiles before their conversion had offended God in many ways: by idolatry, an insult to the true God, and by the many sins occasioned by their own human weaknesses. The convert Jews had a knowledge of the true God and were dedicated to his service by the rite of circumcision. Circumcision of itself was not enough, but the Gentiles did not have even this much.

alive . . . with him: Raised up from their dead past, which they had buried in the bath of baptism, they were now “new creatures.” They were now members of Christ’s body, sons of God, heirs to an eternal life.

forgiven . . . trespasses: The death and resurrection of Christ, the climax of his salvific actions on our behalf, reconciled mankind with God. It wiped away, in each one’s baptism, all his past sins, and earned him the possibility of getting pardon for any future sins in the Sacrament of Penance.

the bond . . . against us: The sins of Gentiles and Jews had built up a debt which they could never of themselves have paid. Christ, however, took this, our debt, on himself. He paid it to the last penny in our name. Thus our debt, our bond, was cancelled.

nailing it to the cross: He took our debts on himself when he took our human nature. He identified himself with us, and when he accepted the death of the cross, he nailed our debts with himself to that same cross. He had no sin of his own for which to make atonement to God. It was our sins, the sins of the whole human race, which he atoned for on the cross.

APPLICATION: How can we ever thank God for all he has done for us! Eternity itself will not be long enough for us to sing him our full hymn of gratitude. He created us and gave us wonderful gifts. We abused his gifts, and went so far as to use the very gifts he gave us to insult him. He had planned to make us heirs to heaven, but we were more interested in this fleeting world. We lost interest in his plans for our good. Nevertheless, he did not lose interest in us. He sent his divine Son on earth to take our human nature and thus gather the whole human race into himself, thereby making us sons of his heavenly Father.

If the Incarnation had not taken place we could never reach heaven. Mere man could never of himself become a citizen of that kingdom to which his nature gave him no claim. An alien, coming to live in a country not his by birth, needs a special act, a gratuitous act on the part of that country, to become its citizen. Similarly man, a native of earth, needed a special gratuitous act on the part of God to make him a citizen of heaven.

This is what the Incarnation did for us. The Son of God deigned to share our humanity with us. We are thus enabled to share his divinity with him. We have been given the citizenship of heaven. The conferring of that citizenship on us takes place in baptism as arranged by Christ. In baptism we die with Christ. That means that we cast off the man of flesh, the mere mortal man of this earth, and rise from the baptismal waters, clothed with divinity, because Christ has made us one with him, who is God and Man.

Of course, we are not yet in heaven. But we have a heavenly passport: we have the right to get there, and what is more we have been given in abundance the means of getting there. Christ saw to that. He knew our weaknesses. He provided us with his Church to which he gave and gives, his sacraments. He also gives, through the Holy Spirit, the divine assistance which will ensure for us a safe journey.

How truly fortunate we followers of Christ are! We have a passport, a ticket from him. We have sufficient means to pay for all our needs on the journey homewards. Let us thank God from our hearts this morning, for his infinite kindness to us. Let us turn our thoughts for a moment to our unfortunate fellow men, who are also brothers of Christ and heirs to heaven. They are also brothers of ours. They either do not know God and all that he has done for them, or, worse still, they know him but despise him and his gifts. Thus, they are seriously risking their own future happiness. God wants them all in heaven. Christ died for all. The heavenly citizenship is there for all, though it cannot be forced on any man.

We can do much to help these brothers of ours. To do so will be the best way we can show our appreciation of God’s goodness to us, the best way to prove our gratitude. Prayer is a way of helping that is open to all, young and old, rich and poor. Every day of our lives, we should beg God to put a knowledge of his infinite love into the hearts of those who do not have it. When we need some temporal favor for ourselves, the best way we can pray for it is to forget our little needs and to pray instead for this most essential need of the neighbor who does not know God, and is jeopardizing his future—his eternal future. God will, in his own way and his own time, answer that prayer of true charity. Our temporal needs will not be forgotten either.

Most of us can help by cooperating financially and otherwise with those who are giving their lives to spreading the knowledge of God and his goodness among the pagans, old and new. We have many of the latter right in our midst. Each one of us can find a way to get this knowledge to those nearest him. For those living in their own pagan countries, we can, besides praying, help to support the generous men and women who have gone to these lands and are doing God’s work, and our work there for us.

Finally, if each one of us would give the good example of a Christian life, Christ would soon have more followers. We would show that our Christian life is lived by one who appreciates it; by one who realizes that he is on the way to heaven and that he will not allow earthly attractions or earthly trials to impede his journey.

All I can do is one man’s part. However, I am ready to do that much. I hope that many others will follow suit. God grant that it may be so.

---

GOSPEL: Luke 11:1-13. Jesus was praying in a certain place, and when he ceased, one of his disciples said to him, “Lord, teach us to pray, as John taught his disciples.”

And he said to them, “When you pray, say: ‘Father, hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come. Give us each day our daily bread; and forgive us our sins, for we ourselves forgive every one who is indebted to us; and lead us not into temptation.”‘

And he said to them, “Which of you who has a friend will go to him at midnight and say to him, ‘Friend, lend me three loaves; for a friend of mine has arrived on a journey, and I have nothing to set before him’; and he will answer from within, ‘Do not bother me; the door is now shut, and my children are with me in bed; I cannot get up and give you anything’? I tell you, though he will not get up and give him anything because he is his friend, yet because of his importunity he will rise and give him whatever he needs. And I tell you, ask, and it will be given you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. For every one who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened. What father among you, if his son asks for a fish, will instead of a fish give him a serpent; or if he asks for an egg, will give him a scorpion? If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will the heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!”

EXPLANATION: The disciples had often seen Jesus praying alone. They were anxious to learn some special prayers from him, as John the Baptist had evidently taught his disciples some special prayers. As Jews, the disciples knew the ordinary morning and evening prayers. Prayers before eating were usually said by the Jews too, and the disciples also would know them. Our Lord’s answer to this request was the prayer we all know as the “Our Father.” Luke’s version of it differs in some details from that of Matthew. The substance is the same in both. As this prayer hardly needs explanation, we shall go on to the parable which Jesus added to show the efficacy of prayer.

lend me three loaves: The parable is very true to life. It could happen anywhere, any night. A friend comes from afar late at night. There was no bread in the house. Fresh bread was usually baked each morning, so he goes to a neighbor whom he knows to have some and asks him to lend him three loaves.

do not . . . me: The neighbor was reluctant to get out of bed and probably wake the children at such a late hour. He was not reluctant to give the bread.

because of his importunity: The man outside was not going to be put off by one simple refusal. He kept on knocking until the neighbor had to get up and do as he was asked. If he did not, the children would have been awakened in any case by the repeated knockings.

I tell you: Learn from this parable to persevere in your prayer. If God does not answer your first request, your perseverance will prove to him how deserving your case is and he will answer.

ask . . . seek . . . knock: Our Lord uses three expressions to stress the need for perseverance in prayer. It is not that God is lazy or slow or unwilling to help us. He wants us to prove our sincerity and our filial trust in him. He is our Father.

what father . . . will give a serpent: The answer of our Father in heaven will always be what is for our good. A human father would not give his son a poisonous snake when his son asked for a fish,

or . . . an egg . . . a scorpion: That is, endanger his son’s life when he should nourish it.

If you . . . the heavenly Father: If sinful, earthly fathers are generous enough to give their children all they need, how much more generous will the heavenly Father be to you his children. His store is unlimited. His love is infinite.

Holy Spirit . . . who ask him: St. Matthew has “good things,” instead of the Holy Spirit, but Luke is mentioning the greatest gift the Father can give, the Holy Spirit, to sanctify them and aid them on the road to heaven. He who gives the greater gift will give the lesser also.

APPLICATION: The disciples asked to be taught how to pray to God. Jesus told them how. He gave them a formula which contains the essence of all prayer. God is addressed as our Father. He really is, since he made his Son our brother. We praise and honor him and wish that all will honor him. Then we ask for our daily, temporal needs, and especially for our spiritual needs. We ask forgiveness of all our offences, while we likewise promise to forgive our brothers if they offend us.

Jesus then went on to stress the necessity of perseverance in our prayers. We must honor God daily and pray that all will honor him. We must also keep on asking for our temporal and spiritual needs. This is the meaning of the parable. The Father may delay the granting of our request because he wants us to continue to trust in him. This very perseverance in our prayer is bringing us closer and making us dearer to God. This is a greater blessing for us than the favor for which we were asking.

As regards requests for help in our spiritual life, we can rest assured that, if God delays his answer, the reason is that he has some more important spiritual gift for us. Our perseverance in prayer will bring it to us. Many great saints often wondered why God did not answer their fervent prayers and remove some temptation, or some lack of virtue which they felt was impeding their progress. They found out later that it was because God was slow in granting their requests that they actually progressed in sanctity.

As far as temporal favors are concerned, we do not always know what is best for us. God does. Of this we can be sure: if our requests for temporal favors are sincere and persevering, we are sure to get an answer. Christ himself says so. The answer, however, may not always be what we asked. If not, it will be something better, something we do not even know we need. God knows it and gives it to us, instead of the less essential gift we were asking for.

Looking back over our lives, many of us can see now how fortunate we were that some of the favors we sought so fervently from God in our youth were not given us. He gave us instead some gift which we had not even thought of, but which changed the course of our lives and saved us from the tribulations, spiritual and temporal, which the gift we were so anxiously seeking would have caused us if God had granted it. There are thousands of men and women in heaven today who would not be there had God granted them the temporal favors they thought they needed so badly. One of our joys in heaven, among the lesser ones perhaps, will be in discovering how cleverly our heavenly Father helped us to get there by refusing certain of our requests, and by giving us others for which we had not asked.

Not only, therefore, may we, but we must, ask our heavenly Father for our spiritual and temporal needs. This we are told to do by Christ. We must continue to ask. He has put us in this world in order to earn heaven. Our life here is of its very nature a journey. All journeys entail some, and often many, hardships. For one on his way home, the journey’s hardships are bearable. For some they may at times border on the unbearable, but such people can turn to their heavenly Father. He has a personal knowledge of, and interest in, each individual’s progress. Ask him to remove the cross, for the time being at least. Loving Father that he is, he will do just that, or he will strengthen the shoulder that has to bear it.

Remember our Lord’s advice to us: “Ask and you shall receive, seek and you will find, knock and it shall be opened to you.”-c280