Dear Friends,
Our first reading from Genesis, follows up from last week’s. God came down to meet Abraham who offers profound hospitality to the Lord as we heard last week. This week the Lord hearing the outcry against Sodom and Gomorrah, seeks to find out how grave are their sins.
Abraham having a filial and trusting relationship with God, intercedes for the good and just people in those towns. He asks if the Lord will spare them if there are fifty innocent people to which the Lord says He will spare the whole place. Abraham persists and asks in incremental fashion if lesser numbers of innocent are found, and the Lord continues to reply that He will spare. Abraham ends his pleading with if there are ten. And for those ten, the Lord will spare the place.
Two thoughts for us to hold onto. First is intercessory prayer, praying for our needs and the needs of others. How many times we have prayer needs and ask others to pray. That is good and right. Prayer moves mountains. We should constantly lift up our needs and the needs of others to our heavenly Father.
But do we pray together, with one another, for such needs? By that I mean when someone asks us to say a prayer for someone or for some need, do we at that very moment say let’s say a Hail Mary or a very short personal prayer for the person or need? Jesus tells us “For where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them.” How awesome is that! In a matter of thirty seconds, two believers can experience the presence of the Lord and offer a prayer that is heard.
Second, we need to take to heart, Abraham’s perseverance in his intercession for the innocent. Abraham’s demeanor is not demanding or self-righteous but humble and surrendering. Abraham knows that God is Lord, not himself. Yet he persistently asks for God’s consideration and for His mercy which God willing gives. This grace is what Jesus teaches about in our Gospel ~ “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?”
God is for us! God desires to give us everything that is good and necessary for our salvation! Do we put Him first and foremost in our daily lives, in all our thinking, speaking, acting? Do we trust Him, totally?
Christ is in us through Baptism. We are sons and daughters of our heavenly King. The Spirit dwells within us to lead us, guide us, to empower us with grace to do the Father’s will in our own lives daily. The heavenly court, all the angels and saints, are praying and cheering us on. Let us never cease praying, never cease trusting in God for the darkness of this world cannot, will not, overcome God. Let us remain on the side of God and not give into the ways of the world.
“Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name, thy kingdom come, thy will be done…”
God bless you, God love you,
Monsignor McCulken
