FROM THE PASTOR’S DESK
My Dear Parishioners,
The First Reading for this Sunday’s Mass is one of my absolute favorites, not least of all for the masterclass in dramatic tension the Biblical author presents in this 18th Chapter of the Book of Genesis. Abraham only encounters God in Genesis’ 12th Chapter, meaning that he is still relatively new to the Deity when he begins his divine bargaining in today’s reading. While he has experienced this God to be congenial and helpful, he is assuredly influenced by the demanding and often merciless gods of his neighbors as he considers whether to request God’s salvation of Sodom and Gomorrah. Surely, the gods he has grown up with would not have looked kindly upon a mortal questioning their methodology and even critiquing their decision making. But even given his brief experience with the one true God, Abraham has enough info to believe that he can test his luck.
Abraham starts with a wide net, suggesting that if he can find 50 innocent people the Lord should hold back His wrath. God agrees, and Abraham continues his push, going to 45 and then 40 and then 30. Amazingly, he gets all the way to 10, with his new God agreeing along the way that He would spare the city on account of those few. For people raised on the notion of a God with a universal salvific desire, this may seem obvious, but it certainly wasn’t so for the people of the ancient world, where gods using humanity for their own pleasure or entertainment was commonplace. No, this God is different, a lesson Abraham will learn again and again throughout his journeys.
This divine experience is a strange one… that there could be a God who is interested in the thoughts of men and even willing to listen to him! Jesus continues this notion in our Gospel, encouraging His Apostles to take a personal and blunt approach to prayer. Refer to God as your Father… treat Him like a friend in need of food in the middle of the night… ask and you will receive. This is truly revolutionary in the history of religion.
To be clear, it is not as if God is a changeable, easily influenced deity whose decisions are determined exclusively by requests. He knows what He is about, and His will is perfect. However, He loves to grant his children the capacity and the audacity to ask for what they want and need… not because it changes His mind, though we should be certain that in God’s mysterious plan, prayer matters and has effect… but because prayer changes me! Consider how the Lord ends our Gospel, where he reminds His Apostles that a good Father gives good gifts to His children, not snakes when they ask for fish or scorpions when they ask for eggs. Each time I am bold in prayer, I am inherently stating that I believe God is a good Father who desires to save and heal. The Lord allows Abraham to barter with Him… even when Sodom and Gomorrah won’t be found to have even a handful of innocent people… because the experience solidifies for Abraham how merciful God is. So, it is with us. When I am blunt and bold with the Lord, I am expressing confidence in His mercy and goodness. He may not answer like I think that He should; after all, He is the Lord, I am a man. But his allowance of my request is a consistent reminder that He wants to give me good things and to eventually join Him in heaven.
When I am not bold with my prayer with the Lord, I lose out on a reminder of how generous He is, and I implicitly teach myself that He either can’t or won’t come through for me. Abraham and the Apostles show us that God’s greatest desire is for my joy in this life and eternal joy in the next. While my requests may not be answered as I think they should, making them with boldness and confidence reminds me that my God is not looking to dominate me or to subjugate me, but to walk with me toward eternal life!
Peace,
Fr. Monteleone
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