Dear Reader, if you receive these homilettes by email, you may find the service stopped in July. As I understand an instruction from Google, its Burnfeeder program will no longer support the service. You can always find the homilettes on the blog site: https://cbmdominicanpreacher.blogspot.com/ . Perhaps if you send me your email address, I could send the homilettes in a mass email. You may send your email address to cmeleop@yahoo.com. When I ascertain that the service is no longer functioning, I will start sending them to you personally.
Memorial of Saint Irenaeus, bishop and martyr
(Genesis 18:16-33;
Matthew 8:18-20)
The name Irenaeus
is derived from the Greek word meaning peace. On at least two occasions, St. Irenaeus
showed himself as irenic; that is, as a peacemaker. On behalf of his bishop,
Irenaeus once carried a letter from Lyons to the pope in Rome asking leniency
for Montanist heretics. Another time he achieved
reconciliation when the pope wanted to excommunicate Eastern Catholics for
celebrating Easter on a different day than the Western Church. in today’s first reading Abraham similarly acts
on behalf of others.
God wants to destroy
Sodom for immorality. As the next
chapter of Genesis shows, the men there are homosexual predators. Other traditions see them as ignoring the
poor. In any case, Abraham tries to talk
God out of punishing the people of the city for their crimes. God accepts Abraham’s argument, but the men
of Sodom prove to be worse than Abraham considered.
Abraham’s dialogue
with the Lord attracts our attention. He
speaks to Him as a neighbor and receives from Him a favorable hearing. We should feel no less inhibited. God has called us to Himself as sons and
daughters. He elicits awe and deserves
our praise, but these qualities do not exclude conversation. When we talk with Him freely, we will mention
our needs. We should not be surprised at
all to receive what we ask for.
