Monday of the
Thirteenth Week in Ordinary Time
(Genesis 18:16-23;
Matthew 8:18-22)
A very successful
pastor was awarded a ranking position in the diocesan chancery. When he saw his mother he shared the good
news. His mother, however, looked
worried. When he asked her why the long
face, she said, “If you don’t visit the sick and bury the dead visit the sick
and bury the dead, how will you get to heaven?”
Often our mothers
teach us more about Christian ethics than classes in the finest
universities. They are usually the ones
who instill upon us the Lord’s love and mercy.
This is the message conveyed so dramatically in today’s first
reading. Abraham may believe that he is
giving God a lesson in mercy when he banters with God about saving the infamous
cities of Sodom and Gomorrah. But God is
eternally kind and infinitely merciful.
We must never forget
this message, even when we see bad things happening to good people. We should remember that no one is entirely
just. We all sin against the Lord who
created us. Yet God sent His Son to die
in a way more terrible than any evil people experience so that our sins may be
forgiven.