Tuesday, June 30, 2015

Tuesday of the Thirteenth Week in Ordinary Time

(Genesis 19:15-29; Matthew 8:23-27)

It may seem like the lesson of Sodom is merely one of disgust with homosexual behavior.  Remembering the context of the story, we realize that the angels warn Lot to flee the city before God annihilates it out of outrage from the townsmen’s attempt to violate Lot’s guests.  But as often happens in Genesis, the wisdom is more profound than what first meets the eye.

When the three strangers visited Abraham in the country, he welcomed them like kings.  He gave them water to refresh their skin and a feast to restore their energy.  Now in the city of Sodom, Lot similarly treats two of the same travelers, but his neighbors threaten them.  Indeed, the men of Sodom move to rape the travelers as apparently is their custom.  Their sin is not sexual crime but also violation against the virtue of hospitality.

The men of Sodom, like those of Babel earlier in Genesis, demonstrate the corruption of city-life.  City dwellers collaborate to advance their knowledge, but their progress sometimes sets aside righteous living.  Not feeling accountable to anyone, they try to take advantage of the defenseless.  Their quest for ever more adventure leads the men of Sodom to abuse their guests.  With no antidote for such barbarity God must destroy them completely.  Even in our age the sophisticated are prone to rationalize contempt for life.  Abortion and now so-called homosexual marriage are outrages that similarly call to heaven for remedy.

Tuesday, July 2, 2013

Tuesday of the Thirteenth Week in Ordinary Time

(Genesis 19:15-29; Matthew 8:23-27)

In one of her short stories, American Catholic novelist Flannery O’Connor shows a man taking his grandson on a day trip to Atlanta.   The two have such a harrowing time that the boy comes to see the city as so evil that he never wants to return.  In ways the Book of Genesis has a similar vision of cities.

Sodom is not only the city where God’s messengers are manhandled; it is corrupt to the core.  Like the city of Babel before it, Sodom cannot help from becoming wicked because sinful men and women come there in droves to conspire against God.  Rather than curtailing their sinful desires, they seek autonomy or self-rule, which is often no more than justifying one’s evil tendencies.  The results are calamitous as the calling down of fire on Sodom shows.

God has made clear how He wants us to live first by giving the Israelites the Law and then by sending His Son Jesus.  He perfects the Law with the grace of the Holy Spirit.  Now we can build societies based on eternal justice if we practice Jesus’ ways.

Tuesday, June 28, 2011

Saint Irenaeus, bishop and martyr

(Genesis 19:15-29; Matthew 8:23-27)

It may seem like the lesson of Sodom is one of disgust with homosexual behavior. Remembering the context of the story, we realize that the angels warn Lot to flee the city before God annihilates it out of outrage from the townsmen’s attempt to violate Lot’s guests. But as often happens in Genesis, the wisdom is more profound than what first meets the eye.

When the three strangers visited Abraham in the country, he welcomed them like kings. He gave them water to refresh their skin and a feast to recover inner forces. Now in the city of Sodom, Lot similarly treats two of the same travelers, but his neighbors threaten them. Indeed, the men of Sodom move to rape the travelers as apparently is their custom. Lot in a rather foolish effort to protect his guests offers the men his virgin daughters, but the Sodomites spurn the women.

The men of Sodom, like those of Babel earlier in Genesis, demonstrate the corruption of city-life. City dwellers collaborate to advance their knowledge, but in their progress they leave a righteous way of life. Their learning makes them consider themselves as independent of God’s authority. Not feeling accountable to anyone, they try to take advantage of the defenseless. Their quest for ever more adventure leads the men of Sodom to despise women in favor of other men. There is no antidote for such barbarity. God must destroy them completely. Although it is a hard lesson, city dwellers must develop a righteous fear of God to temper their advancement in knowledge.