Gen. 18:20-32; Ps. 138:1-3, 6-8; Col. 2:12-14; Lk. 11:1-13
“And I tell you, ask and you will receive; seek and you will find” says the Lord. Abraham pleaded with God for mercy on his people. Great was the outcry against Sodom and Gomorrah for their grave sin worthy of death but great was the prayer for mercy from Abraham to save the innocent among the guilty. Today we live the great sins Sodom and Gomorrah around the world worthy of the Lord’s justice but great is also the prayer of the Church for mercy and forgiveness. The weeds remain among the crops till the day of harvesting. Jesus reminds us in the gospel, God’s love is a father’s love who desires what is good for his people but we have to come to him, ask, seek, knock and persist through prayer and he will answer.
The outcry for justice versus the outcry for mercy is heard in the heavens. Unfortunately, not enough souls are praying for mercy because there is the forgotten truth of “sin”. Pontious Pilate asked Jesus “what is truth?” and today the world questions “what is sin?” Morality is seen as an individual choice defined by each individual so that one person’s claim of sin is another person’s claim of righteousness. From the global intifada call for “death to Israel” to the legal claim to the death penalty and the abortion of a child, it is all seen as justice for some without sin. The lost don’t seek their own mercy from a loving father because there is no connection to the truth of sin. There is no asking for forgiveness or receiving of mercy for failure to acknowledge God’s truth.
The modern-day perversion of the human body is beyond the sins of the past through relationships in adultery, prostitution, and homosexuality. The human body has become the object of self-mutilation through attempts to transition into the opposite gender beginning in early childhood promoting our children to question their own sexuality and gender identity. The body is now a billboard for identity within groups or simply for self-expression. Lost is the awareness that the body is in union with the soul and as we dehumanize the body the soul is injured from its true identity created in the image of God. We become unrecognizable to who God created us to be. Morality is not a personal choice but a command from God. Failure to live by his commands is sin.
Hope is not lost as St. Paul reminds us “even when you were dead in transgression…he brought you to life…having forgiven us all our transgressions” for having asked we receive his mercy and forgiveness. The legal claims against us for our sins is “obliterated” as he nails it to the cross. This is the good news and we should come and be reconciled with our God through the sacrament of reconciliation. All this for those who turn to him in recognition of our sin but if we fail to recognize our sin, fail to ask and seek, believe in our own self-righteousness then we remain lost captured by the snares of the devil.
Ask and receive says the Lord. Many will say that they prayed and “nothing happened”. My first roommate in college as a freshman said to me one day after he found out I was a Christian, he prayed and asked if there was a God to show him. He said nothing happened so he claimed to be an atheist. When we approach God asking on our own terms, we will be disappointed and likely nothing will happen. We are to ask in humility, seek God’s will, and approach God with love fulfilling the first commandment. Jesus taught his disciples to begin prayer by recognizing the holiness of God that includes his love, mercy, and justice. We pray for his kingdom to enter our hearts through forgiveness and reconciliation. We receive “our daily bread” not only when we come to communion in the eucharist but in communion with each other united by the Holy Spirit. We are obligated to forgive as we are forgiven and plead that we will not undergo the “final test”.
What is the “final test”? In Jewish apocalyptic writing it is a period of severe trial before the end of the age. In historical terms we know all the disciples died and the world has continued for thousands of years but we still await the “end of the age” which is to be a severe time in history. We currently are living in an age of mercy but as the world falls into greater sins the outcry to heaven is for the end of time to come.
Our time, that is the lifetime of our human condition is short and we too must pass through a final test in the battle for our soul with the evil one. We must fight the good fight and remain faithful and persevere to the end because every day counts and every moment is a test of where we stand. The final test is also the test of the eucharist. Do we believe in his body and blood soul and divinity coming to us in the bread and wine we receive and do we ask and receive in a state of grace our daily bread? This is the test we are faced with to stand with God as our Lord and savior in the sacrifice of the eucharist where our sins are obliterated. God is our hope and our glory.
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