Sunday Reflection with Fr Robin Gibbons - 24 July 2016

17th Sunday in Ordinary Time

Here in the UK we have had a real week of summer, but also one charged with uncertainty and change from the media obsession with Brexit to the drama in Turkey, the dope scandal engulfing Russian athletes, the aftermath of Nice in France. Hidden below the radar are other things, the dreadful bombings and destruction of Aleppo, the plight of migrant peoples, the destruction of animal species and environment by us humans, or the deep dark unknown stories of countries like North Korea.

These are what we might call the 'dark side' of life, but that's not all the news. We do good things too, joy and laughter and love and forgiveness, stories of extraordinary things done by ordinary people abound! There is a hint of this capacity to turn things round in the story from Genesis 18 of Abraham's negotiating prayer with God about Sodom and Gomorrah. Stories have reached God about sins bad and dark and they have to be examined. Here though our tendency for sensationalism receives a sudden check. Whatever history has allegedly laid upon Sodom, it certainly isn't anything to do with homosexuality, that sad historical tale of Christian difficulty haunts us still. No, here in this story it is about mercy, negotiation and hope.

Listen to the dialogue between Abraham and God:

"Far be it from you to do such a thing,to make the innocent die with the guiltyso that the innocent and the guilty would be treated alike! Should not the judge of all the world act with justice?" The LORD replied,"If I find fifty innocent people in the city of Sodom,I will spare the whole place for their sake."

The rhythm of this question and answer goes on until Abraham numbers ten innocent and still the Lord answers that they will be spared. Now we must carry on the dialogue, what if there is only one? We know the hopeful answer: Christ is that one, and through him we all have that merciful forgiveness of God! So instead changing our world by justice and righteousness for Christ's sake, why do we behave so terribly? That is the question God asks of us!

The way we can change our wayward hearts begins with that prayer above all prayers, the Our father, that raw, basic dialogue with God. As Jesus points out we must persist and ask and search so that our friendship with God will transform us all.

First Century Prayer from Clement of Rome

We beseech thee, Master, to be our helper and protector.
Save the afflicted among us; have mercy on the lowly;
raise up the fallen; appear to the needy; heal the ungodly;
restore the wanderers of thy people;
feed the hungry; ransom our prisoners;
raise up the sick; comfort the faint-hearted.

Fr Robin Gibbons is an Eastern Rite Chaplain for the Melkite Greek Catholics in Britain