God's Power to Create and Destroy

Homily for Tuesday of the Thirteenth Week in Ordinary Time

Sodom and Gomorrah were destroyed because the people in those cities chose not to live according to the Word of God or God’s law. Lot’s wife was turned into a pillar of salt because she disobeyed the strict rule of God’s messenger. Yet when Lot hesitated during their escape, the Angels stopped to retrieve Lot and his family. In the Gospel, the apostles were saved from catastrophe because they called out to Jesus to help them in their distress on stormy seas.

All of these events remind us of the immense power of God to create and to destroy. Despite this, God is so intimately connected with each of us knowing when our faith is weak and needs extra encouragement to push us in the right direction.

However, these readings also serve as a cautionary tale of how things can go so wrong and to be so out of our control, especially when we forget to rely on our faith. Even the apostles were chided by Jesus for having so little faith.

The mercy of God in the form of the Angels in the first reading and in Jesus’s calming of the sea in the Gospel, help us to see the goodness of God and God’s great love for us. Christ’s words to his apostles remain as encouragement for us, instructing us to keep a hold of our faith even when doubts may creep in. When our boat feels as if it will sink and everything around us is unclear, we need only ask for help, confident that Jesus will see us through any storm.

This message is particularly apt for the times in which we live. As we celebrate Independence Day, we give thanks for the gift of our freedoms while at the same time asking God to be present in these troublesome days. Our democratic way of life has often been referred to as a political experiment. Whenever a threat appears on our horizon, let us turn to the Creator, the Redeemer, and the Holy Spirit, asking that God will be with each of us and with those who are charged with governing our Republic.