FROM THE SERVANT GENERAL
OUR THEME FOR 2021
(Part 26)
OUR CONTINUING WORK—BEYOND THE FIRST 40 YEARS
June 28, 2021
Today’s readings:
Genesis 18:16-33
Psalm 103:1-11
Matthew 8:18-22
What is our work of evangelization all about? It is about God’s mercy, as God wants all people to be saved and to make it to eternal life with Him in heaven. Unfortunately, people have become presumptuous of God’s love and mercy, despite their continuing sin. But together with God’s mercy is God’s justice. God is merciful and just. And justice demands that we become accountable for our sins.
Abraham had an interesting conversation with God. He interceded with God for Sodom, whose sin was so grave that it cried out to heaven for vengeance (Gn 18:20). Ironically, Abraham used the argument of justice rather than mercy. “Far be it from you to do such a thing, to kill the righteous with the wicked, so that the righteous and the wicked are treated alike! Far be it from you! Should not the judge of all the world do what is just?” (Gn 18:25).
God eventually destroyed Sodom. But we know that He saved Lot and his family. He is just and is merciful to the just. He is just to those who look to His mercy. But for those who persist in grave sin, while He is patient and merciful, ultimately, in His justice, He will mete them their just punishment.
So what are we to learn from all this?
- God is indeed merciful. “Merciful and gracious is the Lord, slow to anger, abounding in mercy.” (Ps 103:8).
- God is forgiving, if we repent of our sins. He “pardons all your sins, and heals all your ills.” (Ps 103:3).
- God does not seek to condemn us, despite our grave offenses against Him, and so gives us all the opportunities to turn back from the brink. “He will not always accuse, and nurses no lasting anger.” (Ps 103:9).
- God does not forsake us. He precisely sent His Son Jesus to save us. He “redeems your life from the pit, and crowns you with mercy and compassion.” (Ps 103:4).
- God is not a stern judge who just punishes, but is patient and merciful. “He has not dealt with us as our sins merit, nor requited us as our wrongs deserve.” (Ps 103:10).
But, and this is the big BUT, we must do our part, as God’s “mercy towers over those who fear him.” (Ps 103:11). We do not abuse His mercy. We must know He is also a God of justice. If we persist in manifest grave evil, we will be punished. Thus we are to be in awe of God and we are to fear His just punishment, and act accordingly.
This brings us to why we evangelize and do mission. This work is to help bring people to repentance and to living a life in Christ, and to escaping condemnation. The world today is becoming more and more like that at the time of Sodom, where there were not even ten righteous people (Gn 18:32). The culture of DEATH predominates. A tsunami of evil is overwhelming the whole world. There is ever-growing apostasy in the Church. 99 of the 100 sheep are lost. Some clerics and hierarchs have become modernists, and modernism is the synthesis of all heresies. God has been patient and merciful. But the reckoning will come.
What is the way out? Repentance of course and turning back to God. But how will that happen? When authentic followers of Jesus proclaim the gospel. This work is of the utmost importance and urgency. It is so important and urgent that it transcends even good familial tasks. Thus to the one who wanted to bury his father first, Jesus said, “Follow me, and let the dead bury their dead.” (Mt 8:22).
From the creation of Eden and our first parents, to the call to Abraham, God intended our good. In Abraham, God’s intent was that “all the nations of the earth are to find blessing in him” (Gn 18:18). But for that to happen, we would need “to keep the way of the Lord by doing what is right and just, so that the Lord may put into effect for Abraham the promises he made about him.” (Gn 18:19). We do not just take the good God has intended for us, but we need to live our lives according to His ways. And indeed God “made known his ways to Moses, to the Israelites his deeds.” (Ps 103:7). He continues to do so today.
And we are to be His instruments for this, in the next 40 years and beyond.