Today’s first reading is the famous one of God planning to destroy Sodom and Gomorrah and Abraham challenging Him. Notice also, that the result of the challenge is learning that there are no righteous people in either city, except for Abraham, Lot and their families.

What has happened in Sodom and Gomorrah is not people are committing sins like saying bad words. Rather, they are living in a vicious sin-filled anarchy and the residents of the two cities are actually turning on each other.

The Bible says that their sins are crying out to God, that means that they are evil sins that are committed shamelessly. Imagine an anarchy where people’s passions reign and you have an idea of what is happening. They are bringing forth violence and the self-destruction of the community.  Notice that God is not assuming anything, he is going to see for himself of this great evil. This is actually a literary device to show that God is a just God and he is not relying on rumor or innuendo he is investigating the full truth. The point is that we must do the same and not work or condemn or spread rumor or innuendo. In fact, that is one of the greatest tools of evil, hence why one of the commandments condemns such false witness and those who spread gossip, rumors and innuendo are indeed considered some of the worst of all sinners. Jezebel the most evil woman in the Bible used exactly that tactic against her enemies and led to the death of Naboth so she could steal his vineyard. 

Notice that the evil is so great and we learn that there are no righteous people in the two cities. The reason why the two cities must be destroyed is because their evil will spread across the world and destroy all human existence. It is the fruit of the sin introduced at the Garden of Eden. God must—to use an expression—cut off the limb to save the tree.

It is one of the great illustrations that demonstrates that the human being has an inclination to sin; as St Augustine taught, without God we walk down the path leads to destruction.

The reason why Jesus came was to show us the way off that path and onto the path of life. Without Christ, we would have been lost along time ago. However, we are beginning to see proof of this dynamic.

You saw in the news last week that between Dallas and Baton Rouge among other places that eight police officers have been killed ambush style. People are blaming the Black Lives Matter movement, I would be more inclined to blame the dynamic more than the movement. What I just said is well beyond the understanding of the average journalist covering this situation.

The reason why I say this is because another issue that happened this week, which also would be beyond the average journalist covering this situation, the governor of Louisiana following the shooting deaths of three officers and the wounding of others in his state and of course what happened in Dallas the week before said that this is demonic. As strange as that may sound, he is correct.

The current forms of community organizing are using the tactics of Saul Alinsky to create movements that will change society into the image of these community organizers and their disciples. They first organized against the Church so that you will get away from the influence of the Church and start embracing their ideas as your guide. Many have done this already.

Remember, Saul Alinsky praised Lucifer as the model of the true radical. He called people to take him as the model and literally by any means necessary accomplish their goal of bringing the change they want to see in the world. 

The demonic has a way of working and it is very simple. The Devil grants you what you are seeking and even lets you take your own credit for it and then when he has used you to accomplish his tasks he destroys you and continues onto his goal.

This week even a high ranking member of our government has recognized that the destruction stemming from this community organizing has gotten out of hand as indicated by the killing of police officers. Why has it gotten out of hand, because using the tactics of Saul Alinsky taught to these community organizers people built movements that reject God and embrace their own unknown sinfulness for their mission in life. That is what you see happening. They have begun to take upon themselves the role of being the change they want to see in the world and what they did not expect or plan now is taking over.

This brings us back to the readings. Jesus in another part of the Gospels reminds us that we are the salt of the Earth, the Light of the World. I think you are beginning to see where this world or even our nation goes when people reject God and go their own way. This is why the Church exists until Jesus returns. We are there to lead people off the track to their own destruction and onto the track of salvation which is freedom in Christ. You can also see in history, if it was not for the Church, our world would appear greatly different and not so civilized.

Both the first reading and Gospel not only tell of the importance of prayer, but also remind us that we have an important status in Christ that gives us the right to approach God on behalf of those lost in the grips of the world’s arrogance and the people too lost to understand how truly lost they are and to pray on their behalf.

Will things get worse? Without your service to Christ indeed they will. Will they get better? That is a question we need to ask the Father and listen for his response in the spirit of Abraham and the expectation taught by Christ.

We don’t want to see the change the disciples of Saul Alinsky want to bring upon this world, we want to see the Change that Christ is promising as we await His return.

Only through our quest for holiness and prayer for others, which is what our faith is all about will we have any hope for the future. That is what Abraham understood and Christ and his Church teaches.

God bless you,

Fr. Robert J Carr

Fr. Carr is member of the Segundo Elo  of the Canção Nova Community. He is the pastor of Holy Trinity Quincy, MAand is the editor of this blog. He is the author of several books, blogs and hundreds of videos all of which you may find on Youtube.  You can follow him on twitter as @frbobcarr and on Google plus as+FrRobertCarr. Thoughts, comments on the homily? Let us know at Facebook