Monday of the Twelfth Week in Ordinary Time

Two Lanesville/Corydon
Knights of Columbus

The LORD said to Abram:

“Go forth from the land of your kinsfolk
and from your father’s house to a land that I will show you.

Genesis 12 opens a new story in Salvation History. With the first eleven chapters of Genesis we have heard the history of sin and it has been neither pleasant nor sensible. It begins with simple disobedience (Adam and Eve); descends rapidly into fratricide (Cain and Abel); spreads universally until the Flood; embeds itself deep in the human heart (Noah) and the human family (Noah’s disrespectful son Ham) and finally breeds confusion, suspicion and warfare (the Tower of Babel.) By the end of chapter 11 evil has control of every layer of earthly existence and there is no salvation anywhere in this world. If we are to be saved it must come from somewhere else.

And so, God calls Abram to leave his native land, kinfolk and father’s house to “a land that I will show you.”

If you are familiar with the language of AA and other chemical dependency programs, you might recognize God’s call to Abram as an “intervention.” Something or somebody has got to knock this runaway train off its tracks. Clearly we have “hit bottom” but that doesn’t mean we can’t go lower, digging ourselves ever deeper in misery. We need help salvation or deliverance. Call it what you will.

Here we find a fundamental doctrine of our faith. We cannot save ourselves; we need divine intervention.

Many people look to eastern mysticism as a way to save ourselves. At one time Europeans believed there was in Asia an ideal kingdom ruled by the Christian king, Prester John. Marco Polo went off in search of the place and came back with many wonderful stories, but none about Prester John. As the east opened up to western travelers the mythical kingdom was Tibet and then Shangri-la. When no place proved to be idyllic, western dreamers settled on “eastern mysticism.”

We’ve learned much from karate, jujitsu, yoga, acupuncture and various exotic disciplines, but no effective way to save ourselves. We still need help, and it must come from somewhere beyond our control.

How many times have I been willing to help a beggar when he asked for help, but was refused? I wanted to buy him lunch; he wanted only the money. I would buy milk for her babies; she wanted only cash. I would put them up for the night in a motel. “Sorry, Father, just the cash!” I could not help.

When we ask for help from God we must accept it on God’s terms:

“Go forth from the land of your kinsfolk
and from your father’s house to a land that I will show you.

Ladies Auxiliary
Knights of Columbus

As Christians we abandon our ways and welcome Jesus Christ into our lives. As Catholics we return to the Church and sacraments and daily prayer and the fellowship of repentant sinners:

He is 'the stone rejected by you, the builders, which has become the cornerstone.' There is no salvation through anyone else, nor is there any other name under heaven given to the human race by which we are to be saved."

Acts of the Apostles 4: 11-12