20 FEBRUARY – QUINQUAGESIMA MONDAY

Lesson – Genesis xiii. 1‒15

And Abram went up out of Egypt, he and his wife, and all that he had, and Lot with him, into the south. And he was very rich in possession of gold and silver. And he returned by the way that he came, from the south to Bethel, to the place where before he had pitched his tent between Bethel and Hai: in the place of the altar which he had made before; and there he called upon the name of the Lord. But Lot also, who was with Abram, had flocks of sheep, and herds of beasts, and tents. Neither was the land able to bear them, that they might dwell together: for their substance was great, and they could not dwell together. Whereupon also there arose a strife between the herdsmen of Abram and of Lot. And at that time the Canaanite and the Pherezite dwelled in that country. Abram therefore said to Lot: “Let there be no quarrel, I beseech you, between me and you, and between my herdsmen and your herdsmen: for we are brethren. Behold the whole land is before you: depart from me I pray you: if you will go to the left hand, I will take the right: if you choose the right hand, I will pass to the left.” And Lot, lifting up his eyes, saw all the country about the Jordan, which was watered throughout, before the Lord destroyed Sodom and Gomorrhah, as the paradise of the Lord, and like Egypt as one comes to Segor. And Lot chose to himself the country about the Jordan, and he departed from the east: and they were separated one brother from the other. Abram dwelt in the land of Canaan; and Lot abode in the towns that were about the Jordan, and dwelt in Sodom. And the men of Sodom were very wicked, and sinners before the face of the Lord, beyond measure. And the Lord said to Abram, after Lot was separated from him: “Lift up your eyes, and look from the place where you now are, to the north and to the south, to the east and to the west. All the land which you see, I will give to you and to your seed forever.”

Thanks be to God.

Dom Prosper Guéranger:

The life of a faithful Christian, like that of the Patriarch Abraham, is neither more nor less than a courageous journeying onwards to the place destined for him by his Creator. He must put aside everything that could impede his progress, nor must he look back. This is undoubtedly hard doctrine, but if we reflect for a moment on the dangers which surround fallen man during his earthly pilgrimage and on what our own sad experience has taught us, we will not think it hard or strange that our Saviour has made the renouncing and denying ourselves an essential condition of our salvation. But, independently of this, is it not far better to put our life under God’s guidance than to keep it in our own? Are we so wise or so strong as to be able to guide ourselves? We may resist as we please, but God is our Sovereign Lord and Master, and by giving us free will by which we may either resist His will or follow it, He has not abdicated His own infinite rights to His creatures’ obedience. Our refusal to obey would not make Him the less our Master.

Had Abraham, after receiving the divine call, chosen to remain in Chaldea and refused to break up the home which God bade him leave, God would then have selected some other man to be the Patriarch of His chosen people, and Father of that very family which was to have the Messiah as one of its children. This substituting one for another in the order of grace is frequently forced upon Divine Justice: but what a terrible punishment it is for him that caused the substitution! When a soul refuses salvation, Heaven does not therefore lose one of its elect: God, finding that He is despised by the one he called, offers the grace to another until His call is followed.

The Christian life consists in this untiring unreserved obedience to God. The first effect of this spirit of submission is that it takes the soul from the region of sin and death in which she was wasting away her existence. It takes her from the dark Chaldea and places her in the promised land of light. Lest she should faint on her way along the narrow path and fall a victim to the dangers which never leave her, because they are in her own self, God asks her for sacrifices, and these brace her. Here again we have Abraham for our model. God loves Him and promises Him the richest of blessings. He gives him a son as pledge of the promise, and then shortly after tests the holy Patriarch’s devotedness by commanding him to slay with his own hand this dear child on whom he has been told to build his hopes!

Man’s path on earth is sacrifice. We cannot go out from evil except by the way of self-resistance, nor keep our footing on good ground but by constant combating. Let us imitate Abraham: fix our eye steadfastly on the eternal hills, and consider this world as a mere passing dwelling, a tent, put up for a few days. Our Jesus has said to us: “I came not to send peace, but the sword. For I came to separate” (Matthew x. 34, 35). Separation, then, and trials are sure to be sent us. But we are equally sure that they are for our good, since they are sent us by Him who so loved us that He became one of ourselves. But this same Jesus has also said: “Where thy treasure is, there too is your heart” (Matthew vi. 21). Christians! Can our treasure be in this wretched world? No, it must be in that fair Land above. There, then, must we be in desire and affection.

These are the thoughts the Church would have us meditate upon during these days which immediately precede the Forty of Lent. They will help to purify our hearts and make them long to be with their God. The noise of the world’s sins and scandals reaches our ears: let us pray that the Kingdom of God may come to us and to those poor sinners, for God’s infinite mercy can change them, if He will, into children of Abraham. Not a day passes but He so changes many a sinner. He has, perhaps, shown that miracle of His mercy to us, and those words of the Apostle may be applied to us: “You, who some time were afar off, are now made near (to God) by the blood of Christ” (Ephesians ii. 13).