Reading of the Word of God

Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia

The Spirit of the Lord is upon you.
The child you shall bear will be holy.

Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia

Genesis 19,15-29

When dawn broke the angels urged Lot on, 'To your feet! Take your wife and your two daughters who are here, or you will be swept away in the punishment of the city.' And as he hesitated, the men seized his hand and the hands of his wife and his two daughters -- Yahweh being merciful to him -- and led him out and left him outside the city. When they had brought him outside, he was told, 'Flee for your life. Do not look behind you or stop anywhere on the plain. Flee to the hills or you will be swept away.' 'Oh no, my lord!' Lot said to them, 'You have already been very good to your servant and shown me even greater love by saving my life, but I cannot flee to the hills, or disaster will overtake me and I shall die. That town over there is near enough to flee to, and is small. Let me flee there-after all it is only a small place -- and so survive.' He replied, 'I grant you this favour too, and will not overthrow the town you speak of. Hurry, flee to that one, for I cannot do anything until you reach it.' That is why the town is named Zoar. The sun rose over the horizon just as Lot was entering Zoar. Then Yahweh rained down on Sodom and Gomorrah brimstone and fire of his own sending. He overthrew those cities and the whole plain, with all the people living in the cities and everything that grew there. But Lot's wife looked back, and was turned into a pillar of salt. Next morning, Abraham hurried to the place where he had stood before Yahweh, and looking towards Sodom and Gomorrah and the whole area of the plain, he saw the smoke rising from the ground like smoke from a furnace. Thus it was that, when God destroyed the cities of the plain, he did not forget Abraham and he rescued Lot from the midst of the overthrow, when he overthrew the cities where Lot was living.

Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia

Look down, O Lord, on your servants.
Be it unto us according to your word.

Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia

This passage shows us the dawn of the day of the destruction of Sodom. The angels exhort Lot to leave the city. Facing the drama that is hitting the city, Lot is as if paralyzed, he cannot even move so that they have to take him by the hand and together with his wife and the daughters they are led out to save him. As soon as Lot is safe, a fire and sulphur rain - maybe a real volcanic eruption - gets on Sodom and destroys it; thus, it becomes the symbol not only of the sinner but mostly corrupted city. We should reflect on the fact that one of the most serious sins done by the inhabitants of the city was the refusal to welcome the foreigners who had taken shelter by Lot. The hearts of those citizens were narrow and so bent on defending their own interests that they did not see in those strangers brothers in need of help and raged against Lot for what he had done. Truly their hearts were like stone, like those with which they had built the city walls as they wanted to defend themselves against their enemies. A city, a society, or a nation that chooses to build unsurmountable walls and keep the doors shut to those who want to enter, condemns itself to extinction and ruin. It is a message that should make people reflect even today, Borders, no matter if of the hearts or cities, always lead to a close and barren life.