In today's Gospel reading, the Lord teaches his disciples to pray the Lord's Prayer. The Lord then presents two parables to teach important aspects of prayer. One parable is about a man who goes at midnight to ask a friend for bread to feed someone who has come from afar. This man is so persistent in his request that the friend gives him the bread so that he and his family can resume their rest. From this parable, the Lord teaches the need for perseverance in prayer. We must persist in prayer without becoming discouraged.

This Gospel reading is paired with a reading from the Book of Genesis to further show us the value of persistent prayer. We heard last Sunday about how God, disguised himself in the three men who visited Abraham and announced to him that his wife Sarah is finally going to conceive a son. This Sunday, the story continues as they make their way to Sodom and Gomorrah. God goes on a mission to judge the inhabitants of those cities. He had heard an outcry and went to investigate. God lets Abraham know about his plans.

Lot, Abraham’s nephew, lived in Sodom along with his wife and two daughters. Abraham seeks a way to save the people of these cities. He intercedes for them. Abraham's intercession is based on the principle of God's justice and righteousness. God cannot punish the righteous along with the wicked. Abraham hopes to find 50 righteous people. God would forgive if there were that many. Abraham doubts he will find that many.

So, he begins to reduce the number of righteous people each time he begs God, and God promises not to punish them if he finds that number of righteous people. Abraham goes down to 10 righteous people. He doesn't insist further because he knows that God would forgive the people if there was even one righteous person. Unfortunately, there isn't even one righteous person.

Lot and his family are the only ones to whom the imminent destruction is foretold. Lot invites his two sons-in-law to flee with them, but they mock him, saying it was a joke. They were locals not from the people of God. They too will perish. Lot's own wife is punished during her evacuation for disobeying the divine command to not look behind. She had a heart that longed for a corrupt and passing world.

Today, the Church offers us Abraham as an example of a person who prays persistently and on behalf of the people. Abraham is the image of the Son of God, humanity's intercessor before God. The Lord came down from heaven to judge the world. The sin of the world was so grave that God himself came to verify the degree of evil. The sin of humanity was so grave that the Lord did not find a single righteous person (except for his Most Holy Mother). The world merited to be punished then. However, the great paradox of salvation occurred instead: God punished the only righteous person to save the guilty! The crucified Lord is the intercessor par excellence. “Father, forgive them for they know not what they do,” the Lord cried from the cross.

This is the great truth: we are all guilty, deserving of divine punishment. And thank God, His beloved Son died on the cross to forgive us. Now, as humanity continues to live in this world, humanity runs the risk of living in sin. As it occurred with Lot's sons-in-law, many people today are invited to leave behind a corrupt world and flee in the direction that God indicates. However, many people think the judgement of God is irrelevant, that it somehow does not apply to them, and remain mired in sin until there is no remedy.

The Church today plays the role of Abraham. The Church intercedes for the whole world to return to God's path. Let us ask the Lord to grant us the gift of prayer, of constant and persevering prayer.