religious privileges - 32nd week friday 2018

Remember Lot’s wife.  This is a solemn warning from Jesus which he never used anywhere else.  He pronounced the warning as he was talking about the last judgment.  And this was not a warning uttered to the Pharisees or to sinners but to the disciples themselves.  So what is the warning about?

One commentator says it is a warning to those who have religious privileges.    Lot’s wife had all the religious privileges.  She had Lot for a husband and Abraham for an uncle both of whom worship the true God and are very devout.  And yet despite these privileges, despite the opportunities which surrounded her, she failed. She was so near, and yet she forfeited it.

It is a warning also for us disciples.  Belonging to the catholic church does not guarantee salvation, having devout parents does not make us devout children, going to mass everyday is not enough to make us a saint, coming often to the church does not mean that we are already better than the rest.  My priesthood does not make me holy.  No.  It is how I live my priesthood, it how you lived your life as Catholics, how we live out God’s word which we hear daily. We are privileged – we have the sacraments, we have the word, we receive holy communion, we have the example and prayers of the saints.  We have what it takes to make us holy.  But if we do not live out in our lives what these privileges are meant to form in us, then we will end up like Lot’s wife.  Jesus warns us, his disciples – Remember Lot’s wife.  Let us take seriously the privileges God has given us daily.