22 June 2021
Optional Memorial of Saint Paulinus of Nola, bishop, Saint John Fisher, bishop and martyr and Saint Thomas More, martyr
When it comes to important decisions, we must not be careful not to confuse our own desires with what is best. For example, the patriarch Abram, before his name was changed to Abraham, had to make a difficult decision for his clan (cf. Gen 13:5-18). Abram’s herdsmen had been quarreling with the herdsmen of his nephew Lot, and something had to be done. They chose to go their separate ways, even though they were kinsmen. Abram invited Lot to take the first pick of land. Lot chose poorly. He picked the whole Jordan plain as far as Zoar, which was watered like the Lord’s own garden, or like Nile river delta. Lot chose the fat bottom land for himself, leaving the rocky hill country of Canaan for Abram. Lot chose the land where the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah were situated. He was in for a rude awakening. The wickedness of those cities became so great that Sodom and Gomorrah were destroyed and the entire region became a wasteland, and it remains so, even to this day. Lot chose poorly.
Abram chose wisely, by not confusing his own desires with what was best. He was wealthier than Lot, older, more experienced and more powerful. Had war erupted between his clan and Lot’s clan, Abram probably would have won. He could have dictated the terms of the settlement, but he chose not to. He let Lot choose the richer, better watered land, while contenting himself with rockier, hillier terrain. It was in that terrain, in the land of Canaan, that Abram received a promise from God: “all the land that you see I will give to you and your descendants forever. I will make your descendants like the dust of the earth” (Gen. 13:15-16). Abram chose wisely.