Gospel: July 1, 2025
July 1, 2025 (Tuesday)
13th Week in Ordinary Time
Psalter: Week 1 (Green/White)
St. Junipero Serra, priest
Ps 26:2-3, 9-10, 11-12
O Lord, your mercy is before my eyes
1st Reading: Genesis 19:15-29
At daybreak the angels urged Lot, saying, “Hurry! Take your wife and two daughters who are here, lest they perish because of the sin of the town.” As he hesitated, the men took him by the hand and his wife and two daughters with him, because the Lord had mercy on him. And they led him outside the town. When they were outside, the visitors said to him, “Flee for your life and don’t look back and don’t stop anywhere in the plain. Flee to the mountain lest you perish.” But Lot replied, “My lords, your servant has found favor with you, and you have shown me great kindness in saving my life. But I cannot flee to the mountains for fear the disaster will overtake me and I die. See, there is a town near enough for me to flee to and it’s a small one. Let me flee there: It is very small (that is why the town is called Zoar). So I will be safe.” And the angel answered, “I grant you this favor as well by not destroying the town you speak of. But flee fast for I can do nothing until you arrive there.” The sun had risen on the earth when Lot reached Zoar. Then the Lord rained on Sodom and Gomorrah burning sulfur out of the heavens from the Lord, and he completely destroyed those towns and all the valley and all the inhabitants of the towns and everything that grew there. Lot’s wife looked back and she became a pillar of salt. Early next morning Abraham returned to the place where he had stood before the Lord. He looked toward Sodom and Gomorrah and toward all the land of the valley and he saw smoke rising from the earth like the smoke from a furnace. So when God destroyed the towns of the plain he remembered Abraham and made Lot escape from the catastrophe while he destroyed the cities where Lot had lived.
Gospel: Matthew 8:23-27
Jesus got into the boat and his disciples followed him. Without warning, a fierce storm burst upon the lake, with waves sweeping the boat. But Jesus was asleep. The disciples woke him up and cried, “Lord save us! We are lost!” But Jesus answered, “Why are you so afraid, you of little faith?”
Then he stood up and rebuked the wind and sea; and it became completely calm. The disciples were astonished. They said, “What kind of man is he? Even the winds and the sea obey him.”
Reflection:
“Don’t look back.”
Archaeological research at Pompeii has shown that, rather than running for their lives during the volcanic eruption, some people turned back. Recent investigations have shown that, instead of fleeing, a man and a woman found in a blacksmith’s workshop appear to have been either hiding a bag of money or attempting to steal it. “Flee for your life and don’t look back,” says the angel to Lot. He follows the command, but his wife looks back. Her hesitation is not simply a fleeting glance but one that roots her to the spot. Perhaps she had a reluctance to leave all she had. Perhaps, in the grip of fear, she doubted that God would, or could, save them. We find that same fear and doubt in the Gospel, as the disciples are endangered by another act of nature, when a storm threatens to sink their boat. They fear that they are lost and plead for help from Jesus. “Lord, save us!” Jesus calms the storm, but he also challenges the disciples, saying, “Why are you so afraid, you of little faith?” Do we really trust in God’s power? Lord, strengthen our faith.
