25 February 2027 · Syro-Malankara Rite
Open in the Daily Word appAlso: Syro-Malabar Rite · Latin Rite · മലയാളം
“But we have this treasure in clay jars, so that it may be made clear that this extraordinary power belongs to God and does not come from us.” 2 Corinthians 4:7
Genesis tells the end of Sodom in a few heavy lines: “the Lord rained on Sodom and Gomorrah sulfur and fire from the Lord out of heaven.” Lot reaches Zoar as the sun rises. “But Lot’s wife, behind him, looked back, and she became a pillar of salt.” She was already outside the city, already saved, yet her heart had stayed behind. Jesus would later say only three words about her: “Remember Lot’s wife.” Then the reading turns to Abraham, who goes early in the morning to the place where he had pleaded with God and sees the smoke rising. And Scripture adds the reason Lot was spared: “God remembered Abraham, and sent Lot out of the midst of the overthrow.” Lot was saved because someone had prayed for him. Our intercession for others is never wasted.
Today we remember Blessed Rani Maria Vattalil, a Franciscan Clarist sister born at Pulluvazhy in Kerala, who served the poor in Madhya Pradesh and helped landless families to free themselves from moneylenders. On 25 February 1995 she was stabbed to death on a bus near Indore by a man hired by those who resented her work. Paul's words describe her: “we have this treasure in clay jars… We are afflicted in every way, but not crushed; perplexed, but not driven to despair; persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed.” Jesus had warned: “I am sending you out like sheep into the midst of wolves.” What followed her death is the fruit of the Gospel: her family forgave the killer; her sister, Sr Selmy Paul, visited him in prison and tied a rakhi on his wrist as a brother; he repented and later came to her beatification at Indore in 2017. Tertullian said that the blood of Christians is seed (in substance). Rani Maria's blood bore the seed of forgiveness.
Theme: “We have this treasure in clay jars.”
On the memorial of Blessed Rani Maria: the heart that looked back, the prayer that saved, and the treasure that shines through weakness.
“He is mindful of his covenant forever, of the word that he commanded, for a thousand generations,” Psalm 105:8
“Remember Lot’s wife.” Luke 17:32
Apply: Remove this week one occasion that keeps drawing your heart back to sin.
“Can I not do with you, O house of Israel, just as this potter has done? says the Lord. Just like the clay in the potter’s hand, so are you in my hand, O house of Israel.” Jeremiah 18:6
“but he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for power is made perfect in weakness.”” 2 Corinthians 12:9
Apply: Offer to God this week the weakness you are most ashamed of, and ask him to shine through it.
“Even though you intended to do harm to me, God intended it for good, in order to preserve a numerous people, as he is doing today.” Genesis 50:20
“Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.” Romans 12:21
Apply: Pray daily this week for someone who has harmed you, and do them one good turn if you can.
God remembers those for whom we pray.
In clay jars like Rani Maria, his power overcomes evil with forgiveness.
Take-home resolution: Pray each day of the Fast for one person who has hurt you.
Dear friends, the Lord rained fire on Sodom. Lot's wife, behind him, looked back, and she became a pillar of salt (Genesis 19:26). She was already outside, but her heart had stayed behind. Jesus says: remember Lot's wife (Luke 17:32).
Yet the reading ends with mercy: God remembered Abraham, and sent Lot out of the midst of the overthrow (Genesis 19:29). Lot was saved because Abraham had prayed. Our prayer for others is never wasted.
Today we remember Blessed Rani Maria, a sister from Kerala who served the poor in Madhya Pradesh and was killed on 25 February 1995. Paul could have been speaking of her: we have this treasure in clay jars... struck down, but not destroyed (2 Corinthians 4:7, 9).
Jesus warned: I am sending you out like sheep into the midst of wolves (Matthew 10:16). Rani Maria went, and her family forgave her killer, who repented. Let us ask her prayers for the courage to serve and the grace to forgive. Amen.
Children, Sister Rani Maria was a brave nun from Kerala. She went far away to help poor families. A man hurt her and she died. But her family forgave him, and he became sorry and good. Jesus' love is stronger than hate. Can you forgive someone today?
Lord God, you remembered Abraham and rescued Lot from the overthrow. Keep our hearts from looking back to what you have saved us from. You placed the treasure of your Gospel in the clay jar of Blessed Rani Maria and gave her strength to serve the poor and to die for you. Through her prayers, give us courage among wolves, and give our families the grace to forgive as hers forgave. Through Christ our Lord. Amen.
Genesis tells the end of Sodom in a few heavy verses, and then looks at it through the eyes of the man who prayed. In Matthew, Jesus warns his disciples that they go as sheep among wolves. The Epistle (2 Corinthians 4:7–15) names the strength in which they go: “we have this treasure in clay jars”. All this comes together in the memory of Blessed Rani Maria, a daughter of Kerala who was killed in 1995 for her service of the poor.
Setting.
The sun has risen and Lot has reached Zoar. The destruction is told very briefly, without any interest in the details of suffering. The cities of the Plain are placed in the region of the Dead Sea, a land of salt and bitumen. Scholars have long searched for them, but no site has been identified with certainty, and Genesis is not interested in geology. Its concern is the meaning of what happened. The reading ends where the story began, with Abraham.
Structure.
Key words.
Verse by verse.
“Then the Lord rained on Sodom and Gomorrah sulfur and fire from the Lord out of heaven;” (19:24)
Nothing here celebrates the destruction. The Bible uses this as a warning, not as a spectacle. The prophets hold it up against Jerusalem as well (Isaiah 1:9–10), so no reader may read this about others only.
“But Lot’s wife, behind him, looked back, and she became a pillar of salt.” (19:26)
She was out of the city, but her heart had not left it. The command was “do not look back” (19:17).
“Abraham went early in the morning to the place where he had stood before the Lord;” (19:27)
Abraham comes back to where he prayed, and he says nothing. Many who have prayed for others and seen a disaster will know this silence.
“God remembered Abraham, and sent Lot out of the midst of the overthrow,” (19:29)
Genesis does not say that God remembered Lot. Lot was saved because someone had pleaded. No intercession is wasted, even when it does not seem to be answered.
How the Church reads it.
Jesus himself uses this story: “Remember Lot’s wife” (Luke 17:32), in a warning about being unready for the day of the Son of Man. The Book of Wisdom calls the pillar “a monument to an unbelieving soul” (Wisdom 10:7). St Augustine, in the City of God, sees in her a warning that those on the way of salvation must not long for what they left behind (in substance). In the Great Fast this is a simple question: having started, where is my heart looking?
Setting.
This is part of the discourse in which Jesus sends the Twelve out (chapter 10). At the start they are sent only to Israel (10:5–6), but these verses look further on, to governors, kings and Gentiles. Many scholars think that Matthew has gathered here sayings of Jesus in the light of what the first Christians were suffering.
The “councils” and “synagogues” in verse 17 reflect a time when the first disciples, who were themselves Jews, faced conflict with some local authorities, just as they faced Roman governors. It is no charge against the Jewish people (Nostra Aetate 4). The same verses warn of betrayal from within one's own family, and of hatred from all sides.
Structure.
Key words.
Verse by verse.
“See, I am sending you out like sheep into the midst of wolves;” (10:16)
The speaker is the Shepherd, and it is he who sends them. Their weakness is known and intended.
“for it is not you who speak, but the Spirit of your Father speaking through you.” (10:20)
This is a promise for those on trial, and not a reason to neglect preparation for preaching. The disciple has no need to fear being left alone at the moment of witness.
“But the one who endures to the end will be saved.” (10:22)
The last word is not about how much was achieved, but about faithfulness that lasted.
“A disciple is not above the teacher,” (10:24)
If the Master was slandered, the household should not expect praise. Suffering is not proof that something has gone wrong with the mission.
How the Church reads it.
The Catechism teaches that the martyr bears witness to Christ who died and rose, to whom he is united by charity (CCC 2473). Tertullian's saying, that the blood of Christians is seed, has been handed on in every age (Apology 50, in substance). The Church does not seek out enemies. She prays today for those who suffer for their faith or their service in many lands, and also for those who have wronged them.
Was Lot's wife really turned to salt?
Genesis reports it as a sign, in a region where salt formations stand along the shore of the Dead Sea, and ancient readers would have seen in them a reminder of this story. The Catholic reader need not decide how such a detail came to be told. What matters is what the sacred writer teaches, and Jesus' own use of it shows that: “Remember Lot’s wife.”
Blessed Rani Maria Vattalil, a Franciscan Clarist sister born at Pulluvazhy in Kerala, served the poor in Madhya Pradesh and helped landless families out of the grip of moneylenders. On 25 February 1995 she was stabbed to death on a bus near Indore by a man hired by those who resented her work. Her family forgave him, and her sister, Sr Selmy Paul, visited him in prison. The Church beatified her at Indore on 4 November 2017. In her we see the clay jar and the treasure, and the Gospel's way of ending violence.