Turning From Sin

Hilary Ott ’13, Academic Advancement Director for Arts & Architecture guides us to contemplate Lot with His Wife and Daughters Cast Out of Sodom by William Hamilton.

The story of Lot feels like a series of unfortunate events. Abraham gives Lot the choice of where to settle in their new land after a falling out between their households. Lot believes he has chosen the choicest land near the great cities of Sodom and Gomorrah. Despite the scenic surroundings, the wickedness of the cities prompts God to unleash unimaginable reckoning. 

As we see in today’s painting, two angels visit Lot’s family to warn them. As they guide them out of the city, and destruction looms in the background, Lot’s wife is dressed in white with a mournful posture, foreshadowing her fateful gaze back at their lost home that will transform her into a pillar of salt. Lot and his children will have to grapple with the tension between the relief of escape and the additional shock and sorrow of this moment.

During Lent, the practices of prayer, fasting, and almsgiving are meant to aid us in reflecting on our human sinfulness. These practices enable us to recognize more clearly both sins of commission and omission. We can sometimes become desensitized to our shortcomings over years of proximity—we are so close to our own wickedness that perhaps, like Lot’s wife, we may even grieve when our sin passes away from us. 

Let us pray in this season of Lent for the clarity and resolve to retreat from former acts of sinfulness and pride with bold determination, never looking back. 

This Lent, ThinkND invites you to join FaithND and the Raclin Murphy Museum of Art for a journey of Lenten discovery through some of the most significant liturgical paintings in the Raclin Murphy collection, challenging you to contemplate prayer, fasting, sinfulness, mercy, grace, and God’s infinite love from the perspectives of the artist’s gaze. To subscribe to the FaithND Daily Gospel Reflection visit faith.nd.edu/signup.

For closer viewing of this work through the digital collections of the Raclin Murphy Museum of Art, please click here.