Some people believe that the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah in the Old Testament were destroyed because of a lack of hospitality. However, Saint John Bosco and actually the whole Catholic Church for the last 2,000 years have agreed that a rain of fire engulfed these cities because of sins of impurity and even worse, a very specific type of impure sin. In today’s episode, I'll recount a sermon in which St. John Bosco shows the gravity of sins against the sixth commandment. The date of the sermon is unclear, but it was probably during a retreat in November of 1843. I've never heard this Old Testament story explained so well and made so applicable to everyday circumstances, nor have I ever heard this great saint speak with so much passion and insistence. I truly believe it's one of his best works.


This sermon is taken from “The Biographical Memoirs of Saint John Bosco,” Volume 16, Page 404.



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Thank you to Salesiana Publishers for their kind permission to use the English translation of The Biographical Memoirs of Saint John Bosco by Fr. Giovanni Battista Lemoyne et al. (New Rochelle, N.Y.: Salesiana Publishers, Inc., 19642003).


For further reading on Saint John Bosco: https://tinyurl.com/SalesianMissions