First Reading: Wis 18:6-9
The night of the passover was known beforehand to our fathers, that, with sure knowledge of the oaths in which they put their faith, they might have courage. Your people awaited the salvation of the just and the destruction of their foes. For when you punished our adversaries, in this you glorified us whom you had summoned. For in secret the holy children of the good were offering sacrifice and putting into effect with one accord the divine institution.
Second Reading: Heb 11:1-2, 8-19
Brothers and sisters: Faith is the realization of what is hoped for and evidence of things not seen. Because of it the ancients were well attested. By faith Abraham obeyed when he was called to go out to a place that he was to receive as an inheritance; he went out, not knowing where he was to go. By faith he sojourned in the promised land as in a foreign country, dwelling in tents with Isaac and Jacob, heirs of the same promise; for he was looking forward to the city with foundations, whose architect and maker is God. By faith he received power to generate, even though he was past the normal age —and Sarah herself was sterile— for he thought that the one who had made the promise was trustworthy. So it was that there came forth from one man, himself as good as dead, descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky and as countless as the sands on the seashore. All these died in faith. They did not receive what had
been promised but saw it and greeted it from afar and acknowledged themselves to be strangers and aliens on earth, for those who speak thus show that they are seeking a homeland. If they had been thinking of the land from which they had come, they would have had opportunity to return. But now they desire a better homeland, a heavenly one. Therefore, God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared a city for them. By faith Abraham, when put to the test, offered up Isaac, and he who had received the promises was ready to offer his only son, of whom it was said, “Through Isaac descendants shall bear your name.” He reasoned that God
was able to raise even from the dead, and he received Isaac back as a symbol.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
4 comments:
This reading was a good reminder of what faith should reflect; faith should reflect trust. I think that is what makes having faith in other people and in God so challenging for many. Living in a world where many of us have been betrayed by those we had faith and trust in, makes it hard to fully have faith in God. I know that this has been a challenge for me at times. But the one thing that I have been blessed to understand is: that once you fully put your faith in God, putting faith in others isn't that difficult. God will guide you to those who you can trust and in return they will have faith in you.
Well said, Ashley.
One of the things that I was struck by was the connection with our Jewish heritage. Abraham is truly the father of not only the Jewish faith, but of our Christian tradition. He is the example of true faith, even to the point of sacrificing his long-awaited son.
It reminds me of waking one morning in a cot inside a tent flapping madly in a sandstorm somewhere in a Middle Eastern desert and thinking to myself that this was a great metaphor for my faith. I really had no assurance I would ever return to a place I knew and people I loved, who were then thousands of miles distant, but I went anyway mostly on faith and the duty to it. And even so, back home, I'm reminded that on earth I am a stranger even among friends and family. With them, I am on a journey and I don't know where it will go exactly, but that's really just fine. Without faith I am anxious and fearful even in familiar places. With faith I am at peace even in the eye of the storm.
Post a Comment