The Faith of Abraham

By Fr. Conor Donnelly

(Proofread)

In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

My Lord and my God, I firmly believe that you are here, that you see me, that you hear me. I adore you with profound reverence. I ask your pardon for my sins and grace to make this time of prayer fruitful. My Immaculate Mother, Saint Joseph, my father and lord, my guardian angel, intercede for me.

Yahweh said to Abraham: “Leave your country, your kindred, and your father's house for a country which I will show you” (Gen. 12:1).

God places a very definite challenge before Abram, later to be Abraham, to leave these places that are very close to his heart.

There is a progressive specification of the command. Each time, it is something closer to his heart: your country, your kindred, your father's house.

Our Lord asks him for a piece of his heart, something very close to him. He asks him to set out towards an undisclosed destination, “a country that I will show you.”

God demands from Abraham, our father in faith, a great trust and a great faith. But with that, He also opens incredible horizons.

In the Eucharistic Prayer I, we refer to Abraham as “our father in faith,” somebody that we can look to, to learn about this virtue.

On this week in Lent, the Church places before us this particular passage of Scripture: “And I shall make you a great nation”—for on the one hand, there are demands; but on the other hand, there are great promises—“I shall bless you and make your name famous. You are to be a blessing” (Gen. 12:2).

I heard recently that this year, 2021, is the fifth centennial of the conversion of St. Ignatius. In 1521, St. Ignatius lay wounded after a battle in Pamplona in Spain and that was the moment of his conversion, when he had a spiritual experience. God intervened into his life.

But at that moment, St. Ignatius couldn't have had any idea of how God was going to use his correspondence over five centuries and beyond, to be the backbone of the Church for so many centuries, to educate so many people, to build up so many saints and martyrs,St. Francis Xavier.

In 1970, Pope St. John Paul canonized the forty English saints, many of whom were martyrs and many of them Jesuits, very heroic witnesses to the faith and maintaining the faith during times of incredible persecution. This week in the United Kingdom there is an exhibition of the relics of those martyrs.

It's interesting how five centuries later we're looking back to these historical realities, all of which came from the faith of St. Ignatius and how God used his correspondence—in the same way God wants to use our correspondence.

We have no idea how God has planned to use our faith, and our living out the practice of our faith, to build up a whole new “civilization of love” that St. John Paul talked about (John Paul II, Encyclical, Dominum et vivificantem, May 18, 1986).

We've come to change the world with our faith. In our prayer this morning we can say to Our Lord:

Lord, increase my faith. Increase my faith, my hope, my charity. Help me to correspond in the way that you want me to correspond, because I know you have great things that are dependent on my correspondence.

Every time that we receive the sacraments we get an increase of faith, of hope, and of charity. The theological supernatural virtues come to us with the grace of God that comes through the sacraments.

Every time you go to Confession and receive Holy Communion, it's good to have a habitual desire that you actualize, telling Our Lord:

Lord, I want this Communion and this Confession to bring me all those graces that I need, to grow in these key virtues.

That's one of the reasons why the Church recommends frequent Confession, frequent reception of Holy Communion, so that we grow in these virtues, we grow in grace, we grow in faith, and ultimately, we grow in holiness.

“I shall bless those who bless you, and shall curse those who curse you, and all clans on earth will bless themselves by you. So Abram went as Yahweh told him.”

Abraham corresponds to the commands that God gives him, the invitations, and on many occasions, we're going to find this is his response. “And Lot went with him. Abram was seventy-five years old when he left Haran” (Gen. 12:3-4).

He wasn't a young man by any standards. God may come to us at any stage of our life and ask us for great things.

Before that, and that whole preparation period, God may be building us up, building us up to that particular moment when He wants to make a great demand on our life.

“It happened some time later that God put Abraham to the test. ‘Abraham, Abraham!’ he called. ‘Here I am,’ he replied” (Gen 22:1).

Sometimes God places challenges in front of us, challenges He wants us to rise to, little demands, little difficulties, little problems.

He hopes that we will turn to Him with faith, to prayer, and leave things in His hands, learn how to trust. He wants that in our own lives, and He wants us to cultivate that spirit around us.

Some years ago, I was interviewing a 100-year-old Loreto Sister who had been here for 73 years and died recently.

I asked her this: When she followed her vocation—they had two other religious vocations in her family, three of them—how did her parents react to her vocation, and to her coming here to Kenya?

She said, “My mother didn't mind, because she was a saint.”

How important it is that mothers and fathers of families are saints, because God may want to do great things with their children.

We have to try and live like saints, with great faith to foster that spiritual faith around us, for that seedbed of vocations which the domestic Church has to be, which fathers and mothers of families are called to build with their own virtue.

In the same way that God called to Abraham, He calls to each one of us in our daily work, in our ups and downs, in this week and that week, and in the things that happen to us in the course of our life.

He calls to us and He hopes that our response will be like that of Abraham: “Here I am”–Ecce ego.

In the Old Testament, there are other phrases that say, “Here I am, because you have called me” (1 Sam. 3:5-8, Ps. 40:7-8, Isa. 6:8). Here I am ready for anything. The sky's the limit.

Here is your servant, ready to do whatever you ask of me, ready to accompany your Son to Calvary, and to stand with Him there like Our Lady (John 19:25).

This period of Lent is a time for us to grow particularly in these virtues, a time of great spiritual bonanza. That's why the Church places these passages before us for our contemplation.

“God said, ‘Take your son, your only son, your beloved Isaac’” (Gen. 22:2a).

God invites him now to the major sacrifice that He is going to ask of him in his life. And again, there is a progressive delineation of the command or specification, each time something closer to his heart, “‘Take your son, your only son, your beloved Isaac.’”

Don't be surprised if God asks you for not just a piece of your heart but your whole heart, because that's what He did with Abraham.

Sometimes God may ask mothers and fathers of families to make the sacrifice of Abraham: “…and go to the land of Moriah, where you are to offer him as a burnt offering on one of the mountains, which I will point out to you” (Gen. 22:2b).

It's still a relatively undisclosed destination, with a progressive specification of all the details.

Now beforehand, God had told him, “I'm going to make you the father of a great nation” (Gen. 17:4).

And now, the very means that God had given him to make this “father of a great nation”, He seems to want to take away.

Abraham has every right, you could say, to question God: Why? Why now? Why me? Why this? How come?

The mystery. There is a point in the Mass where we say the “Mystery of Faith.” Our faith is a mystery. Our faith is made up of mysteries.

Thanks be to God, if all the mysteries of our faith fit into our little mind, there wouldn't be great mysteries. God is a mystery. Love is a mystery. We come face to face with mysteries all the time.

But God invites us to grow in faith and trust in Him, to leave things in His hands. Sometimes God wants time to pass before He will allow this fruit to come or that fruit to come. He wants us to wait, to be patient.

“Early next morning Abraham saddled his donkey and took with him two of his servants and his son Isaac. He chopped wood for the burnt offering and started on his journey to the place which God indicated to him” (Gen. 22:3).

Little by little he fulfills all the little details that are necessary to carry out what God has asked of him—still not fully understanding, still leaving everything in God's hands, but going forward little by little along this pilgrimage of faith.

Each day of our life, fulfilling our daily duties, in our work, in family life, in sickness and health, in the ups and downs, in taking care of the little things of every day, putting this thing in its place, finishing this other job, having a to-do list, looking at our priorities—we are going forward in faith, contributing to the great enterprise that God has called us to be involved in, the building up of the Church, or the fostering of this particular apostolic activity, or the formation of this other soul.

“On the third day, Abraham looked up and saw the place in the distance. Then Abraham said to his servants, ‘Stay here with the donkey. The boy and I are going over there; we shall worship and then come back to you’” (Gen. 22:4-5).

So, he leaves the servants there, because somehow this is something personal that involves him and his son.

‘Stay here with the donkey…we shall worship and then come back to you.’ We are going to perform a certain ritual, we are going to pray, we are going to communicate with God, we are going to do something special, and this is private, this is personal.

“Abraham took the wood for the burnt offering, loaded it on Isaac, and carried in his own hands the fire and the knife. Then the two of them set out together” (Gen. 22:6).

There is something very nice about that word together. There is unity, there is love, there is coherence, there is teamwork. They are going to fulfill the plans of God together.

Sometimes the plans of God involve us working with other people and doing things with them together.

“Isaac spoke to his father Abraham: ‘Father?’ he said. ‘Yes, my son.’”

Abraham was attentive to the voice of God, but he was also attentive to the voice of others, available, open, transparent, clear. ‘Yes, my son.’

He didn't say to his son, Don’t bother me now, I have a lot of things in my head and my heart, you keep quiet, ask me later. He doesn't avoid the question.

“‘Yes, my son,’ he replied. ‘Look, here are the fire and the wood, but where is the lamb for the burnt offering?’” (Gen. 22:7).

That question must have pierced the heart of Abraham, about to kill his only son, his beloved, whom he loves.

He's left with the question. Do I tell him the whole truth? Or do I joke with him and say, You'll find out pretty quickly where the lamb and the burnt offering is? Oh boy, are you about to find out the reason for your existence? I've got news for you. He could have said a whole pile of things.

“Abraham replied, ‘My son, God himself will provide the lamb for the burnt offering’” (Gen. 22:8). Deus providebit nos–God will provide.

Beautiful words that have come down to us from Scripture, words of Abraham, words of trust, of correspondence, of faith.

As we look to the future and possibly see all the great things God wants us to do in our lives, maybe we lack the means, the knowhow, this, that, the other, so many things we lack. But God will provide.

This afternoon I hope to go to visit again that 95-year-old priest who was the first priest in Pokot in 1952, who said that when he arrived there, there was “no education, no medication, and no Revelation.”

Later on, he wrote textbooks in Pökoot, learned the language, wrote the New Testament, and wrote a dictionary. Now at 95, he is the happiest man on the planet.

He said, “God has used me in all sorts of ways.” He built a hospital in Nortum and many famous things. He was a very simple person at 23 years of age, but now he can look back on his life and see the incredible things that God has achieved.

Deus providebit nos, God will provide. As we set out on our missionary journey as lay people in the middle of the world, to fulfill our mission, to climb mountains with nothing, not knowing this or that, we put our trust in God, and things will work out in a greater and better way than we could ever have imagined.

We teach parents to pray more for their children, to lead virtuous lives, and God will do the rest. He will make them great instruments of His to change the world.

“‘God himself will provide the lamb for the burnt offering.’ And the two of them went on together” (Gen. 22:8).

There is serenity, there is peace, there is no anxiety, no worry about the future. We are fulfilling the plans of God, and everything will work out, Omnia in bonum (Rom. 8:28).

“When they arrived at the place which God had indicated to him, Abraham built an altar there.”

First, before the sacrifice, there is prayer. We turn to God in prayer and faith, for every little thing that we are about to do, and for all the stages of those things.

“He built an altar there and arranged the wood. Then he bound his son and put him on the altar on top of the wood” (Gen. 22:9).

So now Isaac gets a bit of an idea about what is going to happen.

“Abraham stretched out his hand and took the knife to kill his son.” He goes all the way, he has used all the means, he has prepared everything.

“But the angel of Yahweh called to him from heaven. ‘Abraham, Abraham!’ he said. ‘Here I am’” (Gen. 22:11).

At the eleventh hour, God calls to him. He waits until this last moment when he has his hand outstretched and the knife ready to plunge into the heart of his son.

Abraham goes to that extent, and at this moment God calls and Abraham could have said, What is it now?

He could have replied in a human way, but with the peace of faith, he says, ‘Here I am.’

There may be times when we are working hard, the eleventh hour preparing something that’s almost ready, and suddenly there is a change of plan. The thing we were preparing for is not going to happen. We put all this time and work into this thing, all our thought, or the whole day, or the whole week, or the whole month.

Openness to the plans of God. ‘Here I am.’ It doesn't matter what moment it is. It doesn't matter how much work I have done. ‘Here I am.’

I have just spent three hours cleaning this floor and some cat now walks in the window and dirties my floor, or all the other things that God permits in our life when maybe, all the angels in heaven have their hands on their hips and they’re bursting their sides laughing.

All those silly moments that we find ourselves in when we could have the human reaction to explode, and we realize the whole of heaven is looking on to this hilarious moment, to enjoy this practical joke that God has placed on us.

‘Here I am.’ ‘Do not raise your hand against the boy,’ the angel said. ‘Do not harm him, for now I know you fear God’” (Gen. 22:12a).

This is like the key phrase of the whole narrative: ‘Now I know you fear God.’

This was the test to which Abraham was placed, and he has passed the test. ‘Now I know.’

God was looking for that proof of his faith. God doesn't just want faith expressed in words. He wants faith expressed in deeds.

We have to show our faith in concrete ways, in our apostolate, in daring, in selection, in bringing up topics with people and speaking to them about God, and speaking to them about Confession, about Lent, about Holy Week, about improving their life, about formation, about being a better person, facing the challenges before them that God has placed before us—to launch out into the deep, to give something to the Church, to build it up so that we can change this world, change the spiritual emptiness that there is in it.

‘Now I know that you fear God.’ And so, with our life of faith, it's interesting how St. Josemaría didn't just talk about acts of faith; he talks about “a life of faith” (Josemaría Escrivá, Christ Is Passing By, Point 33).

God calls us to lead a life of faith, and with that life of faith, faith is put into practice in all sorts of ways, in all sorts of moments. God wants to work miracles.

Like St. Ignatius in 1521, God asked of him a life of faith, and the results are immense: a sea without shores (J. Escrivá, Conversations, Point 57), the grains of sand, multiplying your descendants in all sorts of ways.

The mind can't even imagine what God wants to do with the seeds of faith that He wants to see in our lives.

“‘Now I know that you fear God. You have not refused me your own beloved son’” (Gen. 22:12b).

You didn't just give me a piece of your heart, you gave me your whole heart; not just your country, the place where you lived, but your own beloved son so close to your heart.

God asks us for the things that are very close to our hearts. If ever you were to say in your life, I couldn't give that to God. That's something I couldn't do; I couldn't give Him that thing. If ever He asked me for that thing, I couldn't manage to give it.

You can be sure that will be the very thing God will ask of you, because He wants everything. He's not satisfied with little pieces.

He wants the whole of our hearts, the whole of our life, lock, stock, and barrel. “The sacrifice is to be a holocaust” (J. Escrivá, The Way, Point 186).

We're called to follow Christ to Calvary, to be there with Him on the Cross, because the great fruits depend on that.

“Then looking up, Abraham saw a ram caught by its horns in a bush. Abraham took the ram and offered it as a burnt offering in place of his son” (Gen. 22:13).

Interestingly, Abraham didn't just say, OK, thank you very much, goodbye, we're going home. No, he also made a sacrifice.

Looking up he saw a ram and he took it. He thought out of the box. Now that I'm here, let me offer something in thanksgiving to God, for this great gift that He's given to me—the gift of faith, but also the gift of my son.

What joy there must have been in Abraham's heart, what relief!

But he didn't just walk away from the situation. He makes a sacrifice in prayer to God, in recognition. He “took the ram and offered it as a burnt offering in place of his son.”

God must have been very happy with that sacrifice. Abraham wasn't angry with all that God had put him through. He was grateful. He saw how the plans of God yield their abundant fruit.

“Abraham called this place ‘Yahweh provides’, and hence the saying today: ‘on the mountain, Yahweh provides’” (Gen. 22:14).

But it's not over yet. “The angel of Yahweh called Abraham a second time from heaven.” He calls him again, speaks to him in all sorts of beautiful ways.

“He says, ‘I swear by my own self, Yahweh declares, that because you have done this, because you have not refused me your own beloved son…’” (Gen. 22:15-16).

God begins to talk in a very solemn manner. There aren't any other places in Scripture where God speaks like this, with such seriousness, profound joy. ‘I swear by own myself.’ Wow, pretty strong stuff.

‘Yahweh declares, because you have done this,’ then he emphasizes the point by repeating it: ‘because you have not refused me your own beloved son.’

There is nobody that appreciates the sacrifice as much as God does. It makes him so happy, so fulfilled, so joyful, so peaceful, that somebody has loved God and respected Him so much as to fulfill His commands in such a generous way.

God loves the heart of Abraham. No wonder he's called “our father in faith.”

And because of this, God will refuse him nothing.

Likewise, when we are generous with God, when we put our faith into practice in concrete ways, in deeds, not just in words, there is nothing that God will refuse us.

“‘I will shower blessings on you and make your descendants as numerous as the stars of heaven and the grains of sand on the seashore.’”

Next time you're on a seashore, just have another look at those grains of sand, the graphic examples that God uses to express what He wants to say.

“Your descendants will gain possession of the gates of their enemies” (Gen. 22:17). Power. Dominion. There is nothing that God will refuse him.

Likewise, as we try to lead lives with faith, God wants to bring fruits that will last for the whole of eternity, things that when we go to enjoy the wedding feast, the eternal wedding feast, we can look back with great joy and pride at all that God has achieved in us and through us, through our life of fidelity, of correspondence, of faith put into practice, so that hopefully He can use our lives as an example to all those who come after us, with a message that it’s worth the effort, so that five centuries from now, people can also celebrate our correspondence to grace.

“All nations on earth will bless themselves by your descendants because you have obeyed my command” (Gen. 22:18).

God puts great importance on obedience. Obedience in big things and obedience in little things. Obedience, because we see the hand and the will of God behind those things that are said to us by the people that God has placed around us to guide us.

“Abraham went back to his servants, and together they set out for Beersheba, and Abraham settled in Beersheba” (Gen. 22:19).

St. Josemaría liked to say that men of faith are needed today (J. Escrivá, The Way, Point 586). People of faith are needed.

We need to have greater faith in God, in the Church, in the Holy Father, in the sacraments, in all the things that God has given to us, faith in the truths of our faith that come to us in the Catechism.

We need to see concrete moments and ways where we can put this faith into practice, in our work, in our family, in our daily tasks, in our prayer, in our plan of life, in our weekly sacramental Confessions over time, when God wants to change our soul, in our fervent Holy Communions, faith in our apostolate, in our launching out into the deep, in taking on great projects that perhaps we think are too great for our capabilities.

But yes, God will provide. He will show us the way. “Lead on, kindly light.” St. John Henry Newman used to say (John Henry Newman, The Pillar of the Cloud). There’s a kindly light there in our lives that leads us along the pathway in the darkness, perhaps.

We can have great faith in the Mass every day. Faith to get over the fear of the cross. Faith in God’s infinite goodness. “He so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son” (John 3:16).

Faith in the face of our personal weaknesses. “If God is with us, who can be against us?” (Rom. 8:31).

Faith in our charity. And God will give us the grace to be able to love a little more, a little better, to put this virtue into practice in concrete ways, because “God is love” (1 John 4:8, 16).

John Paul II, when he talked of Our Lady and her faith, he called her a “woman of faith” (John Paul II, Homily at Our Lady of Lourdes, August 15, 2004).

But he also liked to say she was “a woman of faith that is put into practice”—a certain nuance there.

These days, as we accompany Our Lady moving forward through Lent towards Holy Week, Our Lady must have seen all that was coming, mindful of the words of Simeon: “your soul a sword will pierce” (Luke 2:35).

And yet she goes forward with faith and constancy towards the Cross.

Mary, may you help us to have that same faith, so that we too can work all the miracles in our life that God wants us to work.

I thank you, my God, for the good resolutions, affections, and inspirations that you have communicated to me during this meditation. I ask your help to put them into practice. My Immaculate Mother, Saint Joseph, my father and lord, my guardian angel, intercede for me.

In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

OLV