"Your descendants... will find blessing(s) all because you obeyed my command." Genesis 22:19
Sometimes it seems like a little stretch to relate the two Mass readings of the day. I was surprised at how quickly I saw a relationship between today's First Reading and the Gospel. In the selection from Genesis about Abraham's trek to respond to God's request to present his only son Isaac as a burnt offering. After three day's journey, Abraham got sight of the place God had chosen for this heart-wrenching sacrifice. Along the way Isaac, toting wood for the sacrifice on his back, had questioned is father. (I suspect probably more than once.) "Father, here are the fire and the wood, but where is the sheep for the burnt offering?" With implicit trust that God wants only good for his people, Abraham explains: "God himself will provide the sheep for the burnt offering." When the time came, Abraham placed Isaac on the wood and reached for this knife. Then, a miracle! Ever attention to the voice of God, Abraham and Isaac hear the Lord's messenger call out: "Do not lay your hand on the boy; do not do the least thing to him." With that (the drama builds) they spot the ram for sacrifice in the wings! Or in this case, In a horny thicket. I'll leave you in suspense and move on to our Gospel story. You will have to read for yourself the rest of the Abraham and Isaac story and about God's promise in Genesis 22. I'll just tell you this: God said: Your descendants will find blessings all because you obeyed my command. In our Gospel story, Jesus comes into his hometown (Nazareth) where the people brought to him a paralytic lying on a stretcher. (Remember, Isaac lying on the pile of wood?) Jesus approached, saw his friends' faith, and said: "Courage, child, your sins are forgiven." Note the comparison: Abraham saw a ram; Jesus is called the Lamb of God. Isaac was released from atop the altar of sacrifice. This man who more than newly healed of paralysis; he is released from his sins. Jesus told him: "Pick up your stretcher, and go home. He rose and went." I imagine, too, that Isaac scrambled down from that altar, gave that ram a big hug, and happily ran ahead of Abraham to get home so he could share what had happened that day.
Can you identify with the feelings of Abraham, Isaac and the man healed of his paralysis?
I trust this is the same feeling you experience when a friend says: "That's OK; I forgive you." And, that feeling of "all's right with the world" when you've received the Sacrament of Reconciliation. God says to us: "Pick up your stretcher, and go home." Amen!
Today's Reflection is by:
S. Roberta Bailey
Did you know...
Sister Roberta Bailey, OSB, is currently the prioress (president) of the Benedictine Sisters of Florida in Saint Leo. Sister serves on the diocesan Commission for Religious. She is the former principal of St. Anthony Catholic School in San Antonio, Florida, and Saint John Paul II Catholic School in Lecanto, Florida. Sister Roberta is celebrating her 61st year in religious life.
