How are you blessed?
In the Book of Genesis, God promises Abram that his descendants will be as numerous as the stars in the sky and as countless as the sands on the seashore. Why? Because Abram has faith, a faith that remains a model of fidelity to relationship with God to this day. By faith, as the Letter to the Hebrews states, Abram received power to generate; his extraordinary extended family is a consequence of his right relationship with God, an intimate relationship in which God serves as Abram’s shield. Abram’s wife Sarah will bear a son, Isaac, and for generations to come the family will, as Psalm 105 suggests, give thanks to the Lord and sing his praise, their hearts seeking the Lord, because God remembers forever his covenant. Abram is the model of intimate relationship with God through faith, blessed by the fruit of that relationship within his own home and family.
We see similar examples of deep faith in God’s promise in Luke's Gospel in the persons of Simeon and Anna, to whom Mary and Joseph introduce their newborn son, when they come to present him to the Lord in the temple. As faithful servants of the Lord, when they see the long-awaited child before them, Simeon and Anna are prompted by the Spirit to give thanks to God as a sign of the redemption that will come through Jesus for all people. We too are called to be faithful to our relationship with the Lord and to recognize his action in our lives, for it is that intimate relationship that allows all other relationships to flourish, not only within our own nuclear (or not so nuclear) families, but also in our relationship with fratelli tutti, our brothers and sisters throughout the world. And it is in our loving attention to that broadest of families that we help to further the salvation of all!
We see similar examples of deep faith in God’s promise in Luke's Gospel in the persons of Simeon and Anna, to whom Mary and Joseph introduce their newborn son, when they come to present him to the Lord in the temple. As faithful servants of the Lord, when they see the long-awaited child before them, Simeon and Anna are prompted by the Spirit to give thanks to God as a sign of the redemption that will come through Jesus for all people. We too are called to be faithful to our relationship with the Lord and to recognize his action in our lives, for it is that intimate relationship that allows all other relationships to flourish, not only within our own nuclear (or not so nuclear) families, but also in our relationship with fratelli tutti, our brothers and sisters throughout the world. And it is in our loving attention to that broadest of families that we help to further the salvation of all!
This post is based on Fr. Pat’s Scripture class.
Image source: www.wordclouds.com
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