Sunday Gospel Reflection, August 7, 2022: Faith is the realization of what is hoped for...

Faith is the realization of what is hoped for…

How strong is our faith in God’s promise? 

     The Book of Wisdom reminds us that the people of Israel had deep faith in God’s promise of the salvation of the just. When they are told by Moses to offer a sacrifice of one lamb per household, placing the blood of the lamb on the lintel and eaten the roasted lamb with unleavened bread, they know they are preparing to flee their adversaries. The faith of the Israelites is the source of their glory; God can glorify them because they have faith in the Lord. They know they are, as Psalm 33 states, the people the Lord has chosen to be his own, and they trust that the Lord will deliver them from death and preserve them in spite of famine. The people may question their faith when faced with difficulties, but according to their covenant with the Lord, they are to hold to that faith nonetheless, putting their hope in the Lord. 

    Abraham similarly had a profound faith in God’s promise: by faith, Abraham obeyed, the Book of Hebrews recounts; by faith, he sojourned in the promised land, and by faith he received power to generate. This is what faith looks like in practice. Abraham did not see the fulfillment of God’s promise, but he lived in hope, for he thought that the one who made the promise was trustworthy. Abraham even goes so far as to offer up Isaac when put to the test, because he had received the promise that his descendants would be as numerous as the stars in the sky. 

    We do not see eternal life in this life, but we live for the hope that it will come. Like Abraham, like the Israelites, we are aliens in this land, while our identity remains in the Lord. Jesus reiterates God’s promise in Luke’s Gospel: your Father is pleased to give you the kingdom. Like the servants who remain vigilant while they await their master’s return, we must be ready to answer the door when he knocks. We are true servants if we trust the master and allow the master to entrust us with much, with the kingdom, no less. Our job is to know the master’s will and follow through on it, participating in God’s plan and keeping our eye on the inexhaustible treasure in heaven that awaits us, confident in that treasure that is God’s promise to all who hope in faith. 

This post is based on Fr. Pat’s Scripture Class. 
Image source: www.wordclouds.com

Sunday Gospel Reflection, August 11, 2019: Faith is the realization of what is hoped for...

Faith is the realization of what is hoped for…

What is your hope for the future?

  How often we look to our history in order better to understand our future!  When the author of the Book of Wisdom needs to remind his people, brought low under Roman occupation, that they must have faith for the future, he invokes the story of the Hebrew people’s enslavement in Egypt, and the promise God made on the night of the Passover, that, with sure knowledge of the oaths in which they put their faith, they might have courage.  God redeemed his people, giving them the opportunity to escape, so long as they put their faith in his promises.  Similarly, the people for whom the Book of Wisdom is written must also trust, have faith, remember God’s care for them in the past.  Psalm 33 reminds us that Blessed are the people the Lord has chosen to be his own.  The oppressed can hope for his kindness, with faith in the promise, in awe of God’s perfect love for them.

  The Book of Hebrews offers another model for faith:  the patriarch Abraham, who obeyed when he was called to go out to a place that he was to receive as his inheritance.  Accepting to live as a nomad, Abraham sojourned in the promised land though he could appreciate it only from afar.  Moreover, by faith Abraham received power to generate, producing Isaac.  Indeed, Abraham’s faith was so great that, even when ordered by God to kill his son, Abraham trusted in God’s plan and offered up Isaac, only to receive Isaac back as a symbol of the promise to be fulfilled.  There is no greater model for faith in the Old Testament than Abraham.

  In Luke’s Gospel, Jesus promises his disciples that the Father is pleased to give you the kingdom.  But we can’t take possession of the kingdom if we are holding on to the tangible things of this earth; Jesus promises an inexhaustible treasure in heaven if only we let go of our belongings and remain vigilant. Like the Hebrew people so many times before us, we must have faith, focusing on what we cannot see, letting go of our burdensome connections to the world, ready to open immediately when the Lord comes and knocks, that we too might achieve a better homeland, a heavenly one.  Indeed, if we have faith in Jesus, we are already holding the kingdom – we must not set it down and walk away, but rather let it be the focus of our existence through which all else finds meaning, trusting, like Abraham, in God’s promise, and open to all it can mean in our lives.

This post is based on Fr. Pat’s Scripture class.

Image source:  www.wordclouds.com