There is not a parent I know of who would not be devastated if they
lost a child prior to dying themselves.
When our son was diagnosed with stomach cancer, it was touch and go,
especially in those first few months due to the aggressive nature of the disease. My wife, Candi, and I were not only in daily
telephone contact but we took the hour-and-half drive several times to be with
him, especially the day of his surgery and while he was in the hospital
afterwards. We wanted to make sure our
only son was okay. Now in his fifth year
of recovery, he is doing well and has had no more incidents leading to a
reoccurrence.
The reading from Genesis almost seems counterintuitive to a loving
relationship between parent and child. Abraham
spent an inordinate amount of time negotiating for the salvation of Sodom and
Gomorrah. Not once do we hear Abraham taking God to task or questioning why he
is being asked to kill His own beloved son.
Remember, Isaac is the progeny who will carry on with spreading the
family of Abraham until the end of humanity.
St. Mark’s Gospel Transfiguration story seems almost contradictory in
that it focuses on God the Father calling Jesus His beloved Son and asking the
Apostles to listen to Him. Jesus is
transformed with the dazzling light of God’s glory to reveal His divinity so
there is no doubt He is the expected Messiah.
In addition, Moses and Elijah are symbols of the law and prophets
indicating that Jesus is the fulfillment of both in scripture about the coming
of a savior. So why is there a
difference? Or is there one?
In Abraham’s time, people believed they needed to please their gods
through sacrifice of food, animals, gifts, etc.
The ultimate gift was sacrificing children. The true God was against human
sacrifices. However, though Abraham had
received promises from God, the 117-year-old follower was still skeptical. How do you question a god and live, because
most were thought to be fickle by nature.
That’s why Abraham did not question.
What we should focus on in addition to the strength of Abraham’s great
faith, is God’s unconditional love for him and us. God prevented Isaac’s possible death and
upheld the promises He made to Abraham.
In the same way, God in the Gospel also kept His promises to forgive our
sins and allow us to enter into heaven at our death. His beloved Son, Jesus,
our Lord and Savior, in obedience to His Father’s will, suffered and died on
the cross for our sins and was risen from the dead to open the gates of heaven
for all faithful followers to be welcomed.
Strength of Faith allows us to fulfill our Baptismal and Lenten
promises of putting others before ourselves. It is a time to conquer
selfishness and sin in our lives. Lent
helps us to look deeper into our commitment to the Lord, to take the steps we
need to be bound to God’s plan. As Saint
Paul writes in his letter to the Romans: “If God is for us, who can be against
us”? It is our mantra, so to speak, in
that our faith allows us to trust that God is alongside us in whatever we do
when we are obedient to His will.
He proves it in our reading from Genesis and in St. Mark’s Gospel. He is a God who provides us with a plan that
will fulfill our life here on earth and in our hereafter life. As His children there will be times when we
fall into a pothole on our journey and it may be complicated to extricate
ourselves. But, if we concentrate on His
love, mercy and forgiveness, we know that the path, no matter how difficult,
will always offer a helping hand to get to journey’s end. Abraham and the Apostles both faced tough
times but never forgot that God is there for them. There is no reason that we should doubt His
unconditional love; He is our Father.
Reading 1: Genesis 22: 1-2, 9a, 10-13, 15-18
Reading 2: Romans 8: 31b-34
Gospel: Mark 9: 2-10
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