Daily Readings March 1, 2015 Daily Readings March 1, 2015

Lectionary: 26

Reading 1 GN 22:1-2, 9A, 10-13, 15-18

Abraham is the epitome of faithfulness in the Bible.  We first meet him in Genesis 12, where he is known as Abram.  God invites him to leave his father in the land of Ur and go where God leads.  Abram obeys.  In Genesis 15, Abram is now 100 years old.  He has obeyed God for approximately 30 years.  And God has not yet fulfilled His promise.  God reiterates the promise and Abram believes Him.  Therefore, God renames him and calls him, Abraham, the father of nations.  This episode, in Gen 15, in my opinion, is why Catholics are called the children of Abraham.  When we submit to the Sacraments, we believe God and He counts it to us as righteousness.  Just as He did to Abraham.  Except, He gives us the gift of the Holy Spirit.

If you notice, though, we're in Genesis 22.  And Abraham will undergo yet another test of faith. 

God put Abraham to the test.
He called to him, “Abraham!”
“Here I am!” he replied.
Then God said:
“Take your son Isaac, your only one, whom you love,
and go to the land of Moriah.
There you shall offer him up as a holocaust
on a height that I will point out to you.”

A holocaust is a sacrifice.  God is literally instructing Abraham to kill his only son.  

When they came to the place of which God had told him,
Abraham built an altar there and arranged the wood on it.
Then he reached out and took the knife to slaughter his son.

There is a lot of imagery skipped before we arrive at this point.  Take a little time and read the entire thing.

Notice the following.  A father is sacrificing his son.  The son is carrying the wood of his sacrifice.  The father says that God will provide the sacrifice. 

Then we get to the point where Abraham is literally going to kill his son.  And we need to read something else to understand what is going through this man's mind:

Hebrews 11:17  By faith Abraham, when put to the test, offered up Isaac, and he who had received the promises was ready to offer his only son, 18 of whom it was said, “Through Isaac descendants shall bear your name.”19* He reasoned that God was able to raise even from the dead, and he received Isaac back as a symbol.

Do you see the connection between Isaac, the son of Abraham and Jesus, the Son of God? 

But the LORD’s messenger called to him from heaven,
“Abraham, Abraham!”
“Here I am!” he answered.
“Do not lay your hand on the boy,” said the messenger.
“Do not do the least thing to him.
I know now how devoted you are to God,
since you did not withhold from me your own beloved son.”
As Abraham looked about,
he spied a ram caught by its horns in the thicket.
So he went and took the ram
and offered it up as a holocaust in place of his son.

So, God spared Isaac and provided a lamb (i.e. ram) to be offered in his place.  Jesus, however, would not be spared.  That is why Jesus is called, the Lamb of God.

This mount Moriah, where Isaac was going to be sacrificed was renamed during the course of history.  It is Golgotha, the same hill where Christ was crucified. 

Again the LORD’s messenger called to Abraham from heaven and said:
“I swear by myself, declares the LORD,
that because you acted as you did
in not withholding from me your beloved son,
I will bless you abundantly
and make your descendants as countless
as the stars of the sky and the sands of the seashore;
your descendants shall take possession
of the gates of their enemies,
and in your descendants all the nations of the earth
shall find blessing—
all this because you obeyed my command.”

WE are Abraham's descendants.  Because everytime we go to the Sacraments, we express our faith in God's promises.  Just like Abraham.

Responsorial Psalm PS 116:10, 15, 16-17, 18-19

R. (116:9) I will walk before the Lord, in the land of the living.

I believed, even when I said,
“I am greatly afflicted.”
Precious in the eyes of the LORD
is the death of his faithful ones.

Although we're talking about Abraham today, I always look to Job when faith in the midst of great affliction is mentioned.

R. I will walk before the Lord, in the land of the living.

O LORD, I am your servant;
I am your servant, the son of your handmaid;
you have loosed my bonds.
To you will I offer sacrifice of thanksgiving,
and I will call upon the name of the LORD.

That, is the Eucharist, in a nutshell.  Jesus Christ sacrificed Himself and we continue to offer His Sacrifice in His name.

R. I will walk before the Lord, in the land of the living.

My vows to the LORD I will pay
in the presence of all his people,
In the courts of the house of the LORD,
in your midst, O Jerusalem.

We owe God our love.  Therefore, repay Him by loving His people.

R. I will walk before the Lord, in the land of the living.

Reading 2 ROM 8:31B-34

Brothers and sisters:
If God is for us, who can be against us?
He who did not spare his own Son
but handed him over for us all,
how will he not also give us everything else along with him?

This is love.  From all eternity, God knew that His Son would be sacrificed for our sins.

Who will bring a charge against God’s chosen ones?
It is God who acquits us, who will condemn?
Christ Jesus it is who died—or, rather, was raised—
who also is at the right hand of God,
who indeed intercedes for us.

It is Jesus, who now sits at the right hand of the Father, interceding for us.

Verse Before The Gospel CF. MT 17:5

From the shining cloud the Father's voice is heard:
This is my beloved Son, listen to him.

St. Peter was there and heard it. 

2 Peter 1:17  For he received honor and glory from God the Father* when that unique declaration came to him from the majestic glory, “This is my Son, my beloved, with whom I am well pleased.”18 We* ourselves heard this voice come from heaven while we were with him on the holy mountain.

Gospel MK 9:2-10

Jesus took Peter, James, and John
and led them up a high mountain apart by themselves.

The three pillars of the Apostolic Church.  Sts. Peter, James and John.  Jesus took them up the mountain.

And he was transfigured before them,
and his clothes became dazzling white,
such as no fuller on earth could bleach them.

There, He showed them His glory.

Then Elijah appeared to them along with Moses,
and they were conversing with Jesus.

And demonstrated the New Dispensation of the communion of Saints.  It is on this Mountain that we walk with the Saints.

Then Peter said to Jesus in reply,
“Rabbi, it is good that we are here!
Let us make three tents:
one for you, one for Moses, and one for Elijah.”
He hardly knew what to say, they were so terrified.
Then a cloud came, casting a shadow over them;
from the cloud came a voice,
“This is my beloved Son. Listen to him.”
Suddenly, looking around, they no longer saw anyone
but Jesus alone with them.

This Cloud is a mystical representation of the Holy Spirit.  It is the same Cloud which overshadowed the Virgin Mary and which overshadowed the Ark of the Covenant.

As they were coming down from the mountain,
he charged them not to relate what they had seen to anyone,
except when the Son of Man had risen from the dead.
So they kept the matter to themselves,
questioning what rising from the dead meant.

And Jesus commanded them to keep this secret until after all had been accomplished and He had resurrected from the dead.