What does it mean to believe? Abraham is “our father in faith,” and we read his story at the Easter Vigil, where it’s as a key reading, and in odd years from Monday of the 12^th week of the year to Thursday of the 13^th week of the year.

God invites us through the gift of faith to a life far beyond what we have now. “The Lord said to Abram: ‘Go forth from the land of your kinsfolk and from your father’s house to a land I will show you.’” It’s not a land we discover, but a land God gives. We have to leave a land we know and enter a land unknown.

Faith is a challenge as well as a gift. Genesis 22,1-19 begins: “God put Abraham to the test.” There no greater test for Abraham than to take his son, Isaac, “your only one, whom you love,” and go up a high mountain and “offer him up as a burnt offering.”

Intimations of the Passion of Jesus are here: “the high mountain… the only son, whom you love.” Approaching the mountain, Abraham takes “the wood for the burnt offering and laid it on his son Isaac’s shoulders.” “God will provide the sheep.” Abraham tells Isaac. He builds an altar and arranges the wood. “Next he ties up his son Isaac, and put him on top of the wood on the altar.” All suggesting the Passion of Jesus.

But when Abraham takes his knife, God stops him. “I know how devoted you are. You did not withhold from me your beloved son.” And God blesses him. “I will bless you abundantly and make your descendants as the stars of the sky and the sands of the sea.”

The Letter to the Hebrews says, “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 of whom it was said, ‘Through Isaac descendants shall bear your name.’ He reasoned that God was able to raise even from the dead and he received Isaac back as a symbol.” (Hebrews 11,18-19)

“He reasoned that God was able to raise even from the dead.” He’s not a dumb executioner, immune to what he was to do, but “he reasoned,” he believed deep within that God was a God of life. Like Jesus, Abraham faced an absurd death and yet he believed in a God of love and promise. Like Jesus, his answer was “Not my will, but yours be done.”

The commentator in the New American Bible describes Abraham’s test. “… after the successful completion of the test, he has only to buy a burial site for Sarah and find a wife for Isaac. The story is widely recognized as a literary masterpiece, depicting in a few lines God as the absolute Lord, inscrutable yet ultimately gracious, and Abraham, acting in moral grandeur as the great ancestor of Israel. Abraham speaks simply, with none of the wordy evasions of chapters 12 and 21.  The style is laconic; motivations and thoughts are not explained, and the reader cannot but wonder at the scene.”

We ask for Abraham’s faith.

Abraham’s sacrifice is portrayed frequently in the Christian catacombs of Rome where believers also faced the mystery of death. (above)

A medieval book for artists, “Speculum humanae salvationis,” the prime resource medieval artists used for comparing New Testament stories with the Old Testament, pairs the story of Abraham bringing Isaac to be sacrificed with the story of Jesus carrying his cross to Calvary, as shown in the example below:

I notice in the Old Testament stories of Tobit and Abraham we’ve been reading lately there’s always a “meanwhile” going on. Tobit is struck with blindness, leaving him fumbling in the dark. “Meanwhile” his son Tobiah is being blessed with a new bride and the money needed back home, besides a cure for his father’s blindness.

 Abraham sends out emissaries to arrange for a burial place for his wife Sarah and to get a wife for his son Isaac. “Meanwhile” he has to wait, not knowing how it will turn out or when. It’s out of his control.

“Meanwhile” God at work and that work, far beyond what we immediately see, bless us too.

Maybe we should think of “meanwhile” more? We belong to the Me generation, easily stuck on ourselves and what’s happening to us so that we fail to see beyond. We can even limit God to One concerned for us, but God is greater than that. Something bigger than ourselves is taking place and we will share in its good. 

“Meanwhile” is God’s time. 

In Rembrandt’s drawing above, Tobit is hitting up against a brick wall. He’s blind in more ways than one. He can’t see anything else.

JULY 3 Mon St Thomas, Apostle Eph 2:19-22/Jn 20:24-29 

4 Tue Weekday [USA: Independence Day] Gn 19:15-29/Mt 8:23-27 

5 Wed [St Anthony Zaccaria, St Elizabeth of Portugal] Gn 21:5, 8-20a/Mt 8:28-34 

6 Thu Weekday [St Maria Goretti] Gn 22:1b-19/Mt 9:1-8 

7 Fri Weekday Gn 23:1-4, 19; 24:1-8, 62-67/Mt 9:9-13

8 Sat Weekday[BVM] Gn 27:1-5, 15-29/Mt 9:14-17 

9 14th SUNDAY Zec 9:9-10/Rom 8:9, 11-13/Mt 11:25-30

We’re celebrating July 4th in the USA this week, our Independence Day. Parades, fireworks, speeches, hot dogs. What else? How about the meaning of it all?

There are special readings suggested by the church, but I wonder if there are plenty of suggestions in the readings we have this week from the Old and New Testaments.Our first readings this week about Abraham and Lot speak of the separation of peoples, nations. There are stories of hospitality that speak of the benefit newcomers bring to a nation. There are readings–Hagar and Sarah– that speak of the injustices brought about by slavery. The Old Testament readings offer the story of an imperfect world that God still loves and guides to the Kingdom to come. The feast of St. Thomas the Apostle is a story of doubt and cynicism. Plenty of that around these days.

In Matthew’s gospel Jesus teaches in chapters  5-7; he heals and works wonders in chapters 8-9, which we’re reading this week. He not only heals a leper (Mt 8: 1-4), a paralyzed man (Mt 8:5-16) and others, but he calms the sea (Mt 8: 23-27)and has power over the animal world. (Mt 8: 27-34) He also calls others– Matthew the tax collector– to share in his  mission. (Mt 9:23-27)

We need his teaching and healing today. Plenty to pray for.

Pierre Toussaint, who came to the United States as a slave from Haiti, died 150 years ago in New York City. He’s been declared Venerable by the Catholic Church, a man admired for his dedication to the poor and his strong religious faith. See video above.

We may think slavery is a thing of the past in most of the world now, but a recent UN report reminds us it’s more than alive today, everywhere in the world.

Over 50 million people live in modern forms of slavery today and the number is growing. 28 million live in forced labor, 22 million in forced marriages; a large number  are women and children. Enslavment takes place in every country of the world. Many are sexual exploitated.

Pierre Toussaint is a voice for them. Like Jesus, who “took on the form of a slave” Toussaint became a sign of God’s grace that raises the human condition to glory.

We remember him today.

Here are some references to slavery together, courtesy of Annmarie O’Connor, who represents the Passionists at the United Nations:

https://www.un.org/en/delegate/50-million-people-modern-slavery-un-report

It includes a link to the full International Labor Organization (ILO) Report:

Click to access wcms_854733.pdf

And the UN has Special Rapporteurs – Independent Experts who monitor various issues.  Here is information (and you can read his full report) from the Special Rapporteur on Contemporary Forms of Slavery

https://www.ohchr.org/en/special-procedures/sr-slavery

And regarding alarming US discussions about child labor restrictions:

“Child Labor Laws under attack in states across the country: Amid increasing child labor violations, lawmakers must act to strengthen standards”

Child labor laws are under attack in states across the country: Amid increasing child labor violations, lawmakers must act to strengthen standards

Finally, the Passionists are connected to Haiti today through Fr. Rich Frechette CP who has long labored among the poor in that country. Native born Haitians are now also members of our community.

Bishop Norbert Dorsey wrote this extensive appreciation of Pierre Toussaint and his spirituality. https://vhoagland.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/01/pierre-toussaint.jpg

For the next two weeks at Mass we’re reading selections from the Book of Genesis we could call its Jewish phase (Genesis 11-50). The first 10 chapters of Genesis described the origins of the world and the beginnings of the human race. Then, the various peoples multiply and go out to parts of the earth God assigns them. 

Chapter 11 begins with the call of Abraham. A Jewish tradition suggests that the peoples of the earth became so unmanageable that God decided to concentrate on one nation, the Jews, with the hope that they will bring all the other peoples together. 

God calls Abraham and his family to take possession of the land God will show them, but that won’t be easy. It’s going to be a mysterious, difficult and messy journey. Abraham and his wife Sarah are old and childless. How can two old people take possession of a land without anyone to follow you?

They have to trust in God and not themselves. We can see that trust in the story of Abraham and his nephew Lot. They can’t all go on together, too much conflict between them, so Abraham tells Lot to pick out the land he wants. Abraham will take whatever God wants him to have.

He trusts in God. Of course, the supreme act of trust is when Abraham is told to sacrifice his son, his only son after many years.

Our lectionary readings for the next few weeks relate some key events from the story of Abraham and Sarah and their descendants. Jews recognize this as their history and Christians see it as theirs too. 

It’s a messy journey. Our lectionary omits many dis-edifying parts and details from the accounts of the patriarchs and their wives and their times, which the Bible doesn’t hesitate to recall.  That might be a weakness in reading the scriptures from the lectionary and not the bible itself.

The bible is not a story of human achievement and human courage and human trust. It’s the story of God’s grace moving humanity on its journey, where human weakness knows the power and love of God. 

From the beginning, God creates the heavens and the earth and all that is in them.

On June 22, we celebrate two men of conscience, Thomas More and John Fisher.  More was born in London in 1478. He studied law at Oxford, received his doctorate and in 1504 became a member of the English Parliament. He married Jane Holt in 1505 and had four children, three girls and one boy– Margaret, Cecilia, Elizabeth and John.

The More household was a model of spiritual and intellectual life. More saw that his daughters were well educated, something unusual in those days, and led his family in prayer, study of scripture and discussion on the important matters of the day.  He welcomed into his home distinguished scholars like Erasmus and John Fisher, but also poorer neighbors whom he treated warmly and respectfully. His wife died, and More married a widow, Alice Middleton, in 1511. 

When Henry VIII became king he sought out More as a friend and advisor, making him Lord Chancellor in  1529. More functioned wisely and justly in that office. His friend Erasmus wrote: “In serious matters no one is more prized, while if the king wishes to relax no man is more cheerful…Happy the nations where kings appoint such officials.”

Shortly after More took office, Henry VIII began proceedings to divorce Catherine of Aragon. Because he could not agree with the king, More kept silent and eventually, in 1532, resigned from office. 

Without income and in disfavor, he spent the next few years writing and reflecting, living quietly with his family, “being merry together” he said. But in 1534 he was asked, with John Fisher, to take an oath to the king that he could not accept. He refused, and after 15 months in prison, he was beheaded on July 6, 1545, “the king’s good servant, but God’s first.” 

He is the patron of lawyers and politicians.

In prison More wrote to his daughter, “ I trust only in God’s merciful goodness. His grace has strengthened me till now and made me content to lose goods, land and life as well, rather than swear against my conscience.  I will not mistrust him, Meg, though I shall feel myself weakening and being overcome with fear. I shall remember how St. Peter at a blast of wind began to sink because of his lack of faith, and I shall do as he did: call upon Christ and pray for his help. And then I trust he shall place his holy hand me and in the stormy seas hold me up from drowning. “

St. Thomas More’s life was portrayed in a celebrated movie, “Man for All Seasons.”

“Lord, give us faith like Thomas More to do what is right and trust in you.”