Thursday of the Thirteenth Week in Ordinary Time
Today’s first reading is a hard one for me to read and to process. Abraham, who had waited so long, to have a child, was now being asked by God – the God he loved, trusted, believed in and honored, to sacrifice that one and only child. How? And why?
I know cerebrally, that this is to show that Abraham puts nothing before God. When he is able to sacrifice even his first born, it shows that he has complete trust in God. But emotionally, in my heart, this reading is hard for me. This is his child – his son. No, God, no! If I were Abraham I would have run and hid my child away so he and I both could not be found.
And I think of Mary – she brings Jesus, her son, into this world, with the knowledge he will be sacrificed and put to death. She does not run away, she embraces the cross.
While I do not think that God will ask any of us to perform sacrifice, using our children, I do think that there is a deeper message here. It is often the people and the relationships that we value and cherish the most – that make us the most vulnerable – that will have the biggest impact on our faith and our relationship with God.
I think the lesson here for us may be two fold – do we trust in God, above all else? Do we trust God in times of happiness and of deep pain? Are we willing to give up all that we have and all that we know, to follow God? No matter how hard or impossible it may seem.
And for me, I have to ask another question – if God is not asking me to physically sacrifice my children for him, how is he asking me to make sacrifices, involving my children? I think in today’s world, the question becomes – are you willing to sacrifice your child to the lies of our world or to sacrifice a life of conformity and ease to save your child from the lies of the world? Are you ready to teach your children, by modeling through the life you lead, that they do not need selfishness, instant gratification and greed? Are you willing to make hard and sometimes unpopular choices, to raise children who know, love, honor and respect God?
- Amanda Grimm