These reflections are a result of more than 40 years of ministry as a Roman Catholic priest. Most of these years I spent in the Diocese of Charlotte which covers Western North Carolina. Now I am retired, and live in Medellín, Colombia where I continue to serve as a priest in the Archdiocese of Medellín.
Then Abraham said to God,
“Let but Ishmael live on by your favor!”
God replied: “Nevertheless, your wife Sarah is to bear you a son,
and you shall call him Isaac.
I will maintain my covenant with him as an everlasting pact,
to be his God and the God of his descendants after him.
As for Ishmael, I am heeding you: I hereby bless him.
I will make him fertile and will multiply him exceedingly.
He shall become the father of twelve chieftains,
and I will make of him a great nation.
(Gen 17:1,9-10,15-22)
Isaac and Ishmael, both blessed by God—if only all of us could know that we are blessed by God.
The child grew and became strong in spirit,
and he was in the desert until the day
of his manifestation to Israel. (Lk 1:57-66,80)
The Lucan Gospel begins with two annunciation stories and two birth stories. Today we celebrate the Summer Christmas--the Birth of Saint John the Baptist.
Abram put his faith in the LORD,
who credited it to him as an act of righteousness. (Gen 15:1-12,17-18)
The Covenant with Abraham contained the promise of land and descendants.
Do to others whatever you would have them do to you.
This is the Law and the Prophets. (Mt 7:6,12-14)
I remember the 3rd grade class at Sacred Heart School in Salisbury acting out the story of the writing of the gospels. One kid asked, “What did Jesus say? “Do unto others then they will do unto you?” Another kid answered, “No, Jesus said, “Do unto others before they do unto you.” But still a third kid said, “No, Jesus said, “Do to others whatever you would have them do to you.” I’m not sure exactly how the gospel writers remembered everything that Jesus said and did . . . but I’m sure glad they got it right!
The Lord said to Abram: Go forth from your land, your relatives, and from your father’s house to a land that I will show you. I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you; I will make your name great, so that you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you and curse those who curse you. All the families of the earth will find blessing in you. (Gen 12:1-9)
Today we begin reading the great patriarchal history from the Book of Genesis with the Call of Abraham. For good reason Christians, Jews & Moslems, we call Abraham our “Father in Faith.” Today is also the feast of Saint Aloysius Gonzaga, a young Jesuit, who gave his life ministering to the victims of an epidemic.
