Memorial of Saint Aloysius Gonzaga, Religious

Lectionary: 371

The LORD said to Abram:
“Go forth from the land of your kinsfolk
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 communities of the earth
shall find blessing in you.”

 

As we invoke the Patriarch Abraham, our father in faith, we do well to turn to Genesis 17. There we learn of the physical relationship between the LORD and Abraham:

This is the covenant between me and you and your descendants after you that you must keep: every male among you shall be circumcised. Circumcise the flesh of your foreskin. That will be the sign of the covenant between me and you. Throughout the ages, every male among you, when he is eight days old, shall be circumcised.

Although the circumcision of every Jewish male might be taken for granted, Saint Luke made sure that we knew that Jesus was also circumcised.

When eight days were completed for his circumcision, he was named Jesus, the name given him by the angel before he was conceived in the womb.

It was necessary that the Messiah, born under the law, comply in every way to God’s command and the everlasting covenant, as Saint Paul wrote to the Galatians: 

But when the fullness of time had come, God sent his Son, born of a woman, born under the law, to ransom those under the law, so that we might receive adoption.

Given the memory of the Nazi extermination of Jews and the current resurgence of anti-Semitism in the United States, Christians and Catholics should reflect upon Jesus as a descendant of Abraham, a Jew. 

The revelation of Jesus as God -- coequal to and consubstantial with the Father -- does not cancel his being a human being, a man, and a Jew. The Church has always denounced any effort to wash out the human nature of our Redeemer. Doing so would not only emasculate the man, it would sever our historical ties to his saving event. 

Our sacraments fix us firmly in his human nature just as surely as Baptism and Eucharist grafted gentiles into the family of Abraham.

…you, a wild olive shoot, were grafted in their place and have come to share in the rich root of the olive tree, do not boast against the branches. If you do boast, consider that you do not support the root; the root supports you. Indeed you will say, “Branches were broken off so that I might be grafted in.” That is so. They were broken off because of unbelief, but you are there because of faith. So do not become haughty but stand in awe. For if God did not spare the natural branches, he will not spare you either.

Because Jesus is a Jew, Christians and Catholics can have no quarrel with the seed of Abraham.

 

Today when "spiritual-not-religious" would abolish the memory of Jesus even as it descends into conspirituality and QAnon, Catholics must contemplate our historical debt to Abraham and his descendants. Today's first reading recalls that prehistoric moment when the LORD called Abraham to" Go forth from the land of your kinsfolk and from your father’s house to a land that I will show you."

We too are setting out for the deep in the spirit of Saint Pope John Paul II. We must imagine and live in a post-racist world, free of anti-semitism, assured that the friend of Abraham goes with us. 

For your further reflection, I found a thought-provoking essay about Saint Paul's teaching: "Jew first and then gentile;" on Gateway Center for Israel website.