When Abram prostrated himself, God spoke to him:
“My covenant with you is this: you are to become the father of a host of nations.
No longer shall you be called Abram;
your name shall be Abraham....
The New Testament writers refer to Abraham 74 times in their twenty-seven books and letters; and the early Church understood that our religion reflects the Faith of the first patriarch rather than the Law of Moses. While Jesus insisted that he had not come to abolish the law but to fulfill it, the Church understood that a scrupulous adherence to the demands and taboos of laws would satisfy neither the demands of faith nor the needs of the human heart. We must believe in God if we would be saved; playing by the rules satisfies no one.
Faith is always a matter of the heart; seeking salvation through appearances can lead only to moral and social disintegration. If that vain ambition is characteristic of a culture or nation, those people face extinction. That is not a matter of divine revenge against foolishness; rather, it is the inevitable consequence of human life without purpose or meaning.
In her book, Body and Identity, Angela Franks shows how western philosophy and culture lost its sense of purpose when it dismissed the ontological foundation of life and reality. If knowledge includes only what can be seen, touched, heard, or smelled; measured, weighed, and analyzed; and does not address the underlying question of why anything exists, it wanders into uncertainty and relativity. That knowledge cannot include the worth of anything. Not only does it waste time, treasure, and energy; it regards human beings as useless, disposable commodities.
Jesus' New Covenant takes us back to Abraham's faith in the LORD who personally called him out of the Ur of the Chaldeans in Mesopotamia. The patriarch found his purpose in obedience to God. His faith was blind in the sense that he did not know where God was leading him. He saw a fulfillment of God's promise when Isaac was born of his barren, aged wife.
Jesus insisted that we should believe as Abraham believed. Saint Paul (Romans 4:3 & Galatians 4:6) and Saint James reminded their readers of that Abrahamic dimension of faith. Lent and its practice of penance tell us that we can neither hide from God nor fool him. God looks into the heart. He knows who we are better than we know ourselves; He knows our destination. Despite all the glittering appearances and distracting promises of this world, we go with Him.
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I love to write. This blog helps me to meditate on the Word of God, and I hope to make some contribution to our contemplations of God's Mighty Works.
Ordinarily, I write these reflections two or three weeks in advance of their publication. I do not intend to comment on current events.
I understand many people prefer gender-neutral references to "God." I don't disagree with them but find that language impersonal, unappealing and tasteless. When I refer to "God" I think of the One whom Jesus called "Abba" and "Father", and I would not attempt to improve on Jesus' language.
You're welcome to add a thought or raise a question.