06 July. Thursday, Week 13
Saint Maria Goretti, virgin and martyr; Saint Monnine, virgin
1st Reading: Genesis 22:1-19
If God directs him, Abraham is prepared to offer Isaac as a sacrifice
After these things God tested Abraham. He said to him, “Abraham!” And he said, “Here I am.” He said, “Take your son, your only son Isaac, whom you love, and go to the land of Moriah, and offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains that I shall show you.” So Abraham rose early in the morning, saddled his donkey, and took two of his young men with him, and his son Isaac; he cut the wood for the burnt offering, and set out and went to the place in the distance that God had shown him. On the third day Abraham looked up and saw the place far away. Then Abraham said to his young men, “Stay here with the donkey; the boy and I will go over there; we will worship, and then we will come back to you.” Abraham took the wood of the burnt offering and laid it on his son Isaac, and he himself carried the fire and the knife. So the two of them walked on together. Isaac said to his father Abraham, “Father!” And he said, “Here I am, my son.” He said, “The fire and the wood are here, but where is the lamb for a burnt offering?” Abraham said, “God himself will provide the lamb for a burnt offering, my son.” So the two of them walked on together.
When they came to the place that God had shown him, Abraham built an altar there and laid the wood in order. He bound his son Isaac, and laid him on the altar, on top of the wood. Then Abraham reached out his hand and took the knife to kill his son. But the angel of the Lord called to him from heaven, and said, “Abraham, Abraham!” And he said, “Here I am.” He said, “Do not lay your hand on the boy or do anything to him; for now I know that you fear God, since you have not withheld your son, your only son, from me.” And Abraham looked up and saw a ram, caught in a thicket by its horns. Abraham went and took the ram and offered it up as a burnt offering instead of his son. So Abraham called that place “The Lord will provide” as it is said to this day, “On the mount of the Lord it shall be provided.”
The angel of the Lord called to Abraham a second time from heaven, and said, “By myself I have sworn, says the Lord: Because you have done this, and have not withheld your son, your only son, I will indeed bless you, and I will make your offspring as numerous as the stars of heaven and as the sand that is on the seashore. And your offspring shall possess the gate of their enemies, and by your offspring shall all the nations of the earth gain blessing for themselves, because you have obeyed my voice.” So Abraham returned to his young men, and they arose and went together to Beer-sheba; and Abraham lived at Beer-sheba.
Gospel: Matthew 9:1-8
The cure of a paralysed man proves Jesus’ power to forgive sin
And after getting into a boat he crossed the sea and came to his own town. And just then some people were carrying a paralyzed man lying on a bed. When Jesus saw their faith, he said to the paralytic, “Take heart, son; your sins are forgiven.” Then some of the scribes said to themselves, “This man is blaspheming.” But Jesus, perceiving their thoughts, said, “Why do you think evil in your hearts? For which is easier, to say, ‘Your sins are forgiven,’ or to say, ‘Stand up and walk’? But so that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins”, he then said to the paralytic, “Stand up, take your bed and go to your home.” And he stood up and went to his home. When the crowds saw it, they were filled with awe, and they glorified God, who had given such authority to human beings.
Misguided Orthodoxy
The contrast between the Abraham story and the Pharisees in today’s Gospel is striking. Abraham is misguided in thinking that God wanted human sacrifice. The Pharisees are orthodox in their theology that only God can forgive sin but are misguided in limiting God’s power. It is clear that even good intentions (on Abraham’s part) and formally correct ideas (on the Pharisees’ part) cannot go unchallenged; yet in such cases correction and warnings are most difficult to accept. One of the most difficult of tasks is to help good people see that they have room for improvement, or to show them a dark side of their character to which they are blind. Like the dark side of the moon which is never seen from earth, a good person can be oblivious of her or his own failings.
Abraham made elaborate preparations for the sacrifice of his firstborn son, Isaac, because like the other Canaanites he wanted to give to God what he thought was required of him. The heroic scale of the sacrifice appear in the opening line, “Take your son, Isaac, your only one, the one you love.” Each syllable of the command wrenches the fibres of his heart. He is to go to the land of Moriah; the place was later identified with the site of the Jerusalem temple. Perhaps heroic impulses are permitted by God so that we can discover a vision of something else. When he got that new vision of mercy and compassion, Abraham at once changed his plans and obeyed the real will of God.
Do we have a mind open to correction, willing to learn that our traditional views about religious ritual need to change, radically? Without having to abandon the Mass as our form of ritual sacrifice, as in Abraham’s case, we are challenged to celebrate it in such a way that all our people can feel a part of what is happening around the altar.
Friends in our time of need
What a fine expression of friendship is shown by the four men in today’s gospel! They were determined to get their paralysed friend to Jesus, by hook or by crook, as we say in Ireland. When the crowds around Jesus were too big to get their friend to Jesus through the conventional route of the front door of the house, they got up onto the roof of the house and created an opening to lower their friend in front of Jesus.
True friendship is the kind that opens up people to the presence of the Lord. The friends of the paralysed man certainly did that. It was a combination of their goodwill and their faith that carried this man to Jesus. The energy behind their unorthodox actions was their faith in Jesus and their love for their friend. When their friend was lowered down in front of Jesus, it was the faith of his friends that Jesus recognized. The gospel reading says, “seeing their faith, Jesus said to the man.” Paul in his letter to the Galatians speaks about faith working through love. These four friends model for us the faith in Jesus that finds expression in our love for others. Today we pray for an increase of such faith in our lives. {MH}