FAITH SEES AND FOLLOWS GOD


MONDAY, TWELFTH OF WEEK IN ORDINARY TIME

Gen 12:1-9; Ps 33:12-13,18-20,22; Mt 7:1-5

Vocation to the Light

The Church puts before us the call of Abram to the light of faith. The first reading of yesterday was about the blessing of Abram by Melchizedek, the priest of God Most High. The passage today shows why Melchizedek came to meet Abram and why he blessed him. God called Abram away from his people and family, and he responded in faith and followed Yahweh. The scripture did not inform us of any prior relationship existing between Yahweh and Abram or any of his relatives, which formed a background for his answering the vocation of God. “The Lord said to Abram, ‘Leave your country, your family, and your father’s house, for the land I will show you. I will make you a great nation; I will bless you and make your name so famous that it will be used as a blessing.” The invitation was not just a migration from one place to another, but most importantly, an invitation from the darkness of ignorance of God and faithlessness to the light of faith in God and the knowledge of the Creator of all things. Before Abram, there was no recorded knowledge of God among the people; what existed were individual encounters and relationships with God. His vocation was a historical commencement of a formal relationship with Yahweh.

The land of promise was a token to attract Abraham’s interest and devotion, but what God promised was far beyond the land of Canaan. The higher and more spiritual blessings are evident in these words: “I will bless those who bless you: I will curse those who slight you. All the tribes of the earth shall bless themselves by you.” Abram is to be a source of blessing for all peoples and tribes. For this to happen, a permanent and lasting relationship between God and Abram is needed. The condition for this to happen is the reception of the gift of faith. The following lines confirm that Abram did receive a gift of faith, a gift of faith because to believe in God firmly is not within the facility of our fallen nature; hence, God installs it in us to relate well with us. “So Abram went as the Lord told him, and Lot went with him. Abraham was seventy-five years old when he left Haran. Abram took his wife Sarai, his nephew Lot, all the possessions they had amassed, and the people they had acquired in Haran. They set off for the land of Canaan, and arrived there.” The movement of Abram was more spiritual than physical. History reveals that such a migration was common among his people at that time. The uniqueness of Abram’s movement lies in the faith and relationship he established with God, which made his movement from the darkness of unbelief to the light of faith in God.

The Psalmist proclaimed Abraham and all who would follow him in a similar movement of faith blessed. “They are happy, whose God is the Lord, the people he has chosen as his own.” God intends this blessing for everyone. But few agree to live their idols to come to the knowledge of Yahweh. All who receive a similar gift of faith as Abram are related to Abram as people of faith; they are the ones who can understand the meaning of the life of man on earth. We see clearer when God endows us with the gift of faith. Those without faith in God do not understand spiritual matters; they are prone to wrong judgement. Thus, our Lord’s admonishment in the Gospel not to judge others is another way of asking us to always live by the light of faith. “Jesus said to his disciples: ‘Do not judge, and you will not be judged; because the judgements you give are the judgements you will get, and the amount you measure out is the amount you will be given.’” Faith enables us to see things in the light of God, the centre of our lives and creation. Just like Abram, we can witness and relate to the reality of the risen Lord in the Eucharist and his abiding presence with us only through the gift of faith in his word. Thus, the profession of faith in Jesus Christ makes us members of his body, the Church. Faith relates us to his Eucharistic presence and makes our lives Eucharistic. The Christian faith is a blessing God gave us to live like Abram.

Let us pray: Grant, O Lord, that we may always revere and love your holy name, for you never deprive of your guidance those you set firm on the foundation of your love. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, God, for ever and ever.

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