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Faith of Abraham
By Peace | July 21, 2008
The Obedience of Faith
To obey (from Latin ob-audire, to ‘hear or listen to’) in faith is to submit freely to the word that has been heard, because its truth is guaranteed by God, who is Truth itself. Abraham is the model of such obedience offered us by Sacred Scripture. The Virgin Mary is its most perfect embodiment.
Abraham — ‘father of all who believe’
The Letter to the Hebrews, in its great eulogy of the faith of Israel’s ancestors, lays special emphasis on Abraham’s faith:”By Faith, Abraham obeyed when he was called to go out to a place which he was to receive as an inheritance; and he went out, not knowing where he was to go.” By faith, he lived as a stranger and pilgrim in the promised land. By faith, Sarah was given to conceive the son of the promise. And by faith Abraham offered his only son in sacrifice.
Abraham thus fulfills the definition of faith in Hebrews 11:1:”Faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen” : “Abraham believed God, and it was reckoned to him as righteousness.” Because he was “strong in his faith”, Abraham became the “father of all who believe”.
The Old Testament is rich in witnesses to this faith. The Letter to the Hebrews proclaims its eulogy of the exemplary faith of the ancestors who ‘received divine approval’. Yet “God had foreseen something better for us”: The grace of believing in his Son Jesus,”the pioneer and perfecter of our faith”.
Faith — The Beginning of eternal life
It is then we must turn to the witnesses of faith: to Abraham, who ‘in hope… believed against hope’; to the Virgin Mary, who, in “her pilgrimage of faith,” walked into the “night of faith” in sharing the darkness of her son’s suffering and death; and to so many others: “Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with perseverance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus the pioneer and perfecter of our faith.”
The Paschal Mystery In The age of the Church: The Liturgy - work of the Holy Trinity; The Father - Source and Goal of The Liturgy
From the very beginning God blessed all living beings, especially man and woman. The covenant with Noah and with all living things renewed this blessing of fruitfulness despite man’s sin which had bought a curse on the ground. But with Abraham, the divine blessing entered into human history which was moving toward death, to redirect it toward life, toward its source. By the faith of ‘the father of all believers’, who embraced the blessing, the history of salvation is inaugurated.
Source: Catechism of The Catholic Church
Topics: Church, Teachings, View All |
