Skip to main content

Advent Series - December 4

+
JMJ


December 4

As we mentioned yesterday, God had a very special plan for Abraham. He was going to be the father of God’s family of Chosen People.

God made a special agreement with Abraham called a covenant.
God said to Abraham, "I will establish my covenant between me and thee, and between thy seed after thee in their generations, by a perpetual covenant: to be a God to thee, and to thy seed after thee" (Gen 17:7)


When Adam sinned, the gates of heaven were closed. However, God did not give up on mankind. A covenant was God's "adoption". 
Throughout the Old Testament, we see God making covenants with men. With each covenant, God’s family grew to include more people:

Adam and Eve-a married couple
Noah-a family
Abraham-a tribe
Moses-a nation (12 tribes)
David- a kingdom
Jesus-all kingdoms; the world- Jesus would found a World Wide Church (The Greek word for "World Wide " is Katholikos-Catholic!)

God made 3 promises to Abraham;
  1. The Promise of Land- God promised Abraham that his descendants would have the land of Chaanan, but only after they lived 400 years as slaves in a strange land (Egypt) Finally, God would fulfill His promise of land through MOSES (Gen 15:1-21)
  1. The Promise of Royal Dynasty- God promises Abraham, "I will make nations out of thee and kings shall come out of thee" (Gen 17:6) God fulfills this promise through KING DAVID (Gen17:1-11)
  1. The Promise of a World Wide Blessing-After Abraham shows that he is faithful to God, even to the point of being willing to give up his son, God rewards him with the final, greatest promise, "…in thy seed shall all the nations of the world be blessed, because thou hast obeyed My voice" (Gen 22: 18). This promise is fulfilled through the Savior, OUR LORD JESUS CHRIST (Gen 22: 1-19)

God promised Abraham that he would have a multitude of descendants, yet Abraham and his wife Sarah would have to wait many years for this promise to be fulfilled.

Throughout the Old Testament, we see God teaching His dear ones to trust Him. That was the test right at the beginning for Adam and Eve and that is the test for each one of us today. Every day, God is asking us, "Will you obey Me? Do you trust Me? Will you remain faithful even when life doesn’t make sense?"

Finally when Abraham and Sarah were very old, when it seemed impossible that such a thing would happen, they had a son, Isaac.
Isaac grew straight and strong, and everything was going well. Then God tested Abraham’s faith again. God commanded Abraham to kill Isaac as a sacrifice!

You see, once again, God was asking Abraham, "Do you trust Me? Do you love Me above everything else?"
Now the good God did not intend for Abraham to actually kill Isaac, but Abraham did not know that.
Abraham obeyed God's command. He went up the mountain and Isaac went with him, carrying the wood for the sacrifice.

In doing so, Abraham and Isaac were a symbol of God the Father and God the Son. Abraham is like God the Father, offering His Son for the sins of the world. Isaac is like God the Son, carrying the wood of the cross on His shoulders.


Abraham passed the test of faithfulness. Just as he was about to kill Isaac, an angel came and stopped him, and a ram was provided for the sacrifice instead.

God spared Abraham’s son, but He would give up His Own Son for us poor creatures. His Only Son; the Eternal Word; to be born in a stable and die on a cross.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Rome,the SSPX and this time of Crisis - Updated

+ JMJ Obviously there's lots of events right now. First we have the April 1st - I almost thought it was April Fools - meeting between Pope Francis and Bishop Fellay.  Nothing really news worthy as this is a natural progression as Rome appears to be considering fulfilling Archbishop Lefebvre's wish to 'accept us as we are'. Second we have the April 8th publication of what will be a verbose exhortation of the Synod of the Family. I'm willing to bet that the Pope will give with one hand (unilateral regularization of SSPX) and take with the other (ambiguous document that opens the flood gates of sin further). Much to pray for. P^3

The Vatican and SSPX – An Organizational Culture Perspective

Introduction The recent and continuing interactions between the Vatican and the SSPX have been a great opportunity for prayer and reflection.  The basis for the disagreement is theological and not liturgical. As noted by Dr. Lamont (2012), the SSPX theological position on the four key controversial aspects of the Second Vatican Council are base on prior theological work that resulted from relevant magisterial pronouncements.  So it is difficult to understand the apparent rejection of the theological position of the SSPX.

Rome and the SSPX - the latest

+ JMJ Bishop Fellay gave a conference late last month and provided some more insight into the situation with Rome. There are comments on Deus Ex Machina Blog  and Hilary White has now entered the fray. What is one Catholic to think about all these opinions? What a Catholic is to think: With the Church! What does the Church think about obedience?  Virtue as it is? If there is no proximate occasion of sin and the other conditions are met, then one cannot resist the command.

SSPX and the Resistance - A Comparison Of Ecclesiology

Shining the light of Church Teaching on the doctrinal positions of the SSPX and the Resistance. Principles are guides used to aid in decision making.  It stands to reason that bad principles will lead to bad decisions. The recent interactions between Rome and the SSPX has challenged a number of closely held cultural assumptions of people in both sides of the disagreement. This has resulted in cultural skirmishes in both Rome and the SSPX. Since it is the smaller of the two, the skirmishes have been more evident within the SSPX.  The cultural fault-line that Bishop Fellay crossed appears to be linked to two points of Catholic Doctrine: Ecclesiology and Obedience.  The cultural difference of view points is strong enough that it has resulted in the expulsion of a number of members.  It should also be noted that some other priests expelled since the beginning of the latest interactions (starting in 2000) held the same view points and have joined with the l...

If Pope Francis is bad - what about Pope St. John Paul II et al?

+ JMJ So here we are on the apparent cusp of yet another post conciliar Papal canonization. This time we have Pope's John-Paul I and Paul VI canonizations to 'look forward' to. This follows, obviously, on the heels of Pope St. John Paul II's canonization? So the first question that I usually encounter is: How is it possible, keeping in mind the doctrine on infallibility of canonizations (note doctrine not dogma), that Pope St. John Paul II is a Saint? First, what does it mean???  According to the doctrine of dogmatic facts - it is the universal opinion of Theologians that canonizations are infallible.  It means that they enjoy the beatific vision.  ... that's it.  That is the doctrine and it is at the level of universal opinion of theologians.  It is called a 'dogmatic fact'. That they made mistakes is obvious.  That the miracles seem to not be very miraculous is also a bit of an issue. Here's something to consider: The rush that surrou...