Abram – Lavish Mercy

Second Sunday of Lent

March 8, 2020

Today, in Mercy, as I prayed with these readings, I heard the words “It’s your turn.”

In our passage from Genesis, it’s the message God gives Abram:

Go forth from the land of your kinsfolk
and from your father’s house
to a land that I will show you.

In other words, I have reached from my Infinite Perfection to call you into a covenant of love. Now, it’s your turn to leave your comfort zone and go find my hope for you and for my people.

In Timothy’s letter, the call comes in this form:

Bear your share of hardship for the gospel
with the strength that comes from God.

Again Timothy tells us that Christ carried the cross so that we could have eternal life. It’s our turn now to bear any cross all the way to the empty tomb.

And in our Gospel, the just transfigured Jesus calls his beloved disciples to a new courage:

“Rise, and do not be afraid.”

In other words.. things are going to get really tough. You have just seen a Glorious Light that will take you through the darkness. It’s your turn to walk beside me on the coming journey.

Folded in each of these messages is the implication that, although challenges may come, a stronger commitment to God and God’s hope is being opened before each listener — before us.

its ur turnJPG

Scripture records the long, ensuing story of Abram’s response. We know, too, how Timothy’s early Christian community turned persecution into indomitable witness. And the commitment of Peter, James, and John built the foundation of our faith.

Every morning when God wakes us up, the Holy Voice shining in the morning light whispers, “It’s your turn. Today will be part of your journey into my Heart. How will you respond to the many calls being offered you?”

Let this “Transfiguration Moment” give us brave, loving, and insightful hearts! Let us walk the path Christ would walk, especially as we deepen into the lovely blessings of Lent.

Music: Transfiguration – Carey Landry

We behold the splendor of God
shining on the face of Jesus.
We behold the splendor of God
shining on the face of the Son.

And oh, how his beauty transforms us,
the wonder of presence abiding.
Transparent hearts give reflection
of Tabor’s light within, of Tabor’s light within.

Jesus, Lord of Glory, Jesus, Beloved Son,
oh, how good to be with you;
how good to share your light;
how good to share your light.

We behold the splendor of God
shining on the face of Jesus.
We behold the splendor of God
shining on the face of the Son.

And oh, how his beauty transforms us,
the wonder of presence abiding.
Transparent hearts give reflection of
Tabor’s light within, of Tabor’s light within.

Jesus, Lord of Glory,
Jesus, Beloved Son,
oh, how good to be with you;
how good to share your light;
how good to share your light.

Thursday of the Twelfth Week in Ordinary Time

Wednesday, June 27, 2010

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Here’s the Problem

Gen16_1 Sarai

Today, in Mercy, Abram and Sarai fall back into a struggle with God’s promise. God tarries with fulfillment and has not yet removed Sarai’s barrenness. The aging couple become impatient.

So, as we all sometimes do when God appears deaf to our prayers, Sarai comes up with her own strategy, clearly outside God’s outlined promise. They will use their slave Hagar to bear Abram’s heir.

The passage doesn’t mean that we should not work hard to fulfill our lives. It isn’t intended to contradict that old wisdom:

Work as if everything depended on you.
Pray as if everything depended on God.

Or as St. Ignatius puts it in a more precise way:

I consider it an error to trust and hope in any means or efforts in themselves alone; nor do I consider it a safe path to trust the whole matter to God our Lord without desiring to help myself by what he has given me; so that it seems to me in our Lord that I ought to make use of both parts, desiring in all things his greater praise and glory, and nothing else.

What this reading does hold up before us is the quality of our faith, the depth of our relationship with God.

Do I consider every aspect of my experience in the light of prayer, sharing it with God, listening for God’s voice?
Do I inform my spirit through scripture and spiritual reading, (with what I like to call “a holy culture”), so that I can trust my discernment and be patient for its fulfillment?
Do I seek the counsel and companionship of those who strengthen the resolve of my spirit?

Abram was making good progress with these stepping stones, then Sarai threw him a curve with the offer of Hagar as his concubine. But don’t just blame Sarai. Good old Abram caught the curve and ran with it!🙂

Life pitches us all a lot of curves. It can be hard to catch God’s Voice as the curve buzzes by us!

Let’s pray today to let this story teach us whatever we need to learn about our own faith, discernment, patience, and “holy culture”.

Music: I Can Hear Your Voice – Michael W. Smith

Lavish Mercy

Tag: Abram

It’s Your Turn!

Here’s the Problem