In today's Gospel, Jesus says that Abraham rejoiced to see My day, and he saw it and was glad.Which day was that? Which day rejoiced the heart of Abraham? St John Chrysostom says that "'My day,' seems to me to mean the day of the Crucifixion, which Abraham foreshowed typically by the offering of the ram and of Isaac."
Let me add, however, that Abraham does not simply see Good Friday. He sees the Holy Sacrifice; which is to say that he sees the Lord’s Day—that is, Abraham sees the Holy Mass. For at the Mass, in the Spirit, you see the Love of the Father. There He lies—the only-begotten Son—in all His glory on the altar. The Son, who in love, was both sacrificed and sacrificed Himself; the Son whose Body was broken so that we might eat and live, and whose Blood was shed so that it might be poured down our throats; the Son who offered Himself so that we, who will taste death, might now taste Life Himself.
It’s this day that Abraham saw and rejoiced to see. And he saw it as he stared at his son, his only son, whom he nearly killed, but whose life was ransomed by the ram of God.
2 comments:
Rev. Fenton and others,
Please excuse me for asking this question outside of the context of your blog post here, but I am wondering if you (or any other commentor) can help me think through an issue.
My question is can using an I-Pod (or any other electronic play back device) be beneficial to use in one's personal prayer life? For instance, if I were to get some music or parts of the Liturgy (for instance, an mp3 from Liturgica.com) and listen to it with my I-Pod during my morning prayers, would this be condusive? Are there any dangers in this practice that I may not be seeing by myself?
I think that Abraham was so committed in his faith in God, that he would go to the extent of killing his own son, if told to do so by God. Unfortunately for him, this was pre the 10 commandments, had he had these to read he would know that 'Do not kill' was one of them. Had God not stopped him he would have broken a future commandment. Although, he would have known that God saw Cain as wicked for killing his brother Abel. I can not see anything that would suggest that Abraham in his actions or anything he said would suggest he understood the Mass that we have today.
All I can see is that God tested Abraham to the point of sin. How just is that?
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