“God put Abraham to the test.”

 

Today we have a recurring guest blogger:  Fr. Arthur F. Rojas, pastor of PRESENTATION OF THE B.V.M CHURCH, PORT EWEN AND SACRED HEART CHURCH, ESOPUS. For more information on this parish, check out their website at Presentation of the Blessed Virgin Mary & Sacred Heart Churches - Port Ewen - Esopus, NY (presentationsacredheart.org

Submission to the blog of Dcn. Thomas Tortorella for II Sunday of Lent by Rev. Fr. Arthur F. Rojas (c) All rights reserved by Rev. Fr. Arthur F. Rojas, February 21, 2024 (c)

 Scripture readings for this reflection can be found at Second Sunday of Lent | USCCB

 “God put Abraham to the test.” Genesis 22:1. Thus begins the first reading today in the Ordinary Form.  If we are honest with ourselves and the sensibilities of contemporary society, the demand that God had made of Abraham to offer his sole heir, Isaac, in sacrifice to Him may seem harsh, cruel, and with no blasphemy meant or conveyed, even offensive to the point of questioning how God could be good in light of His order to the holy patriarch. However, consider the fact that our very existence, yours and mine, is due to at least God declining to intervene against it or even allowing us to live (God’s “permissive will”) in this time and wherever we find ourselves.  If God is truly Creator and the Supreme Being, apart from our sins, what and who do we have that we do not owe to Him, at least to His acquiescence?

Dear parents, if God gave your son(s) to you, then could not God ask for at least one of them – even your only one - to serve Him and His Holy Church as a priest, monk, friar, or religious brother? “But I want grandchildren, Father!”  (What does God want?  Does that matter?)  “The family name or lineage must continue!”  (What does God have in mind?)  “I want my son(s) to be ‘successful’.” (Is the priesthood or religious life for “failures”?)  “Who will take care of me when I get old or sick?”  (If you give who you value most to the Lord, do you think that He will forget you in your time of need?)  Evidently, I have heard these responses before.  Dear parents, if God gave your daughter(s) to you, then could not God ask for at least one of them – even your only one – to become a bride of Christ as a nun, religious sister, or consecrated virgin?  A few of the above responses arise plus “But she is pretty, Father.  What a waste to put her in the convent!”  (If you trust JESUS as your Savior, then why would you not trust Him with the heart, body, and soul of your daughter more than any other suitor?  If He finds your daughter lovely, how you can dispute His good taste?)   As St. Paul concludes today’s second reading in the Ordinary Form, “He Who did not spare His own Son but handed Him over for us all, how will He not also give us everything else along with Him?” Romans8:32.

In St. Mark’s account of the Transfiguration (Mk9:2-10), the Gospel today in the Ordinary Form), let us suppose that St. Peter meant well by placing Jesus on par with Moses, the liberator of Israel, and Elijah, the greatest of the Old Testament prophets.  But the Eternal Father spoke from Heaven, identifying Jesus and Him alone as His “beloved Son. Listen to Him!” Mark 9:7. These words from above should ground the attitudes of our parents, grandparents, and godparents to the availability and docility of our young people to seek, trust, and accept God’s plan for their lives on Earth and towards Heaven.

As someone who kept God waiting to heed His call to the sacred priesthood for years because I would not accept that what God wanted for me was and is better than what “I” want for me, even with noble aims, I was guilty of trying to neutralize the supremacy of God and His will by countering and distracting with other apparently good ideas.  But they were not His ends in His plan for the world and for my place in that plan.  Although as your pastor and spiritual father (and your brother in Christ and a fellow sinner),

I too have my challenges to follow God’s plan even today, nevertheless, may you and I exhort and support each other and especially our young people to “walk before the Lord, in the land of the living.” (cf. Psalm 116, our responsorial psalm of today).