Irrevocable faith in God

Faith is inevitable, we all have faith, but the questionis, on what is  our faith based?

In the first reading, our father in the faith, admonishes us to have total faith in God. God is asking Abraham to take his only son Isaac and offer him as a sacrifice. If it were you and I, what would be our reaction to this request? Of course many of us would be relactant to accept this request. Some would say, God this is rubbish and unbecoming, you gave me a son in my old age and now you are telling me to sacrifice him, what a hell. Others we would say, this is the only son and precious gift you gave me I cannot do that nonsense.

But look at Abraham, without gambling he took his son to the sacrificing place. What a big and wonderful faith Abraham had. He had that faith that if God gave him this son in his old age, He is also going to do something marvelous.

Faith in God is a total surrender and obedience to the dictates of God. It is high time we put our total trust in God. We tend to have faith and trust in things that do not matter, worldly and trivial things. It is a call to all of us to refine our thoughts and dealings and have faith in God as Abraham did. In so doing, God is going to provide all what we want.

We all have to sacrifice our small Isaac’s during this Lent through prayer, fasting and almsgiving. We try that at Easter we be purified and have total faith and confidence in God. Hence God will give us anything we need for we have sacrificed the small Isaac in us and have faith In God. Am I ready to sacrifice the Isaac in me?

Abraham’s obedience in sacrificing Isaac guaranteed the future of his descendants, and that through them blessings would come to all the nations. We too should have whole hearted devotion and faith in God expressed through obedience and sacrifice.

In the Gospel, God is showing the same irrevocability of our faith to Him, by telling us that Jesus is His Beloved Son. However, as beloved Son of God, God the Father is sacrificing His only begotten Son to come down here on us and die on the cross for our redemption. The disciples witnessed Jesus’ glory when he transfigured. It is a call to all  of us, that we should not have weak faith in God who sent His beloved Son to save us.

St Paul in his letter to the Romans, tells us that if God is for us, no one will be against us.  We just need to have that irrevocable faith in God.

FrBenedict Lucius Cholomali.