Dear Friends,
So, what is going on with Abraham and God in today’s first reading? Heifers and she-goats and rams slaughtered, split in two and placed “each half opposite the other” on the ground? What gives?
While this scene seems strange to us, in Abraham’s day it was the formal ritual used when two parties were making a covenant, an agreement. As a sign and promise that each would keep his part of the deal, animals were slaughtered and split in two and the split parts were placed on the ground side by side with some space in between. Then, both parties of the agreement would, first one then the other, walk between the bloody, slaughtered animals. By doing so they were proclaiming, “I promise I will be faithful to our covenant. If I am not, may what has happened to these animals happen to me.”
Just a tad dramatic, I know, but it showed the seriousness of the matter and the intention of fidelity by both parties.
Now, reading the passage again, did you notice anything? A smoking fire pot and a flaming torch passes between the pieces. That, of course, symbolizes God. But what about Abraham? He stays in a trance. He doesn’t pass through the pieces. What is that about?
Simply put, it’s God saying, “I got this, Abraham. This is on me. I made you the promise, and I will keep it. You, for your part, just trust. Yes, this is on me.”
God promises fidelity and faithfulness to Abraham—just as He does to us. God promises to be faithful to us always. Simply put, God says to us, “I made the promise. I got this; this is on me.”
And what is God’s promise to us? That is what we see clearly in this amazing event called ‘The Transfiguration’. In the transfigured Jesus, bathed and penetrated in Light, we see our identity and our destiny: we are created to be filled top to bottom with Light, with life with God. We, and all of creation, are penetrated through and through with Divinity, with God’s own life, with Love. And we will—God promises—become who we were created to be – those who share eternally the very Life of God and live eternally in the beauty and goodness, the light and love of God! That is God’s promise for you and me and everyone ever created and all of creation itself. God promised it. God’s got it. God is faithful. God will do this.
Now that sounds wonderful. But let’s be honest: it can seem very hard to believe. Everything going on around us—the chaotic state of our country, the wars raging in Gaza and Ukraine and Sudan, the increasing poverty and oppression of millions, to say nothing of the sufferings and worries of our own personal lives—seems to suggest rather clearly that God doesn’t “got it,” that things are out of control, that good and justice and light and love don’t necessarily triumph and flourish.
We see all of this and we can be as confused as the disciples were when Jesus spoke of his impending suffering and the need to take up the daily cross.
All the more reason for us to heed the Father’s message: this is my chosen Son; listen to him.
God is still saying, as he did long ago to Abraham who thought God’s promise was impossible, “Yes, I got this. I’m keeping my promise. You, for your part, trust me.” And God lets us know that the way to trust Him is to listen to his Son: to see in the Son what True Love looks and to live the True Love we see.
In other words, we live the way of Jesus, the way of Love. We are willing to suffer with those who suffer. We are ready to suffer for what is right, to suffer the fight against all forms of oppression and evil. And in a country whose demonic leadership has now very openly sided with the forces of evil and oppression, how much more ready must we be to “take up the cross” of love that suffers against all evil.
So, as we continue our Lenten journey towards Easter, it’s a good time to ask if our Lenten practices are in fact helping us to “take up the cross” of love that suffers with all who suffer. Why not make this our Lenten practice:
- Consider: who do I know that is suffering? How can I reach out and say, “We got this”?
- What is one way I can stand up against the injustices happening in our own country and show that I stand with those who suffer?
It can all seem so overwhelming. But again, and again we root ourselves in Jesus Christ. We give ourselves time to be still and quiet so we can hear the inner voice that says, “I got this; we got this. The promise will be fulfilled.”
And then get on with the glorious work of suffering love.
Peace and every good,
Father Liam