Hope against hope.
Faith
Kierkegaard has forever tainted today’s first reading for me, the sacrifice of Abraham. The old translation of the text at least had the verse, “Abraham saddled his ass…” which sometimes provided a bit of comic relief in such a dreadful tale. (The text is now translated “donkey”, which may conjure up the character in Shrek for the faint of heart. I’m kidding.)
Of course the story ends well, God doesn’t permit Abraham to kill his son. As Christians we understand this passage as a wonderful prefigurement of the sacrifice of Jesus. Indeed, Abraham inadvertently prophesises the redemption when he consoles Isaac, “God himself will provide the sheep for the burnt offering.” While Isaac prefigures Christ bearing his cross, carrying the wood upon which the sacrifice is to be made. Aside from Abraham’s unique confession of faith, and the obedience of Isaac, this passage is both consoling and glorious in prefiguring the redemption.
The Kirkegaardian meditation upon Abraham’s trial of faith has always been much too dense for me. Nevertheless, at times I cannot help but feel enveloped in the awareness that faith is indeed darkness to the intellect. I am reminded of those who Little Therese said she joined, “at the table of sinners” in her trial of faith. Through this statement, she indicates the intensity of the darkness which enveloped her soul, sharing the exact same oblivion of those deprived of the consolation of faith, the agnostic, the atheist.
St. Therese
Of course St. Therese provides the antidote, which is the little way of childlike confidence and love. Most of us are too little to be able to bear such trials, while our intellects cannot even grasp the deepest mysteries of faith. Yet, in the midst of such anguish, it is precisely then our faith must take over, though our intellect, our emotions, and our senses rebel, even when everything we thought we knew, mocks us.
I think this may be the mystery of St. Therese’ devotion to the Holy Face of Jesus; that battered Face, silent, his eyes closed, in which she found such consolation and patience to endure her sufferings. Just so, the mystery contained in the first reading of today’s Mass, which is the prefigurement of the passion, death and resurrection of Christ, alleviates the heaviness in the narrative of the sacrifice of Abraham.
Trust
We must strive to hope against hope as it were, or as St. Claude prays, to “have confidence in our confidence”. Therese teaches that this way of faith is navigated by confidence and love - especially when we no longer ‘feel’ confident, and likewise no longer ‘feel’ love. It always needs to be a matter of the will, accompanied by patient endurance.
“He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High…says to the Lord: ‘My refuge, my stronghold, my God in whom I trust.’ It is He who will free you from the snare, from the fowler who seeks to destroy you…You will not fear the terror of the night, nor the arrow that flies by day, nor the plague that prowls in the darkness…Since he clings to Me in love, I will free him - protect him for he knows My Name.” - Psalm 90
When we are most tried in the difficult circumstances of life, it may be good to recall Job’s words, which St. Therese made her own, “Even if He should kill me, I will trust Him.”
Unlike the philosophers and theologians, Therese did not approach God with “fear and trembling”, rather her approach was one of confidence and love, often insisting that she preferred the darknesss of faith to everything else, when she stated, “I prefer not to see.”
Easier said than done however.
July 5th, 2007 at 10:54 am
Terry, I’m glad I’m not the only one who has a hard time with today’s OT reading. Yesterday’s, dealing with Sarah’s unkindness to Hagar, was about as bad. Thanks for reminding us of St. Therese’s approach, when life doesn’t make sense.
July 5th, 2007 at 12:31 pm
Kierkegaard tells the story as it is. Abraham, by our own ethical and moral systems, is a (attempted) murderer. So why do Abrahamic religions (Christianity, Judaism, Islam) revere him?
July 5th, 2007 at 1:59 pm
Melody - everytime I read your name I think of that song, “Mr. Melody” - anyway - yes, the story of Haggar is also distressing.
July 5th, 2007 at 2:26 pm
Michelle, many things in the OT would be considered illegal today, as for the sacrifice of Abraham, I may be wrong, but I think human sacrifice was practised by some of the peoples or pagan tribes that surrounded Abraham, therefore, God’s request, though extraordinary and unlike what Abraham understood of God, may have ‘fit’ into the world view of the time. Ancient religious cults did that stuff then, as did the indigenous peoples of Central and South America later.
That is all I can say in response to your statement, as well as note that what is revealed in the OT is a gradual revelation of God, and his plan for us, known as salvation history, reaching fulfillment and completion in the revelation of Jesus Christ. As such - for Christians at least - the OT can really only be understood through that optic, in the light of Christ.
Abraham is revered by all three monotheist religions because he is the father of Faith. No man was sinless, save for Christ and our Blessed Mother.
July 5th, 2007 at 3:03 pm
Terry, you are correct. Father was preaching this morning about how extraordinary examples of human sacrifice WITHIN Judaism occured up until the Babylonian exile. He also said that this incident was the first proof that God found human sacrifice unnecessary as compared with the worship of virtually all other religions surrounding the Hebrews.
July 5th, 2007 at 4:06 pm
Terry, yeah, I get a little kidding about my name in choir. I sing alto, so they tell me my parents should have named me “Harmony” instead!
As to the human sacrifice thing, the priest who gave the homily this morning had a similar take to yours; saying even that Abraham may have “heard” God through the filter of the cultural values in which he was immersed. (Does that ever happen in our own time??)