FOR GOD SO LOVED THE WORLD
The
10th World Youth Day that happened in Manila with the memorable
presence of Blessed Pope John Paul II surely did much to make the
opening lines of today’s Gospel very familiar. I bet many of us can sing
until now the World Youth Day theme song. Some can probably even recall
the hand gestures that go with the words. But, just thinking, how many
really can understand the importance, meaning and implications of the
words?
Scholars and spiritual writers like Fr. Raniero Cantalamessa, the
Franciscan papal confessor, suggest that it would help us a lot to
understand what Jesus was saying if we can just go back and read Genesis
22:1-19. In testing the depth of Abraham’s faith, God asked him to go
up Mount Moriah to sacrifice his much-awaited son of promise, Isaac, in a
usual bloody human offering. We note Abraham’s prompt response. Early
the next morning he went up the mountain without hesitation, with the
unsuspecting Isaac carrying the wood that would be used to burn him as a
human offering. But we can almost feel the inner tension inside Abraham
as we
reflect on his way of answering the questions of Isaac. The conversation
of father an son was terse. The important thing was to prove his faith
in God. Abraham
was willing to sacrifice all — even his feelings — for God’s demand to be fulfilled.
God’s great love — love that is not so so, but love that is so much —
underwent similar tension. God sent Jesus with all the willingness to
let Him do all for our salvation, even if God the Father knew well what
this sending meant. It meant the sacrifice of dying on the cross for us.
A big difference in the story: Abraham’s son, Isaac, was spared; Jesus
was not. God the Father did not spare His one and only Son for us. Fr. Domie Guzman, SSP
REFLECTION QUESTION: How can you show that you value God’s sacrifice for your sake?
When tests of faith come into my life, help me to respond to them with all of me, Lord.
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