Wednesday of the first week of Advent: Abraham - Never too old to begin

Presence

I pause for a moment and reflect on God’s life-giving presence in every part of my body, in everything around me, in the whole of my life.

Scripture

Genesis 12:1-4

Now the Lord said to Abram, “Go from your country and your kindred and your father’s house to the land that I will show you. I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and the one who curses you I will curse, and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.”
So Abram went.

Reflection

“So Abram went”.  Just like that. He began a journey that transcended history – an immense 3,500 mile crescent through what are now Iraq, Turkey, Syria, Lebanon, Israel, Egypt, Jordan. 

God’s call is met with many different responses in the Bible – most of them reluctant. Abram could well have pleaded old age. He was 75 years old and probably looking forward to a tranquil end to his days, when he received the call. As a childless man, God’s promise that he would make of Abram “a great nation” must have seemed unbelievable. 

The journey had no obvious geographic conclusion. However, in the course of it, Abraham found the land which God promised to his descendants; his covenant with God was established; his long-abandoned hopes of a child by Sarah, his wife, were realised; and his name was changed from Abram to Abraham, “the ancestor of a multitude of nations” (Gen 17:5), the spiritual father of the world’s Christians, Jews and Muslims – half of the people alive on earth today.

So, this is not simply a geographic journey. Abraham, although himself a monotheist, could not grow spiritually while he remained comfortably settled in an idolatrous society, never moving out of his comfort zone. Pope St John Paul II, in a homily given on Wednesday, 23 February 2000, asked:

“Are we talking about the route taken by one of the many migrations typical of an era when sheep-rearing was a basic form of economic life? Probably. Surely, though, it was not only this. In Abraham’s life, which marks the beginning of salvation history, we can already perceive another meaning of the call and the promise. The land to which human beings, guided by the voice of God, are moving does not belong exclusively to the geography of this world. Abraham, the believer who accepts God’s invitation, is someone heading towards a promised land that is not of this world.”

Prayer

Lord, let this Advent be an opportunity to leave my own comfort zone, and put behind me the many obstacles to my own spiritual journey. In a noisy world, help me to be still enough to hear your voice; and be courageous enough to act on it. I am inspired by another quotation from Pope John Paul II: “Have no fear of moving into the unknown. Simply step out fearlessly knowing that I am with you, therefore no harm can befall you; all is very, very well. Do this in complete faith and confidence.”

Amen

Glory to you, Father, source of all being,

to you, Jesus, Word made flesh,

to you Holy Spirit, Comforter,

as it was before time began,

is now and shall be into the future.

Amen.