Daily Readings Reflection for 6/26/09

Reflection on the Daily Readings for 6/26/09 by Fr. Bertrand Buby, SM

Scripture for Fri. of 4th week (#12). Genesis 17:1.9-10. 15-22. Psalm
128:1-2.3.4-5. Matthew 8:1-4.

Genesis charts certain birthdays in the life of Abraham or maybe
significant years in his life. He left for the land God called him to when
he was 75; he was the father of Ishmael when he was 86th; he has a covenant
with God and 99 and within a year Isaac is born. Abraham lives 38 more
years after Sarah's death, that is, "a hundred and threescore and fifteen
years! No one's life has been charted so well in the Bible as Abraham's!

It is in the 99th year of Abram that God's makes a covenant with him whose
name now will be Abraham, the ancestor-father of many peoples even as
numerous as the stars or the dust on the shore! Circumcision is the sign
that God gives as the covenantal sign. Sarai becomes Sarah and Abram is now
known as Abraham. Abraham continuing to deepen his friendship with God asks
him some questions about how can he and Sarah have a child at their
advanced age? We know the answer that nothing is impossible with God, but
we, too, put that answer to the test when we face some of our monumental
problems. God assures him, "Your wife Sarah is to bear you a son, and you
shall call him Isaac. I will maintain my covenant with him as an
everlasting pact to be his God and the God of his descendants after him."

The Lord our God is the giver of life in all of its manifestations but
especially in human life where we are created in God's image and likeness.
God gives life to all sentient creatures, to plant life, and to life in our
universe. We are becoming more sensitive to the gifts of life in many of
its manifestations but have a long way to go when it comes to the apex of
God's creation that of the human species in all of its manifestations. We
need to prioritize and accept life in the way that Abraham and Sarah came
to understand it in their world of experience and life with God. Amen.