IN THE BEGINNING (8)

IN THE BEGINNING (8)

BE STILL AND KNOW THAT I AM GOD.

Be in your prayer space, follow the usual steps and settle into silence.

Sit still…..Relax…….Do not rush………

Take a couple of gentle, slow and deep breaths…becoming aware of your breath going in and out… stay focused on this breath of life……

Settle into silence, into peacefulness, into profound silence, into pure joy. Keep listening in such quietness and serenity. Come to that place, that space within, that place of deep silence, solitude, to just being here and now, without having to accomplish something.

Let us begin with a prayer in our heart:

Open my eyes Lord, help me to see your face,

Open my eyes Lord, help me to see….

Open my ears Lord, help me to hear your word,

Open my ears Lord, help me to hear….

Open my heart Lord, help me to love like you,

Open my heart Lord, help me to love…..

Now from the depth of your heart begin to wish your mind well……….

Our last meditation was on God, gently, tenderly and patiently at work, creating the heavens and the earth….fashioning us in his own image and resting from the work he has been doing! We continue our meditations on the ongoing process of creation and new creation and new beginnings.

Prayerfully Read and Reflect….

The first two chapters of the Book of Genesis reflected on the origin of the world and the universe. The next nine chapters show mankind moving away from God and his tender, loving and provident care. At the end of Chapter 11, we meet Abraham, who will turn people back to God. Around the year 1850 B.C., Abraham migrated with his family from Ur (present-day Iraq) to Haran (a city near the present-day Turkish-Syrian border).

Abram heard God calling him to a new home and promising to make of him a great nation. Abram promptly obeyed, taking his wife, Sarai, his nephew, Lot, and his whole household to the land of Canaan (present-day Israel). In subsequent visions, God renewed the promises in the form of a covenant, changed Abram’s name to Abraham and Sarai’s name to Sarah, then blessed them with a son, Isaac.

We now begin a series of meditations on new beginnings with an incredible journey of Abraham, a journey of faith, of hope and of obedience.

In the book of Genesis chapter 12:1-3, we meet Abraham, the great Father of the faith and pioneer of the spiritual journey which ends in Jesus. We hear God’s promise to him that he would become a great nation and all peoples will find blessing in him. Today, he is venerated as the spiritual patriarch of the world’s three major religions, more than half the population of the world find blessing in him.

Reflect on your own call to journey, to greatness, to being and becoming blessings to others.

Be a Blessing where you are. Dwell on this thought for some time.

Trusting in God’s promise, Abraham began a journey. Living in tents, surrounded by flocks that were their livelihood, Abraham and Sarah had no permanent address. Whenever their flocks had depleted the food supply in a particular area, they struck camp and moved on. We do not live in tents today. But we still are spiritual nomads.

Like Abraham and Sarah, our fidelity to God calls us to journey, to move on, our roots sunk into no earthly place, our source of security in God and God alone. Dwell on this thought for some time.

God’s directive was simple: “go forth from the land of your kinsfolk and form your father’s house to a land I will show you” (Gen.12:1). Remember how Abraham and Sarah journeyed: no itinerary, no maps, no auto club, no named destination, no hotel accommodation along the way, no internet MapQuest, no knowledge of weather conditions, no cell phones, no Dairy Queens or McDonalds. We can only marvel at the faith that empowered Abraham and Sarah to get up and leave all they had known with no other guide or equipment than that of God’s call. A man at the age of 75, married to a beautiful wife, surrounded by caring kinsfolk and blessed with material wealth packs up everything and begins a journey to “he knew not where”.

Abraham’s act of obedience began a lifelong habit of saying “yes” with his life to whatever God planned. Dwell on this thought for some time.

Genesis Chapter 15 tells us that Abraham had faith that God, who called him to enter into a covenantal relationship, would ever remain faithful. God’s fidelity is dramatically described in the excerpted text referenced above. Ordinarily those who entered into the covenant stood between the calved animals and declared their oath to one another, signifying that they would submit to a similar fate if they breached their agreement. But in the covenant described here, God alone passed between the slaughtered animals. By not requiring Abraham to do likewise, God acknowledged and accepted human limitations.

The covenant between Abraham and God was an unconditional and everlasting bond.

Abide in these thoughts for some time

In Genesis 22, we read the moving story of Abraham journeying in faith which was so intense as to surpass human logic. Abraham was called again to do the impossible – to sacrifice his only son, to destroy his only hope for descendants. Abraham obeyed, surrendered!

His unwavering faith was rewarded far beyond anything he could envision.

In his surrender to God’s will, he became truly free, real, religious and spiritual – at one with God’s will. Dwell on this thought for some time.

Abraham’s call and response have become models for every other call. Like him, we are called again and again to leave the safe and familiar, the sound and the sane, to venture into territories unknown, uncharted and unsure. Such is the call to the infant to leave the safety of the womb into an often unfriendly and unsafe world. Such is the call of the dying to leave the known world into an unknown eternity.

In between birth and death, we experience the same kind of call many times over and over again when we: leave the comfort home for the first day of school; leave the routine of school for our first job; leave mother, father, brothers and sisters to begin our family; leave work for retirement; leave home for a convalescent home or hospice care; leave old and sure ideas for new and untried ones………. In all these “leave-takings” Abraham and Sarah remain our models and their faith in God, who would lead them, become our inspiration and strength…………….

Letting go is not easy and to let go of a sure and certain and secure thing in order to welcome something new and untried is even more difficult. And that is the challenge!

Be still for a few moments….and dwell on the following thoughts….

• Abraham making new choices…even to leave his homeland to live out his new-found faith and relationship with God!
  

• Trusting in God’s promise, Abraham began a journey. God promised to make him a blessing to the nations……..
  

• Like Abraham and Sarah, our fidelity to God calls us to journey, to move on, our roots sunk into no earthly place, our source of security in God and God alone…..
  

• Reflect on your own call to journey, to greatness, to being and becoming blessings to others……
  

• In his surrender to God’s will, Abraham became truly free, real, religious and spiritual – at one with God’s will and purpose……
  

Fr. Gus Tharappel,msfs