Because of our three readings, today could be called the Sunday of the Three Mountains.
"Take your son Isaac, your only one, whom you love, and go to the land of Moriah.”
Moriah, as a girl's name, is of Hebrew origin, meaning "the hill country." The land of Moriah was a mountainous region.
Our First Reading says that there, “God put Abraham to the test.”
The difference between school and life? In school, you’re taught a lesson and then given a test. In life, you’re given a test that teaches you a lesson.”1
In Verse 12, God says to Abraham: “I know now how devoted you are to God, since you did not withhold from me your own beloved son." (Genesis 22:12)
Rather than losing his only son, Abraham receives him back and, in the process, the divine promise is once again given. The message is that it is our ungrudging willingness to give that leads to gaining and retaining that which is most precious.
E.g., I met a Catholic man named Lee when we were part of a Kairos Prison Ministry weekend, on the Catholic team. Lee told me that he and his son were on a father-son bonding fishing trip for a week and on Sunday, Lee left camp to drive to the nearest town to attend Sunday Mass. Lee’s grown son did not attend Mass anymore and so he stayed behind. When Lee returned to the camp after Mass, his son asked, “How was Mass?” Lee responded, “Well, son, it’s interesting that the homily and the First Reading reminded me of you—it was about Abraham and Isaac.”
“You aren’t going to sacrifice me, are you, Dad?” his son jokingly replied.
Lee said, “I already have, son, I love you and raised you, sent you to college, and have given you to the Lord.”
In other true story, Venerable Bishop Fulton Sheen was a highly motivated college student searching for a way to pay for his education. It was during those collegiate years at Saint Viator College in Illinois that he made his decision to become a priest. In his autobiography, “Treasure in Clay,” he describes this critical moment of acceptance: A national examination was given to college students. The prize was a three-year university scholarship. I took the examination and won one of the scholarships. I was informed sometime during the summer and immediately went up to St. Viator’s College to see Father William J. Bergan, by now my dear friend. He was on the tennis court when I arrived. With great glee and delight I announced: “Father Bergan, I won the scholarship!” He put his hands on my shoulders, looked me straight in the eyes and said: “Fulton, do you believe in God?” I replied: “You know that I do.” He said: “I mean practically, not from a theoretical point of view.” This time I was not so sure, and I said: “Well, I hope I do.” “Then tear up the scholarship.” “Father Bergan, this scholarship entitles me to three years of university training with all expenses paid. It is worth about nine or ten thousand dollars.” He retorted: “You know you have a vocation; you should be going to the seminary.” I countered with this proposal: “I can go to the seminary after I get my Ph.D., because there will be little chance of getting a Ph.D. after I am ordained, and I would like very much to have a good education.” He repeated: “Tear up the scholarship; go to seminary. That is what the Lord wants you to do. And if you do it, trusting in Him, you will receive a far better university education after you are ordained than before.” I tore up the scholarship and went to the seminary. I have never regretted that visit and that decision.
Mount Moriah is the mountain of testing when God asks us for the most precious.2
2. The second mountain in our Readings is Mount Calvary-
“Who will bring a charge against God's chosen ones?” St. Paul asks, adding, “It is God who acquits us, who will condemn?” Paul is saying that God gave us the best he could, his own Son. So, Paul asks, rhetorically, who can condemn you then if God acquitted you with his very best? Again, the answer is “no one.”
Mount Calvary is the mountain our acquittal.
3. The Third Mountain is Mount Tabor or Transfiguration Mountain--
Right after you receive Holy Communion, assuming that you are going to confession when you need to, you are on top of the mountain, we can best listen there! The Catechism says that the Eucharist is "the source and summit" of the Christian life (1324). The other sacraments, and indeed all ecclesiastical ministries and works of the apostolate, are bound up with the Eucharist and are oriented toward it.
After you receive Holy Communion and return to your pew, close your eyes and expect a word of knowledge, like a word-picture that will solve a problem or give insight. For example, prior in my life I had to work at a job where there were only two of us who managed a small enterprise, and we had opposite personalities. One day after Holy Communion as I returned to my pew, I had an image of the personality conflict where my difficult coworker was like a jump ramp that enabled me to jump off and soar and blossom, and this word of knowledge matched the idea that the Cross is the Tree of Life; that the obstacle, so to speak, is the way to blessings.
God has so arranged the route up Mount Tabor so that as the way becomes harder and steeper, the faith of the climber is inevitably strengthened.3
Once we are on top of the mountain of transfiguration—“The twentieth-century rabbi and theologian Abraham Joshua Heschel [1907–1972] wrote a lot about “radical amazement,” that sense of “wow” about the world, which he claimed is the root of spirituality. It’s the kind of thing that people often experience in nature—at the proverbial mountaintop, when walking in the woods, seeing a gorgeous view of the ocean. But it’s also, I think, about bringing that sense of awe into the little things we often take for granted or consider part of the background of our lives. This includes the flowers on the side of the road; the taste of ice cream in our mouths; … or to find a really, good stick on the ground. And it also includes things we generally don’t even think of as pleasures, like the warm soapy water on our hands as we wash dishes.”4
Mount Tabor is the mountain of joy and insight.
1. Tom Bodett
2. Accessed at the Dominican Friars Province of St. Joseph website.
3. James M. Boice, Ordinary Men Called by God, 01/1998, p. 40
4. Danya Ruttenberg, Nurture the Wow: Finding Spirituality in the Frustration, Boredom, Tears, Poop, Desperation, Wonder, and Radical Amazement of Parenting (Flatiron Books, 2016), 56–57.
Accessed at The Center for Action and Contemplation.
