Saturday of the 12th Week in Course 2024
Today we hear scriptures that remind us of the importance of faith in God’s divine providence. God is love, all love for us. The love of Father and Son is so intense, so overflowing that it is a divine person, the Holy Spirit. So God does miracles, if necessary, in order to fulfill His plan of love that creates, sustains and in His plan will divinize His people.
In His love, God had established a covenant with Abram when he was ninety-nine years old. That’s when He changed the man’s name to Abraham, and promised he would be the father of many nations. Initially, all God required of Abraham was to seal the covenant in his flesh, and every male in his household, through circumcision. At the same time, he promised that through this covenant, Sarah–originally named Sarai–would be the mother of those many nations, even though she was already ninety years old. So Abraham, in faith, saw to the circumcision of himself and his son Ishmael and every other man in his caravan.
That introduces today’s reading. Abraham is sitting under an oak outside his tent, about 2 in the afternoon. He sees three strangers coming toward him and runs to provide them hospitality, as his desert culture required. When they accepted, he quickly enlisted Sarah and a servant to prepare a hearty meal, which he served them. The story goes on to involve Sarah. One of the guests says, “I will surely return to you in the spring, and Sarah your wife shall have a son.” Sarah hears this and chuckles to herself. She can’t believe it. “After I have grown old, and my husband is old, shall I have pleasure?” Both of them were old beyond the joy of the marital embrace. Sarah was caught in her amusement. And she even lied to the Lord “No, I didn’t laugh.” But the Lord sees everything and hears everything. And despite Sarah’s incredulous response, Abraham’s faith was rewarded in his centenary year.
The Fathers of the Church used to preach on Sarah’s pregnancy with their son, Isaac, comparing the birth of a child to elderly Sarah with the miraculous virgin birth of Jesus, descendant of Abraham, to Mother Mary. So it’s not surprising that our psalm today is the most famous of the NT psalms, Magnificat, “My soul proclaims the greatness of the Lord.” As the angel had told her at the Annunciation, “nothing is impossible with God.” Indeed.
When Jesus heard the story of the centurion’s faithful servant, paralyzed and in great pain, he immediately offered to come and heal the man. But the centurion stopped him. He understood the power of Jesus to heal, so why inconvenience the Master. He used words that struck the Church so much that we say them every time we are invited to take communion: “"Lord, I am not worthy to have you enter under my roof; only say the word and my servant will be healed.” He went on to explain that he has authority over his soldiers, and when he asked them to do anything, they obeyed. So of course the Lord could heal “at a distance.” Jesus was amazed at this pagan’s faith, and extemporized on its rarity. He responded "You may go; as you have believed, let it be done for you." And at that very hour his servant was healed.
But Jesus is not distant from any of us, is He? So when we pray, we can be assured that He hears. He won’t always give us what we think we need, but He will always answer, either “yes” or “no, but I have something better for you.” Thank God for the gift of faith that, if we have, we can give praise for either answer.
