Monday of the Twelfth Week in Ordinary Time
(Genesis 12:1-9; Matthew 7:1-5)
Today’s first reading opens a new chapter for us following
the daily mass readings and, more importantly, in the history of
salvation. Finishing the readings from the
Second Letter to the Corinthians last week, we turn to the Book of Genesis. We hear the beginning of the long process of
salvation for the whole world which culminates in Christ.
God calls Abram with both a command and a promise. He tells Abram to leave his father’s home and
to venture into a foreign land. He also
promises that the relocation will bring forth huge blessings. The whole world will revere Abram’s name, and
his descendants will possess a new land.
We can see the fulfilment of this call. The name Abram or, better, Abraham signals
reconciliation among three of the world’s great religions who consider him the
father of their tradition. Israel is not
really the promised, new land although it symbolizes it. The Kingdom of God, which Jesus brings about,
fulfills God’s promise to Abram. To
possess it, we must leave the consolations of self-love as Abram left the house
of his father. Then we must love others as Jesus did.
