What is God's promise to us individually? What do we expect from God?
Is our HOPE in God or in the world?

We were invited last week to reflect on the amazing encounter between Abraham and God (first reading, Genesis 18: 1-10) "The LORD appears to Abraham as he sat under a tree at the entrance of his tent, while the day was growing hot. Looking up Abraham saw THREE MEN standing nearby ". Abraham bows to the ground in AWE of GOD! He then provides great hospitality to the three men representing GOD: "he waits on them under the tree while they ate." Then God gives a promise: one of the three men says "I will surely return to you about this time next year, and your wife Sarah will have a SON." This is the beginning of the fulfillment of God's promise to Abraham: this son (Isaac) is the beginning of the PROMISE of a multitude of descendants. This is also the origin of God's promise to us today.

From the very beginning, God's promise to our Fa- ther in Faith Abraham is quite clear: a land and many descendants (Genesis 17). This land is what we call today the Promised Land (the Holy Land, Israel) His descendants will outnumber the stars in the night sky (Genesis 15:4-5): today, we can call Abraham the Father of all nations. He is in many ways the Father of the Church: our Father in Faith!

One can say that Jesus Christ is the true offspring of Abraham. The very beginning of Matthew's Gospel could not be clearer: "The book of the Genealogy of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the SON OF ABRAHAM ". JESUS IS SON OF ABRAHAM: God's Covenant with Abraham promises the coming of the Messiah, the coming of the Son of God, the coming of our Savior.

As baptized Christians, we are all sons and daughters of Abraham, our Father in Faith and we share in the same promise from God: SALVATION!

God loves us and sends us a SAVIOR: His Only Son, Our Lord Jesus Christ. By His blood on the CROSS, Jesus takes away all our SINS, past and future. He is our Redeemer, our Savior. By His resurrection, He conquers death and gives us LIFE, ETERNAL LIFE!

Through His Son Jesus, God gives us the HOLY MOTHER CHURCH: the Catholic Church and the seven Sacraments. We are saved through Jesus' Church: the Church is the Sacrament of Salvation. Jesus establishes His Church upon the Rock, Peter (our First Pope), and the gates of hell shall not pre-vail against it (Matthew 16:18 ). Nothing can prevail against the Church This is the triumphant Church. TODAY, the CATHOLIC CHURCH established by Jesus Christ and guided by the HOLY SPIRIT, continues the SALVIFIC ministry of JESUS CHRIST throughout the entire world. From our Baptism, we are all blessed to be members of the Catholic Church.

On these very hot days of Summer, we are reminded of Abraham sitting under a tree outside his tent and serving God represented by three men. There are different interpretations of WHO ARE THESE THREE MEN? One could be GOD HIMSELF and the other two could be ANGELS. Or they could be THREE ANGELS as in the famous 15th-century ICON BY RUBLEV ( see icon below). Jesus invites you to meditate on this icon. What do you see?

Use your imagination...Do you see three men or three Angels being served by Abraham? Can you sense the JOY of Abraham serving GOD? Can you visualize the Last Supper? Can you see a representa- tion of the Eucharist? Can you see the Holy Trinity? If so, which of the three angels represents the Son? Can you feel the presence of a Loving God?

As we all face much suffering in this WORLD, let us remember only GOD’s SON, the WORD of GOD, can provide us PEACE. Let us remember that God's promise to us is eternal life with HIM: a peaceful life with HIM right here right now on earth followed by eternal life with Him in Heaven.

Let us pray that we all keep OUR HOPE in GOD!

One in Christ,


Fr. Alain