Dear Friends,

As I read the first reading (Genesis 22) from this Sunday's liturgy....the story of Abraham about to sacrifice Isaac....my first thought was: "Where's his mother? Where's Sarah?"

It leaves one wondering: Did Abraham whisk Isaac off on the pretense of a cozy "father-son" outing? Or, perhaps this was an ancient version of the contemporary "let me take the kid out of your hair for a while"? As happens so often in scripture, the woman of the story is invisible. But, it's impossible to imagine Sarah, a Jewish mother, saying "No problem, of course my son can be your sacrificial offering today, Abraham!"

Ron and I wrestled with this reading, and considered excluding it from this week's liturgy. However, as happens often when we 'wrestle' with a scripture, it provides food for reflection and conversation....and almost always a very stimulating dialogue homily. So, we're 'going with it'! The challenge is: what to do with it. There are a number of different ways to approach and to interpret this reading, but setting aside my abhorrence of the image of a father about to slay his son, and appreciating the preciousness of Isaac in Abraham's life leads me to reflect on what I hold as most precious in my life, how to I 'tend' to it. Does what I treasure draw me closer to my Source, and what do/would I be willing to sacrifice for the sake of what I hold most dear?

Coincidentally (are they ANY coincidences?), last Sunday's Spiritual Discussion on the topic "Why am I Catholic?" led to a discussion of "images of God," and the decision to focus our next Spiritual Discussion evening (March) on this theme. This reading from Genesis points to a God as one who Tests and Rewards. In the reading from Romans, we hear of a God who "hands over his Beloved son" for our benefit, and in the gospel we hear of a God's tender love for the Beloved, and a God who urges us to "Listen" to Jesus. These are but a few different images of the Divine who in scripture takes shape in images of nature, the feminine as well as the masculine, the lover and the judge. What images of God draw you more deeply into prayer? How are you experiencing or imaging God during these days of Lent?

At The Spirit of Life, we encourage and support one another in expanding our images of God as we deepen our prayer together. We invite you to join us in this endeavor and journey with us as we seek to grow in our love of God and to grow in our capacity to be living expressions of God's loving peace and justice in our world.

May this Lenten journey be one that expands and deepens your experience of God's presence in your life,
Jean & Ron