*Sacred Scripture* Sacrifice of Isaac – Rubens
June 18
As Abraham is about to sacrifice his son Isaac to God, an angel appears, preventing the patriarch from making the sacrifice. Artwork by Peter Paul Rubens
Gn 22:1-19
The Testing of Abraham.*
1Some time afterward, God put Abraham to the test and said to him: Abraham! “Here I am!” he replied.a
2Then God said: Take your son Isaac, your only one, whom you love, and go to the land of Moriah. There offer him up as a burnt offering on one of the heights that I will point out to you.b
3Early the next morning Abraham saddled his donkey, took with him two of his servants and his son Isaac, and after cutting the wood for the burnt offering, set out for the place of which God had told him.
4On the third day Abraham caught sight of the place from a distance.
5Abraham said to his servants: “Stay here with the donkey, while the boy and I go on over there. We will worship and then come back to you.”
6So Abraham took the wood for the burnt offering and laid it on his son Isaac, while he himself carried the fire and the knife. As the two walked on together,
7Isaac spoke to his father Abraham. “Father!” he said. “Here I am,” he replied. Isaac continued, “Here are the fire and the wood, but where is the sheep for the burnt offering?”
8“My son,” Abraham answered, “God will provide the sheep for the burnt offering.” Then the two walked on together.
9When they came to the place of which God had told him, Abraham built an altar there and arranged the wood on it. Next he bound* his son Isaac, and put him on top of the wood on the altar.c
10Then Abraham reached out and took the knife to slaughter his son.d
11But the angel of the LORD called to him from heaven, “Abraham, Abraham!” “Here I am,” he answered.
12“Do not lay your hand on the boy,” said the angel. “Do not do the least thing to him. For now I know that you fear God, since you did not withhold from me your son, your only one.”e
13Abraham looked up and saw a single ram caught by its horns in the thicket. So Abraham went and took the ram and offered it up as a burnt offering in place of his son.*
14Abraham named that place Yahweh-yireh;* hence people today say, “On the mountain the LORD will provide.”
15* A second time the angel of the LORD called to Abraham from heaven
16f and said: “I swear by my very self—oracle of the LORD—that because you acted as you did in not withholding from me your son, your only one,
17I will bless you and make your descendants as countless as the stars of the sky and the sands of the seashore; your descendants will take possession of the gates of their enemies,g
18and in your descendants all the nations of the earth will find blessing, because you obeyed my command.”h
19Abraham then returned to his servants, and they set out together for Beer-sheba, where Abraham lived.
https://bible.usccb.org/bible/genesis/22
Saying the holy name of Jesus is the simplest way of praying always.
1-A prayer from Raphael the Archangel:
*While you are on this earth, you must praise the Lord God and give him thanks.
2-A prayer from Tobit and Tobias:
*They began to sing hymns of praise, giving thanks for all the mighty deeds God had done while his angel Raphael had been with them.
3-A simple Jesus prayer:
*Lord, Lord, Jesus Christ…Son of God…have mercy on me…Be kind to others…Work Hard…Be joyful.
4-Another prayer:
*When all that God asks of us is to be quiet and keep ourselves at peace-attentive to the secret work He is beginning in our souls-Be Empty and See That I Am God.
So do not be ashamed of the testimony about our Lord or of me his prisoner. Rather, join with me in suffering for the gospel, by the power of God. He has saved us and called us to a holy life – not because of anything we have done but because of his own purpose and grace. This grace was given us in Christ Jesus before the beginning of time.
2 Tm 1:8–9