L2-2015-SPN Can we talk? In today’s liturgy of the Word we reflect on two mountains, Mt. Moriah and Mt. Tabor both of which we are asked to climb. We remember Abraham and Isaac, Peter, James and John; two encounters with God. The first seems dark, even sinister, the second glorious. In fact, they are both glorious. Abraham lived in an era when child sacrifice was common practice among other religious traditions. Abraham, delighted in a “new” God who had given him a child even when Sarah was barren, unable to give him a child. Sarah and Abraham delighted in Isaac — the precious gift. During the walk to Mt. Moriah Abraham must have suffered, must have wondered how in the world God would change joy into tragedy, leading him to the edge of committing the sin of murder. This story is not about a punitive God who asks deadly things of us, but of a God who wants our full and undivided attention. G...
