Sunday, July 18
Gn 18:1-10a
The LORD appeared to Abraham by the terebinth of Mamre... Looking up, Abraham saw three men standing nearby.
"Sir, if I may ask you this favor, please do not go on past your servant... Now that you have come this close to your servant,
let me bring you a little food..."
Abraham hastened into the tent and told Sarah,
"Quick, three measures of fine flour! Knead it and make rolls."
He ran to the herd, picked out a tender, choice steer,
and gave it to a servant, who quickly prepared it...
They asked Abraham, "Where is your wife Sarah?"
He replied, "There in the tent."
One of them said, "I will surely return to you about this time next year, and Sarah will then have a son."
Hearing the first lesson proclaimed today, I was struck by the Marian imagry. Perhaps only I was struck with it, because I may have made it up -- but, there are worse things than seeing Our Lady everywhere : )
We have the Lord (in three Persons) appearing before our Patriarch Abraham; indeed, Abraham speaks to the three in the singluar, "Sir," or in the Latin, "Lord." Of the three, only one speaks any word -- the Word? And of the three, it is the Word (destined to be Son made flesh) Who promises to return in the same breath that he promises a child.
He makes the promise to Sarah, mother of Israel, busy making bread. Sarah, like Israel, is often firm in her faith yet not perfect in it, sometimes wobbling or laughing when complete trust is needed. Like Israel, she can also be seen as a foreshadowing of Mary, who herself is the recapitulation of Israel, yet of Israel as it was meant to be: the flawlessly faithful People of God. And while the Word would visit Abraham and Sarah, promising Israel even as Sarah prepared bread for Them, so the Word would also visit Mary, Mother of the Church, as an eternal Son to Whom she would give birth, a Eucharistic Savior who would continue to visit His people in the form of the very bread Sarah prepared. So while these thoughts are rather rough and quickly stated, the impression this passage gave me was a glimpse of Mary, Mother of the Eucharist, the saving Word who passed before Abraham, who passed through the desert with Moses, and who passes through this world continuing in His glorious Incarnation, through His life on Earth and Presence in the Holy Mass...
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