The Sacrifice of Isaac

This week sees the pinnacle of our Abraham study. "The Sacrifice of Isaac" encompasses Genesis 22:1-19. Abraham, living among cultures whose ultimate worship to their gods was human sacrifice--the sacrifice of the firstborn, it must have been a sacrifice that Abraham almost expected that his God would require of him.

Yet, the One True God, the God of Life does not will this sacrifice from Abraham:

"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.” Genesis 22:12.

Abraham does offer a sacrifice, but as he prophesied to his son, "God Himself will provide the lamb for the offering." And as we dive into the typology (the study of the connections between Old Testament, New Testament, and the future) of this event, we see the the Lord did indeed provide the offering--the final sacrifice: His own Son, our Lord Jesus Christ. He also bore the wood for the sacrifice on his own shoulders as did Isaac, and Jesus also showed the obedience of Abraham in his sacrifice.

Typologies always look to the future as well, though this one can be harder to see. One day, however, we will all offer perfect praise to God--as we offer our whole selves without reservation to his greater glory!

God's blessing on your families,

Mandie DeVries, CGS Catechist and Director of Religious Education

Reasons it is OK to be late to Atrium... (True story)

We had a child come in a little late to atrium last week, and she apologized to her catechist but said, "My grandma said we had to be late today."

The catechist was a little surprised and said, "Oh, okay. Why is that?"

"Well, as we were driving up tonight, the sun was just setting and it was so beautiful that Grandma said we just had to sit and watch it. She said that watching God's beautiful sunset was more important than being on time today."

The catechist smiled and said, "Your grandma is right. In our class, we are practicing taking time out and thinking about God and thanking him for his blessings. Your grandma is doing that in the real world!"

Way to go, Grandma!

More on Abraham... And a serious sidenote.

Level III kids in some of our atria continued their study of Abraham this week, and we finally hear about the birth of Isaac. Abram was 75 when God promised him a son, and he is 100 years old when the promise is finally realized with his wife Sarah. Kind of makes our 3 week wait seem a little weak! In the coming weeks, we'll dive in to the significance of the "Sacrifice of Isaac." Stay tuned.

In a couple of Level III classes this week, the children chose to discuss (at their own level) the tragedies of the past weekend. I invited one of our catechists to share her experiences in talking with the kids: (Thanks, Melissa!)

~ Mandie DeVries, DRE

From Melissa: This past week, we spent time in our Level III atria talking about some serious issues that have been facing our children in the past week or more. As you know, there were two suicides in the Johnston school district last weekend.

You may not know that we have several families in our parish from this school system who were affected. Because of my history as a substance abuse counselor and having worked with youth around the city, I felt comfortable discussing the subject with our kids.

We talked about the impact suicide has on a family, a school, a church and the community at large. We touched on the emotional state of the people involved and the lengths that need to be taken to intervene. We talked about the Catechism of the Catholic Church and what our faith tells us about the issue. We talked about bullying and our role as Christians in this and other situations our youth face. But most of all, we talked about God's never ending love for us.

I encouraged the children to take full possession of their membership in Christ's body and to always, always know that there is a way out of any situation through God and Church. I told them that along with their parents, the entire Religious Education staff is there to help them sort through any difficulties they may have, and that we could always bring in our Pastor, Father Harris for them as well.

During the late class, Father happened to be available, and came in to speak to the children and answer questions about the topic. I was glad to be able to discuss this in the manner we did. Our children are rich in their knowledge, understanding and faith. We were able to bridge some of their questions and hopefully to instill a belief that we as a staff, are also here to help.

If you have any questions at all or want to discuss further, please feel free to send me an email (and I can send you my cell # if you'd like to chat).

Thank you for the amazing opportunity to live in the protection and guidance of our Good Shepherd with your children.

Melissa Hill, Level III CGS Catechist