“Abraham your father rejoiced to see my day; he saw it and was glad.” – John 8:56

       I was seven years old then and had a fever. Papa said I should not go, but I insisted to join the Brownie camping. Later, my father came to the campsite to see if I was OK. I was and happily survived the one-day camping.

       I was 19 and already in college during those turbulent days of the First Quarter Storm, when students marched to Malacañang to protest on issues such as poverty, injustice and tuition fee increases. Papa cautioned me about joining those marches. But I was a student leader, president of the student council, so naturally, I joined those marches, which my parents watched in horror on the six o’clock news.

       Late in the evening, as I walked home, I would see Papa standing under the lamppost on our street, smoking his nth cigarette, waiting for me without fail.

       Today’s readings is about two fathers: Abraham, destined to become a great father of all nations, fulfilled his mandate well; and God the Father Himself who let His Son fulfill His Great Mission of Salvation for all of us. In his own loving way, Papa did his mission to be a father to me. Six days from now, April 12, 2017, would be the 19thanniversary of his death. He succumbed to emphysema. Chay Santiago (cusantiago@gmail.com)

Reflection:What’s your mission and how are you fulfilling it?

Our Father, Thy Kingdom come!

St. Crescentia Hoess, pray for us.

God’s covenant with His people is based on faith and trust in Him. But people have difficulty being faithful. God’s covenant with Abraham could have endured, but the people did not follow it. So God renews His covenant with His people a number of times, which was made definitive in the person of Jesus.

3 When Abram prostrated himself, God spoke to him: 4 “My covenant with you is this: you are to become the father of a host of nations. 5 No longer shall you be called Abram; your name shall be Abraham, for I am making you the father of a host of nations. 6 I will render you exceedingly fertile; I will make nations of you; kings shall stem from you. 7 I will maintain my covenant with you and your descendants after you throughout the ages as an everlasting pact, to be your God and the God of your descendants after you. 8 I will give to you and to your descendants after you the land in which you are now staying, the whole land of Canaan, as a permanent possession; and I will be their God.” 9 God also said to Abraham: “On your part, you and your descendants after you must keep my covenant throughout the ages.”

R: The Lord remembers his covenant forever.

4 Look to the Lord in his strength; seek to serve him constantly. 5 Recall the wondrous deeds that he has wrought, his portents, and the judgments he has uttered. (R) 6 You descendants of Abraham, his servants, sons of Jacob, his chosen ones! 7 He, the Lord, is our God; throughout the earth his judgments prevail. (R) 8 He remembers forever his covenant which he made binding for a thousand generations — 9 which he entered into with Abraham and by his oath to Isaac. (R)

Jesus interprets the Scripture in an unfamiliar way and causes a dispute with the elders and chief priests. This changes how they think about their faith but they are not ready to accept this new way of thinking and believing. Two ways of believing emerge and divide the Jews in the first few decades of Christianity.

If today you hear his voice, harden not your hearts.

51 Jesus said to the Jews: “Amen, amen, I say to you, whoever keeps my word will never see death.” 52 So the Jews said to him, “Now we are sure that you are possessed. Abraham died, as did the prophets, yet you say, ‘Whoever keeps my word will never taste death.’ 53 Are you greater than our father Abraham, who died? Or the prophets, who died? Who do you make yourself out to be?” 54 Jesus answered, “If I glorify myself, my glory is worth nothing; but it is my Father who glorifies me,22of whom you say, ‘He is our God.’ 55 You do not know him, but I know him. And if I should say that I do not know him, I would be like you a liar. But I do know him and I keep his word. 56 Abraham your father rejoiced to see my day; he saw it and was glad. 57 So the Jews said to him, “You are not yet fifty years old and you have seen Abraham?” 58 Jesus said to them, “Amen, amen, I say to you, before Abraham came to be, I AM.” 59 So they picked up stones to throw at him; but Jesus hid and went out of the temple area.

think: What has knowing the truth enabled you to do?

Read the Bible in one year Exodus 22-24

T O D A Y’S BLESSING LIST

thank You, Lord, for: ______________________________________________________

AND I WILL BE YOUR GOD

A trustworthy person is someone whose word you can trust. He says what he means and means what he says. He has a word of honor. He fulfills his end of the bargain, and he does not renege on what he has promised he would do. I remember a byline uttered by a popular candidate many years ago. “This nation will be great again,” he said over and over again. Not quite out of primary school age then, I could not make out what he was promising. Wasn’t our nation great at that time? Were we in any way lower or less than our neighboring countries?

       My task today is not to dwell on the merits or demerits of that promise. It is for the historians to decide. But the word of promise itself was what remained ingrained in my mind. I was so impressed by the sweeping promise that it became the measuring rod with which I looked at anyone with a promise. Was the person trustworthy? Could anyone trust his word and his motives for uttering that word?

      The two readings today are chock-full of ideas about words of promise. In Genesis 17, we hear God telling Abraham: “This is my end of the bargain… You are to become the father of a host of nations.” “I will make nations of you.” “I will give to you the land in which you are now staying.” In the Gospel according to John, we hear Jesus reminding His hearers about the need to “keep [his] word.” “Whoever keeps my word will never taste death.”

      We do know that, at some point, the Israelites did agree to the covenant terms. They promised to be God’s people, for the Lord had emphatically told them: “And I will be their God.”

       All of Scripture tells us how God kept His side of the bargain. But in the same Scripture, we also see the repetitive pattern of man’s untrustworthiness and sinfulness. How many times have we made promises to the Lord? “The Lord remembers his covenant forever.” What about us? Fr. Chito Dimaranan, SDB

---------- REFLECTION QUESTION ----------

What is the one promise You made to the Lord that you find difficult to keep?

Lord, thank You for remaining faithful to Your promises to me. Please give me the grace to honor Your faithfulness and strive to be faithful to You. Amen.