We must have enduring faith like that of father Abraham so that we can be fruitful. Our fruitfulness stems from our faith in the One who loves us dearly and shines brightly through our love put into action for others.
We have a faithful God like no other who keeps all His promises. We have to be patient and trust Him with all our heart. Just like our Blessed Mother who trusted with all her heart and endured all things for love of the Lord our God. In today’s first reading we hear of the Covenant made with father Abraham, but did he have complete trust and faith in the Lord at this stage of his life? No! For if he did he would not have listened to his wife Sarai to have a child with Hagar. The Lord our God’s faithfulness is not dependent on our own faithfulness for His mercy and love endures forever. He fulfilled His promise to Abraham, and His faithfulness would shine through His servant Abraham through all the ages. It was not through the law that Abraham and his offspring received the promise that he would be heir of the world, but through the righteousness that comes by faith.
Let us never waver through unbelief regarding the promises of Christ, but be strengthened in our faith and give glory to Him now and forever. Amen
First reading
Genesis 15:1-12,17-18 ·
Count the stars: such shall be your descendants
It happened that the word of the Lord was spoken to Abram in a vision, ‘Have no fear, Abram, I am your shield; your reward will be very great.’
‘My Lord,’ Abram replied ‘what do you intend to give me? I go childless…’. Then Abram said, ‘See, you have given me no descendants; some man of my household will be my heir.’ And then this word of the Lord was spoken to him, ‘He shall not be your heir; your heir shall be of your own flesh and blood.’ Then taking him outside he said, ‘Look up to heaven and count the stars if you can. Such will be your descendants’ he told him. Abram put his faith in the Lord, who counted this as making him justified.
‘I am the Lord’ he said to him ‘who brought you out of Ur of the Chaldaeans to make you heir to this land.’ ‘My Lord,’ Abram replied ‘how am I to know that I shall inherit it?’ He said to him, ‘Get me a three-year-old heifer, a three-year-old goat, a three-year-old ram, a turtledove and a young pigeon.’ He brought him all these, cut them in half and put half on one side and half facing it on the other; but the birds he did not cut in half. Birds of prey came down on the carcases but Abram drove them off.
Now as the sun was setting Abram fell into a deep sleep, and terror seized him. When the sun had set and darkness had fallen, there appeared a smoking furnace and a firebrand that went between the halves. That day the Lord made a Covenant with Abram in these terms:
‘To your descendants I give this land,
from the wadi of Egypt to the Great River,
the river Euphrates.’
Gospel
Matthew 7:15-20
You will be able to tell them by their fruits
Jesus said to his disciples: ‘Beware of false prophets who come to you disguised as sheep but underneath are ravenous wolves. You will be able to tell them by their fruits. Can people pick grapes from thorns, or figs from thistles? In the same way, a sound tree produces good fruit but a rotten tree bad fruit. A sound tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor a rotten tree bear good fruit. Any tree that does not produce good fruit is cut down and thrown on the fire. I repeat, you will be able to tell them by their fruits.’
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