Abraham and Sarah
A Fratelli Tutti couple ?
It is too modern a reading to bring up Pope Francis’ encyclical, Fratelli Tutti, to talk about the couple Abraham and Sarah. However, this biblical model can be a key inspiration for witnessing to fraternity today within the family and the world. Hospitality, welcoming the gift of God and living the promise in total trust are Christian virtues that our world needs to build an authentic brotherhood.
A proverbial couple ?
The saying “behind every great man is a woman” could well apply to Abraham and Sarah. They are the first couple in the Bible, after Adam and Eve. If Eve gave Adam the forbidden fruit, Sarah gave her maid, so that Abraham would have descendants. Then, despite her age, Sarah gave birth to Isaac. What if Lent was the time to “give birth” to others, to fulfill God’s promises for one another?
It is more than necessary to pray for couples who have difficulty conceiving and for the child to be considered in its human dignity at all stages of its life.
A couple who talks to each other?
That is the first couple that speaks to each other in the Bible. And if the key is the word? Their alliance does not fail despite their doubts, Sarah’s ambivalence, Abraham’s fear, etc. It is the story of an ordinary and mature couple in their mutual complicities, a model for their great qualities: love, hospitality, kindness, and trust in God. So many qualities that this world is thirsty for, and that Pope Francis invites to more fraternity…
Bernard Bamogo
School Pastoral Animator
A Life goal for the week
Choosing to generate life for the other. That is also the effort that Lent invites us to make:
To allow the other to live through me.
Through us, God continues to communicate his life to the world.
