“Faith is the realization of what is hoped for and evidence of things not seen.” How are we to understand this famous definition of faith found in today’s reading from Hebrews?
            Abraham is offered as the personification of this definition of faith. Abraham consistently trusted in the promises of God to him. His was not a ‘blind faith’; it was a faith rooted in his lived experience of God. In his lived experience of God, God could be trusted to fulfill the promises that God made even if Abraham would not live to see it. In this way, Abraham lived his life in rich fidelity to God and in the confidence that God would not disappoint those who put their trust in God. One of the most remarkable promises of God to Abraham was the promise of a son from whom Abraham would have descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky. Even though Abraham and his wife Sarah were too old to have children, they received the gift of their son Isaac but never lived to see the realization of the promise of countless descendants. In fact, God has fulfilled this promise. Today, Abraham is recognized as the Father of Faith for Jews, Christians and Muslims. Abraham, indeed, has descendants beyond all measure.
            As people of faith, children of Abraham, we, too, are called to live in hope and to have firm confidence in the promises of God to us. In the victory of Jesus Christ over suffering and death, God has promised us that life, goodness, and love will prove triumphant over death, evil and hate. In these troubled and uncertain times, if we succumb to our fears then we betray our faith. As Christians, we testify to our faith, our hope in the promises of God, by our resolute determination to live lives of love, goodness, kindness, and openness to all. We do so in our firm trust that the good that we do, the love that we share, the welcome that we offer contributes to the continued triumph of the reign of God in our world. If every Christian really lived the hope that is ours, it would be powerfully transformative of the world in which we live.
            Pray daily to Abraham that through his intercession God might strengthen us in faith!                 
                          Fr.  Mark Hallinan, S.J.