“Hospitality of Abraham” Detail from a window in University College chapel, Oxford by Abraham Van Linge, c.1641. It shows Abraham entertaining three strangers, who turn out to be angels. The Christian tradition sees these three to be a prefigurement of the Holy Trinity. Thus, Abraham was blessed for extending hospitality to others, and so, to God. Photo by Fr Lawrence Lew, O.P.; flickr
Meditation
Monday of Easter Week Three emphasizes promises. The Psalmist promised that those who care for the sanctuary (temple) of God will be blessed. The epistle to Peter reminded the Jews of the promise of eternal life—that being born again was an eternal life force—something that came from the Word of the Lord.
The Old Testament lesson returned to the original man of the Promise—Abraham. God had promised Abraham that he would be a great nation and he had traveled from Ur across the Fertile Crescent to Palestine. He and his wife, Sarah, had built up considerable wealth and status, except that Sarah was well into her seventies and had never given birth. In that time, it was great shame for a woman to be barren. Of course, we know that at seventy-five, the king of Egypt was so taken with Sarah’s beauty that Abraham feared the Pharaoh and lied about her being his sister. We should all be so lucky to be gorgeous at seventy-five. But at the time of the lesson, she was older, still.
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