The First Reading recounts God asking Abraham to sacrifice his only son, Isaac. Even though Isaac was a miracle child and Abraham and Sarah had waited so long to have children, Abraham still agreed willingly to make him a sacrifice to God. Clearly, this was a difficult choice.

Going through this reading makes me think of how much I have been willing to sacrifice for God recently. Last week I had every intention of going to 9:30 AM mass, but when the alarm went off at 8:30 AM I just… couldn’t… get up. A friend recently invited me to the baptism of his sister, but when I saw which weekend it was I wanted to say no because I knew it would add to the busyness of the weekend. Here I am saying that one hour of my time each week is too much, when Abraham was willing to spill the blood of his only child!

I’m in a world religions class here at SLU this semester, so I’ve had a lot of opportunities to think about devotion to God around the world. It amazes and inspires me the lengths that some people go to honor their God. Abraham was one of those people. So I realize that this is a wake-up call to put a bit more energy into my faith. It’s a call I can definitely use—especially on Sunday mornings at 8:30 AM.