This homily was preached as part of the parish’s Offertory Campaign, the first in our parish since 2018. Please pray for the continuing renewal of our parish also through our offertory.
The star-pocked sky Abram was shown wasn’t the guarantee of descendants; the sacrifices however were. God points Abram towards the stars to make them symbols of a future he is authoring. So, although God’s future is certain and his will is done, it is not yet a reality in Abram’s life. The stars help him to understand what is being promised. And so, Abram’s faith and hope are born, to last him until the reality comes about.
So, Abram makes the sacrifices so that he and God freely bind themselves to each other’s future. The virgin cow and the other animals are three years old, the same length of time Abram has been in the land. The individual animals themselves are among the first-born of Abram’s flock after his arrival. They symbolise the livelihood Abram has received from God, and so they represent Abram himself. Thus, God guarantees Abram’s descendants, and Abram guarantees his life-long service of God’s perfect will.
As it was with Abram, so it is in Christ. At the Transfiguration, we are shown the risen body as God’s promise of the future. On our side, the risen body remains a possibility, our faith and hope in a personal Easter like Christ’s born on that mountain in that moment. But on God’s side, it is a certainty: simply, there is the resurrection – it belongs to Christ. And it can be ours as well, please God.
The sacrifice which accompanies this promise isn’t made by us; it was made by Christ. The sacrifice is the death of Christ, the perfect sacrifice for all time: there is nothing we can add to it to make it more effective than it is. Sure, the very thing which is promised us will indeed be obtained, but mysteriously not without first being sacrificed. Death must first be drawn out of our bodies like the Precious Blood of the Saviour was from his.
By Christ’s perfect offering, we enter into a new and eternal covenant with God. He guarantees our resurrection if we guarantee our lifelong service of his will. Just as Abram’s sacrifices were three years old, so too Christ made his sacrifice after a public ministry of three years. Abram’s sacrifices symbolised his livelihood, so too Christ’s perfect sacrifice gathers all of human life into his own body so that we shall live in him.
The weekly offerings each one makes don’t add anything to Christ’s, but rather are found in it: our offerings have their place within his. Our offerings, our sacrifices are prayerful acts of gratitude for what God has done for us. There are lots of ways to give thanks, the best of them is the Eucharist of the Mass; our weekly offerings are another good way too. God has freely bound himself to us; our free offerings are a welcome gift expressing in yet another way that we are bound to him.
With them, the sign that our parish is and its mission continue. Our wonderful parish staff and the tradies and other professionals we engage deserve just payment from us; those payments come from you. We have much to do together, and much to plan with the help of your pledges and generous offerings.
My hope and prayer for you is that you come to recognise ever more deeply what Christ has done for you. May the knowledge of the covenant we’re in with God and our faith in him affect every choice you make for the better. May the offering you join to Christ’s perfect and unrepeatable offering bring still further blessings to you and yours.
Fr Paul Rowse, OP
Parish Priest