Tag: abraham

Posted in SAINT of the DAY

Saint of the Day – 9 October – Saint Abraham the Patriarch

Posted on by AnaStpaul

Saint Abraham the Patriarch, originally Abram, was the founder of the Hebrew nation and father of all believers in the true God. He was born at Ur, Chaldea, 1948 years after the creation of the world.

Thare had three sons, Abram, Nachor, and Aran. Abram married Sarai. Thare took Abram and his wife, Sarai, and Lot, the son of Aran, who was dead, and leaving Ur of the Chaldees, came to Haran and dwelt there till he died. Then, at the call of God, Abram, with his wife, Sarai, and Lot, and the rest of his belongings, went into the Land of Chanaan.

During his travels and adventures, which took him to Egypt as well as had him battle kings, he met Melchisedech, king of Salem, who brought forth bread and wine, and blessed him. Abram gave him tithes of all he had; but for himself he reserved nothing. God promised Abram that his seed should be as the stars of heaven, and he would possess the land of Chanaan.

Abraham was told of the impending destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah but obtained from God the promise that He would not destroy them if He found ten just men therein. The next morning Abraham, looking from his tent towards Sodom, saw the smoke of destruction ascending to heaven.

Abraham had a dispute with Abimelech over a well at Bersabee, which ended in a covenant being made between them. It was after this that the great trial of the faith of Abraham took place. God commanded him to sacrifice his only son Isaac. When Abraham had his arm raised and was in the very act of striking, an angel stayed his hand and made the most wonderful promises to him of the greatness of his posterity because of his complete trust in God.

Sarah died at the age of 127, and Abraham, having purchased from Ephron the Hethite the cave in Machpelah near Mambre, buried her there. He married Cetura, and had by her six children. Finally, leaving all his possessions to Isaac, he died at age 170, and was buried by Isaac and Ismael in the cave of Machpelah.

Posted in SAINT of the DAY

Saint of the Day – 19 August – Saint Sarah the Matriarch

Posted on by AnaStpaul

Saint Sarah the Matriarch, also known as Sari, Sarai, Sara, the wife of the Patriarch Abraham and also his step-sister. Her name means ‘princess’. A pious woman, renowned for her hospitality and beauty, she was a convert from paganism, the first female convert to the faith of Abraham. With her husband she was a nomad in the desert of Canaan.

When Abraham goes down to Egypt because of the famine, he induces Sara, who though sixty-five years of age is very beautiful, to say that she is his sister; whereupon she is taken to wife by the King of Egypt, who, however, restores her after a Divine admonition. In a variant account, she is taken in similar circumstances by Abimelech, King of Gerara, and restored likewise to Abraham through a Divine intervention.

Sarai Is Taken to Pharaoh’s Palace 

After having been barren till the age of ninety, Sara, in fulfilment of a Divine promise, gives birth to Isaac (A name which means ‘Laughter’). Later, through jealousy, she ill-treats her handmaiden Hagar the Egyptian, who had borne a child to Abraham, and finally she forces that latter to drive away the bond-woman and her son Ishmael. Sara lived to the age of one hundred and twenty-seven years, and at her death her husband mourned greatly and buried her in the cave of Macphelah in Hebron. This was the first land owned by the Israelites in Canaan, which became known as the Cave of the Patriarchs. Isaiah alludes to Sara as the mother of the chosen people, and St. Peter praises her submission to her husband. In Galatians Paul also uses her as an allegory of the new covenant.

“For it is written that Abraham had two sons, one by the slave woman and the other by the free woman. His son by the slave woman was born in the ordinary way; but his son by the free woman was born as the result of a promise. These things may be taken figuratively, for the women represent two covenants. One covenant is from Mount Sinai and bears children who are to be slaves: This is Hagar. Now Hagar stands for Mount Sinai and corresponds to the present city of Jerusalem, because she is in slavery with her children. But the Jerusalem that is above is free, and she is our mother…Now you, brothers, like Isaac, are children of promise…Therefore, brothers, we are not children of the slave woman, but of the free woman.”

Sarah and Abraham