"Here I am, Lord," is Abraham's response to Yahweh's calling.
Not, "Yes, Lord?";
not "What is it, Lord?";
not "What do you want from me, Lord?" Before ever he knows what God will ask, Abraham says simply, "Here I am, Lord."
It is an opening to prayer I, myself, have offered on occasion. I would like to say that it is not coincidence that my response imitates that of Abraham. But I cannot make that claim. Abraham was completely open to the Lord. God's will was Abraham's will. Abraham believed his life and his family's life was completely in God's hands. And in Genesis 22, Abraham proves his complete trust in the Lord by his willingness to do whatever the Lord wills—even if it is the heart-wrenching sacrifice of his own beloved son, Isaac.
“Take your son, your only son, whom you love—Isaac—and ... sacrifice him as a burnt offering."
So Abraham went. Early in the morning, he went. "Abraham got up and loaded his donkey.... When he had cut enough wood for the burnt offering, he set out [with Isaac].... Abraham took the wood for the burnt offering and placed it on his son Isaac, and he himself carried the fire and the knife.... When they reached the place God had told him about, Abraham built an altar there and arranged the wood on it. He bound his son Isaac and laid him on the altar, on top of the wood. Then he reached out his hand and took the knife to slay his son...."
(NIV, Gen 22:2-10)
Reading the verses of Abraham's and Isaac's climb up the mountain of sacrifice is painful. It brings tears to my eyes and a thickness to my throat. Could I have made that journey? Can I make that journey? Do I trust the Lord as Abraham did?
I have known other "mountains"—some of them heart-wrenching. In my daily journey I ask now for Abraham's faith, to do the Lord's will, to be strong, to say, "Here I am Lord. I am completely in your hands."
Patti Cacciabaudo is a first-year student in the Hartford Catholic Biblical School at our Milford campus.
