God provided a ram – Iconologos

This past Sunday’s Old Testament Reading was the Offering of Isaac. I didn’t expect that reading to be paired this week with the Gospel reading about the Transfiguration, and that gave me pause. Our Isaac was buried on the Feast of the Transfiguration.

Early in high school, Isaac Scharbach painted the ram that was miraculously provided in place of Abraham’s son, Isaac. This painting has often made me think of our own Isaac’s death. But then the thought would arise: “Abraham kept his son, but we did not.”

Readers of these emails know that our Isaac was prepared die. I recall this journal entry, taken from an earlier post on this site: “As Abraham withheld not his only son from God, help me to withhold nothing.”

But how do we reconcile his death with the promise to Abraham? How does this relate the the many other losses we encounter in life? I addressed those questions this weekend. (Homily video; homily text).