COMMEMORATION OF ABRAHAM "OUR FATHER IN THE FAITH"

VATICAN CITY, FEB 23, 2000 (VIS) - Following the general audience in St. Peter's Square, John Paul II moved to the Paul VI Hall where he presided at a liturgical celebration in honor of the patriarch Abraham. The event represented the first stage in the Holy Father's journey to places linked with the history of salvation.

The celebration took the form of a Liturgy of the Word with readings from the Old and New Testaments, the Prayer of the Faithful and several other ceremonies such as the procession with the Gospel and the incensing of the image of the Holy Trinity.
Following the first reading and the Holy Father's homily, there were a few moments of meditation, accompanied by images of Ur of the Chaldeans and other places in which Abraham lived.

At the start of his homily, the Holy Father said "our gaze turns towards Abraham, towards the place where he felt God's call and responded to it with the obedience of faith. Together with us, Jews and Muslims also look to the figure of Abraham as a model of unconditional submission to God's will."

The Pope recalled that through faith Abraham emerged victorious from the trial to which he was submitted by God who asked him to sacrifice his only son Isaac. "Abraham's sacrifice," the Pope said, "thus appears as a prophetic announcement of Christ's sacrifice. ... In a certain way, the patriarch Abraham, our father in the faith, unknowingly introduces all believers to God's eternal plan in which the world will be redeemed."

John Paul II went on: "In Abraham's faith, God the Almighty has truly sealed an eternal alliance with the human race, the definitive fulfillment of which is Jesus Christ. The only begotten Son of the Father, of one being with Him, was made Man to introduce us, through humiliation on the Cross and the glory of the Resurrection, to the land of salvation that the merciful God promised humanity from the very beginning."

The Holy Father concluded by highlighting that Mary is the "insuperable model of the redeemed people who are journeying towards the accomplishment of this universal promise." She "personally participated in the ordeal of the Son, believing and standing upright by the cross. ... Faithful to God's people over the generations, she expressed her devotion to His plan of salvation. ... Like Abraham she accepted the sacrifice of the Son."

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