How do you think about promises? Can it be true? Or a sweet lie? Based on these questions, we can reexamine our own faith. It is not easy to make a declaration about personal faith, because this is a "blur area" for Christians, which means we cannot know exactly the status of our individual faith, and... how can we describe this?
I would like to "borrow" the image of Abraham and Mary, which is helpful and meaningful for my own reflection. Furthermore, hope that this thought is useful for your spiritual life. Beginning with initial questions: Did Abraham and Mary fear before God's promises? Did they completely keep strong faith in those ones? Did anything challenge their faith? ...
Leaving hometown with God's promises that Abraham would be received: (1) the land, (2) a great nation, and (3) a blessing. "Go from your country and your kindred and your father’s house to the land that I will show you. I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and the one who curses you I will curse, and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed." (Gen. 12:1-3). Those promises emphasize the space and time promises, meaning they would not occur immediately at the time of the promising action.
"Go from your country and your kindred and your father’s house to the land that I will show you." (Gen 12:1). Where is "the land that I will show you"? How far is it from Ur - Abraham's motherland? How about the next happening that occurs on the way to the destination? It is certain that Abraham did not have any further information about the land of the Canaanites. However, all of Abraham's thoughts and actions were based on "God's promises" without doubt, so he obeyed and departed from Haran to begin his own journey of faith at the age of seventy (Gen. 12:4).
Another image in the New Testament, Mary's annunciation, is also a Promise's model which comes from God: "You will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you will name him Jesus. He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High, and the Lord God will give to him the throne of his ancestor David. He will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there will be no end... The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; therefore the child to be born will be holy; he will be called Son of God... For nothing will be impossible with God." (Lk 1: 31-37)
Mary, according to Luke's descriptions, was confused when she faced the angel's announcement, and she asked: "How can this be, since I am a virgin?" (Lk 1:34). This question clarified Mary's confusing attitude when she received the salvation message of God without any detailed plan for her life. While Mary was engaged to Joseph and waiting to live with him in a home as a normal Jewish woman, she could not imagine what would happen after the promises and their consequences. However, her reply to angel makes us surprised: "Here am I, the servant of the Lord; let it be with me according to your word." (Lk 1:38)
What general points did Abraham and Mary make when they faced God's promises?
(1) Both promises come actively from God. The action of God makes us amazed because Mary recognized the annunciation to herself is not out from God's promises when she declared: "He has come to the aid of his child Israel, in remembrance of his mercy, according to the promise he made to our ancestors, to Abraham and to his descendants forever." (Lk 1, 54-55)
(2) Although both promises contain "WILL" verbs, which mean that those promises do not happen immediately, Abraham and Mary both believe and obey God's instructions. Their attitudes and behaviors cannot be explained because their courageous mind and readiness of heart are not limited to human borders but extend beyond human thinking.
(3) The covenants of God with His People are practiced through faithful hearts, as Abraham and Mary, without limitation of space and time. "Indeed, his mercy is for those who fear him from generation to generation." (Lk 1:50) God is always faithful to His promises and, therefore, responds to His love by faithful hearts, which are naturally and obligatorily true attitudes and behaviors of His people.
We - Christians - read Abraham's and Mary’s mysterious stories when everything happened thousands of years ago; Nowadays, “this divine mystery of salvation is revealed to us and continued in the Church, which the Lord established as His body.” (Lumen Gentium, no.52)
Christians believe that God's plan and His own wisdom and goodness were "prepared in a remarkable way throughout the history of the people of Israel and by means of the Old Covenant. In the present era of time the Church was constituted and, by the outpouring of the Spirit, was made manifest. At the end of time it will gloriously achieve completion, when, as is read in the Fathers, all the just, from Adam and "from Abel, the just one, to the last of the elect," will be gathered together with the Father in the universal Church." (Lumen Gentium, no.2).
Therefore, Christians who are "established by Christ as a communion of life, charity and truth, it is also used by Him as an instrument for the redemption of all, and is sent forth into the whole world as the light of the world and the salt of the earth." (Lumen Gentium, no.9)
Little Stream
Photo: Moon
Toronto, 16/01/2026
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