Welcome back to the Jesse Tree on the Catholic Sprouts podcast.

Today is Thursday of the first week of Advent.

God called Abraham to leave his homeland and the wicked practices of the people who lived there.

Not only did the people of Abraham's time worship false gods,

many of them offered human sacrifices to these false gods.

But Abraham was called to be set apart and become the father of a nation of people

who worshipped only the one true God who is love and mercy.

However, before he established his covenant with Abraham, God tested him.

Listen now to the story of Abraham and his son Isaac at Mount Moriah. Genesis chapter 22, 1 through 2, 7 through 13.

After these things, God tested Abraham, he said to him, Abraham, and he said, here I am. He said,

take your son, your only son, Isaac, whom you love, and go to the land of Mariah, and he said, here I am. He said, take your son, your only son Isaac, whom you love,

and go to the land of Mariah, and offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains

that I shall show you. Abraham took the wood of the burnt offering and laid it on his son, Isaac,

and he himself carried the fire and the knife. So the two of them walked on together. Isaac said to his father

Abraham, Father, and he said, here I am, my son. He said, the fire and the wood are here, but where is the

lamb for a burnt offering? Abraham said, God himself will provide the lamb for a burnt offering, my son.

So the two of them walked on together.

When they came to the place that God had shown them, Abraham built an altar there and laid the

wood in order. He bound his son Isaac and laid him on the altar on top of the wood. Then Abraham

reached out his hand and took the knife to kill his son. But the angel of the Lord called to him from heaven and said,

Abraham, Abraham, and he said, here I am. He said, do not lay your hand on the boy or do anything to him.

For now I know that you fear God, since you have not without your son, your only son from me.

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