February 1st, 2025, Saturday of the third week in ordinary time.

A reading from the letter to the Hebrews.

Brothers and sisters,

faith is the realization of what is hoped for

and evidence of things not seen.

Because of it, the ancients were well attested. By faith,

Abraham obeyed when he was called to go out to a place that he was to receive as an inheritance.

He went out not knowing where he was to go. By faith, he sojourned in the promised land as in a foreign

country, dwelling in tents with Isaac and Jacob, heirs of the same promise, for he was looking

forward to the city with foundations, whose architect and maker is God. By faith he received power to generate,

even though he was past the normal age, and Sarah herself was sterile, for he thought that the one who had made the promise was trustworthy. So it was that there came forth

from one man, himself as good as dead, descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky, and as countless

as the sands on the seashore. All these died in faith.

They did not receive what had been promised,

but saw it and greeted it from afar,

and acknowledged themselves to be strangers and aliens on earth.

For those who speak thus show that they are seeking a homeland. If they had

been thinking of the land from which they had come, they would have had opportunity to return.

But now they desire a better homeland, a heavenly one. Therefore, God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has

prepared a city for them. By faith, Abraham, when put to the test, offered up Isaac, and he who had

received the promises, was ready to offer his only son, of whom it was said,

through Isaac descendants shall bear your name. He reasoned that God was able to raise even from the dead,

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