February 25th, 2004, 2nd Sunday of Lent.

A reading from the book of Genesis.

God put Abraham to the test.

He called to him, Abraham.

Here I am, he replied.

Then God said,

Take your son, Isaac,

your only one whom you love, and go to the land of Mariah.

There you shall offer him up as a holocaust, on a height that I will point out to you.

When they came to the place of which God had told him, Abraham built an altar there and arranged

the wood on it. Then he reached out and took

the knife to slaughter his son. But the Lord's messenger called to him from heaven. Abraham, Abraham.

Here I am, he answered. Do not lay your hand on the boy, said the messenger. "'Do not do the least thing to him.

"'I know now how devoted you are to God,

"'since you did not withhold from me your own beloved son.'

"'As Abraham looked about,

"'he spied a ram caught by its horns in the thicket.

"'So he went and took the ram and offered it up as a

holocaust in place of his son. Again, the Lord's messenger called to Abraham from heaven

and said, I swear by myself, declares the Lord, that because you acted as you did, in not withholding

for me your beloved son, I will

bless you abundantly and make your descendants as countless as the stars of the sky and

...