First Reading

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,

and he received Isaac back as a symbol.