Brief synopsis of the readings: Our first reading goes all the way back to Genesis. Abraham, responding to God’s call, took his family and left the land of Ur and went to the land God promised him. Here God spoke to Abraham and promised him he would have as many descendants as there are stars in the sky. To mark this covenant Abraham gathered and sacrificed several animals. God then caused a flaming torch to pass between the animal parts and God promised land to Abraham “from the Wadi of Egypt to the Great River, the Euphrates.” Luke’s Gospel recounts the Visitation where Jesus took Peter, James and John up a mountain. While Jesus prayed his face and clothing became dazzling white and he began to converse with Moses and Elijah. Peter then suggested that they set up three tents to commemorate this: one each for Jesus, Moses, and Elijah. But then a cloud cast a shadow over them and they heard a voice from the cloud saying: “This is my chosen Son; listen to him.”

I have to say that today’s readings give us a virtual Who’s Who of Biblical figures. We all know Abraham as the man that Judaism, Christianity and Islam all point to as their father; as a matter of fact President Jimmy Carter wrote a book about Abraham’s role in his book The Blood of Abraham. Moses, as we all know, led the Israelites out of slavery in Egypt and brought them to the promised land. Elijah may be a little less known but he was a prophet; once his ministry was complete he was bodily taken into the sky on a golden chariot and has not been seen since. It is believed among many in the Jewish community that Elijah’s return will hearken the Messiah.

I’m probably not alone in thinking this but it must have been amazing to have had Abraham’s conversation with God, and seen Jesus in the company of Moses and Elijah. But what about the rest of us as we make the decisions in our lives that we hope point to our belief in Jesus? There has never been a time in our history where we’ve been free of charlatans and crooks. And modern technology has appeared to make it worse: we are constantly warned that the next phone call, mailing or social media post may promise us the world and rob us of what we need. If that weren’t enough we’re also bombarded with promises of things that will make us popular, give us balance, give our life meaning or take away anxiety.

Little wonder many of us feel overwhelmed and unsure. But as we look at how Abraham and Peter responded to these events, let’s see what they were told. When we first met Abraham in Genesis he was married to Sarah but they were elderly and childless and this was often seen as God’s curse. God did promise a child but he also promised more descendants than Abraham could count. This promise would not directly benefit Abraham as most of us have been born since Abraham died. What made God’s promise, and Abraham’s acceptance, so interesting is that Abraham didn’t accept it for his own sake but for ours. It wasn’t as if God promised him more wealth or better land or dozens of children.

And so with Peter. Jesus also never promised more wealth or better land or dozens of children. In fairness Jesus did promise salvation but given their confusion at Jesus’ resurrection they probably didn’t fully understand what that meant. Peter suggested erecting the tents not for his own glory but so that others who came after would recognize the importance of this event.

In our life we make countless moral decisions but we also make decisions about who will lead us and who we should follow. But who do we choose if we feel like we’re awash in promises? It’s a commonly held belief in advertising that it exists to tell us what we don’t know we need. And let’s face it politicians constantly seek issues that will inspire but will also frighten us. Good people sometimes go to vote and pull the wrong lever out of manufactured fears or anxieties.

So what do we do? I suggest that we be more like Abraham and Peter. Abraham followed God not only because God led him to a new promised land but because God promised more than Abraham dreamed of. As Catholics we are blessed with the Communion of Saints, biographies of people of faith who went before us and lived exemplary lives. They were flawed humans, just like us, but they pointed the way. More to the point they didn’t point to themselves.

Frankly we also have secular saints. I’ve lost count of how many biographies of Abraham Lincoln I’ve read and I’ve always been impressed at how little he wanted for himself and how much he wanted for his nation. We all know that the Civil War was ultimately fought over slavery but newly elected President Lincoln did not go into battle to end slavery: he went into battle to preserve the Union. He had a complicated view of slavery, believing that he did not have the right to end slavery itself but did not wish slavery to spread to the territories. He opposed slavery and hoped it would die but was not prepared to kill it.

Improbably he was elected President in 1860 with only 39.7% of the vote. He was clearly not the front runner but his determination to preserve the Union for future generations made enough of a difference for enough of the voters that he was able to lead.

As we journey through Lent, 2025 let us imagine ourselves as voters in 1860. We need to follow not those who promise to make only our lives better, but those whose promises lead to everyone, even those who have not yet been born.