Patriarch Abraham

No fixed feast day in the calendar

Patriarch Abraham: the back of the card, with its short story, lesson and a QR code that opens it in the Catholic Information app. The full text is below.

Flip the card and scan the QR code on the back to open it in the app

Patriarch Abraham, the father of all who believe, who left his homeland when God called him.

Who is he?

Abraham is the first patriarch of the people of Israel. God chose him and promised: “All the families of the earth will find blessing in you” (Gn 12:3). Jesus is “the son of Abraham” (Mt 1:1).

Life story

At first, his name was Abram. His family left Ur of the Chaldeans and came to live in Haran (cf. Gn 11:31). There the LORD said to him: “Go forth from your land, your relatives, and from your father’s house to a land that I will show you” (Gn 12:1). He was already seventy-five years old, but he set out as the LORD had told him (cf. Gn 12:4). He lived in tents, moving from place to place in the land of Canaan.

He and his wife Sarah were old and still had no children. One night, God took him outside and said: “Look up at the sky and count the stars, if you can” (Gn 15:5). His descendants would be that many. God changed his name to Abraham (cf. Gn 17:5). He also warmly welcomed three strangers at Mamre (cf. Gn 18:1-8). When he was one hundred years old, Sarah bore him a son, Isaac, a name that recalls joyful laughter (cf. Gn 21:5-6).

Then God tested him: he told Abraham to take his son up a mountain and offer him as a burnt offering. On the way, Isaac asked where the lamb for the offering was. Abraham answered: “God will provide himself the lamb for a burnt offering, my son” (Gn 22:8). When they arrived, the angel of the LORD called to him from heaven to stop and not to harm the boy. Abraham looked up and saw a ram caught by its horns in a bush, and he offered it in place of his son (cf. Gn 22:11-13).

Why does the Church honor him?

He believed God’s promise even before he saw it come true, and he was ready to give God what was most precious to him. In the scene on the mountain, the Church sees a sign of God the Father, who gave his only Son for us (cf. CCC 2572). The Roman Martyrology remembers him on October 9.

A lesson for you

When you don’t understand why something is happening, trust that God is leading you, just as he led Abraham.
Welcome guests to your home warmly, as Abraham welcomed the three strangers.
Tonight, when you look at the stars, thank God, because through faith you too belong to Abraham’s spiritual family.

Identifying marks

A ram caught by its horns in a bush: God gave him the ram to offer in place of his son (cf. Gn 22:13).
A knife lowered, a hand raised to heaven: he was ready to obey God on Mount Moriah, but God held back his hand (cf. Gn 22:10-12).
A starry sky: God promised that his descendants would be as many as the stars in the sky (cf. Gn 15:5).
An old man with a white beard and a nomad’s head cloth: he left his homeland and lived in tents all his life to follow God’s word.
Three visitors (*): he welcomed three strangers at Mamre (cf. Gn 18:1-8).

(*) Only in some pictures and statues.

The text on this page is the card in the Catholic Information app, word for word.