Patriarch Isaac

No fixed feast day in the calendar

Patriarch Isaac: 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 Isaac, the son of the promise, who carried wood up Mount Moriah with his father.

Who is he?

Isaac is one of the three patriarchs of the people of Israel, together with his father Abraham and his son Jacob. The name Isaac recalls laughter, because when he was born, his mother Sarah said: “God has given me cause to laugh” (Gn 21:6).

Life story

Isaac was his parents’ joy, the son they had waited for through so many years. One day, God tested Abraham, telling him to take his son to the land of Moriah, up a mountain God would show him, and offer him as a burnt offering (cf. Gn 22:1-2). Abraham laid the wood on Isaac’s shoulders, while he himself carried the fire and the knife, and “the two walked on together” (Gn 22:6).

On the way, the boy asked: “Behold, the fire and the wood; but where is the lamb for a burnt offering?” His father answered: “God will provide himself the lamb for a burnt offering, my son” (Gn 22:7-8). When they arrived, just as Abraham was about to do what God had commanded, the angel of the Lord called him and told him not to harm the boy. He 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). God stopped Abraham and saved Isaac’s life. Through that trial, Abraham’s faith was revealed.

When he grew up, Isaac married Rebekah. The Bible tells us “he loved her. So Isaac was comforted after his mother’s death” (Gn 24:67). He was a peaceful man. When the herdsmen of Gerar quarreled with him over wells, he did not fight, but went away and dug another well, until at last he was left in peace (cf. Gn 26:19-22). He and Rebekah had twin sons, Esau and Jacob.

Why does the Church honor him?

Isaac is the son of the promise, and through him God went on keeping his promise to Abraham. The Church Fathers, the great teachers of the faith in early times, saw in the boy Isaac carrying wood up the mountain a sign of Jesus carrying his cross up the hill of Calvary. But unlike Isaac, Jesus truly gave his life to save us.

A lesson for you

When you face something hard and don’t know what to do, pray and trust that “God will provide” (Gn 22:8).
When others take what is yours, learn Isaac’s gentleness and patience.
Every time you see a cross, remember that Jesus loved you so much that he gave his life for you.

Identifying marks

A bundle of wood in his arms: Abraham laid the wood for the burnt offering on his son’s shoulders on the way up the mountain (cf. Gn 22:6). The Church Fathers saw in this a sign of Jesus carrying his cross.
A calm young man without a beard: he trusted his father and went up Mount Moriah with him.
The hills of Moriah: where God tested Abraham, and then gave a ram to be offered in Isaac’s place (cf. Gn 22:13).
A well (*): he dug again the wells of his father (cf. Gn 26:18).

(*) Only in some pictures and statues.

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