Patriarch Jacob

No fixed feast day in the calendar

Patriarch Jacob: 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 Jacob, who saw a ladder joining heaven and earth, and whom God renamed Israel.

Who is he?

Jacob is one of the three patriarchs of the people of Israel, together with his grandfather Abraham and his father Isaac. God calls himself “the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob” (Ex 3:6). His twelve sons are the ancestors of the twelve tribes of Israel.

Life story

He had a twin brother, Esau. When he was born, his hand was holding on to his brother’s heel (cf. Gn 25:26). When he grew up, he used a trick, pretending to be his brother, to receive his old father’s blessing (cf. Gn 27). Esau was very angry, so Jacob had to flee far away, to the house of his uncle Laban.

On the way, he took a stone to rest his head on and slept. He dreamed of “a ladder set up on the earth, and the top of it reached to heaven; and behold, the angels of God were ascending and descending on it” (Gn 28:12). God promised him: “Behold, I am with you” (Gn 28:15). When he woke up, he said: “Surely the LORD is in this place; and I did not know it” (Gn 28:16). He named that place Bethel, which means “House of God”.

At Laban’s house, he worked hard for many years and married Leah and Rachel. In time, he had twelve sons in all (cf. Gn 35:22-26). On his way back home, he wrestled all night with a mysterious figure; the prophet Hosea calls him an angel (cf. Hos 12:5). His name was changed to Israel, because he had struggled with God and with people, and had won (cf. Gn 32:29). Then the two brothers met again: Esau ran to hug his brother, and they both wept (cf. Gn 33:4).

Why does the Church honor him?

Jacob was not perfect: he had once lied, and he also suffered a great deal, as when he thought his beloved son Joseph had died. But God was faithful to his promise and slowly changed him. Jesus said that his disciples would see “the angels of God ascending and descending upon the Son of man” (Jn 1:51): Jesus himself is the ladder that joins heaven and earth.

A lesson for you

When you have upset your brother or sister, bravely say sorry and make peace, as Jacob did with Esau.
Wherever you go, God is with you: before you go to sleep, remember God’s promise: “Behold, I am with you”.
God does not leave you because you do wrong; he patiently helps you become better every day.

Identifying marks

A ladder joining earth and heaven, with angels going up and down: his dream at Bethel (cf. Gn 28:12).
A stone: he used a stone as a pillow to sleep on, then set it up as a pillar to mark the place where he met God (cf. Gn 28:11, 18).
A shepherd’s staff under a starry night sky: he was a wandering shepherd who met God at night while fleeing far from home.
Wrestling with an angel (*): after a night of wrestling, his name was changed to Israel (cf. Gn 32:29).

(*) Only in some pictures and statues.

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