CCC 145 The Letter to the Hebrews, in its great eulogy of the faith of Israel’s ancestors, lays special emphasis on Abraham’s faith: “By faith, Abraham obeyed when he was called to go out to a place which he was to receive as an inheritance; and he went out, not knowing where he was to go.”1 By faith, he lived as a stranger and pilgrim in the promised land.2 By faith, Sarah was given to conceive the son of the promise. And by faith Abraham offered his only son in sacrifice.3

CCC 2572 As a final stage in the purification of his faith, Abraham, “who had received the promises,”4 is asked to sacrifice the son God had given him. Abraham’s faith does not weaken (“God himself will provide the lamb for a burnt offering.”), for he “considered that God was able to raise men even from the dead.”5 And so the father of believers is conformed to the likeness of the Father who will not spare his own Son but will deliver him up for us all.6 Prayer restores man to God’s likeness and enables him to share in the power of God’s love that saves the multitude.7

1 Heb 11:8; cf. Gen 12:1-4.
2 Cf. Gen 23:4.
3 Cf. Heb 11:17.
4 Heb 11:17.
5 Gen 22:8; Heb 11:19
6 Rom 8:32.
7 Cf. Rom 8:16-21.