NOTES for Gen 7:6-9

If we believe, our faith becomes a kind of ark for us. “Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen” (Hebrews 11:1). This remarkable thought opens the apostle’s chapter in which he speaks about the faith of the patriarchs. The first among them is Noah (Hebrews 11:7). Faith itself, complete trust, compels Noah to abandon all the affairs of everyday life—matters that are sometimes so urgent and important that it is hard to tear oneself away from them—and begin building the ark. How certain of an as yet unseen flood must one be in order to obey God’s words!

At the same time, if we believe, we ourselves become an ark for our faith, in which it sails down the river of generations. We strive to become like our Most Holy Lady, the Mother of God, who became for Christ “the ark gilded by the Spirit” (Akathist to the Most Holy Mother of God, Ikos 12).