¹ Dearest brothers, the reading in which the blessed Abraham is said to have offered his son Isaac as a burnt offering is not recited in its usual order during the days of Lent. This is because, as you know, it is reserved for the Easter Vigil due to the mystery of the Lord’s Passion. And since there is no time then to discuss it in detail, if you permit, let us now briefly present its explanation according to how our Fathers, under the inspiration of the Lord, have interpreted it.

² The Lord said to Abraham: “Take your son, whom you love—Isaac—and offer him to me as a burnt offering on one of the mountains that I will show you”. So Abraham arose, saddled his donkey, took two servants with him and his son Isaac, and arrived at the place that the Lord had shown him on the third day.

³ When Abraham offered his son Isaac, he represented God the Father, while Isaac prefigured our Lord and Saviour. The fact that they reached the place of sacrifice on the third day signifies the mystery of the Trinity. Indeed, the third day is frequently associated with the mystery of the Trinity in the sacred Scriptures. For example, in Exodus: “We will go a three-day journey into the wilderness”, and again, when they arrived at Mount Sinai, it was said to the people: “Sanctify yourselves and be ready on the third day”. Likewise, Joshua, before crossing the Jordan, instructed the people to be ready on the third day. And the Lord Himself rose on the third day. We mention all this because the blessed Abraham reached the place that the Lord had shown him on the third day.

⁴ The two servants whom Abraham commanded to remain with the donkey represent the people of the Jews. Because they would not believe in Christ, they were unable to ascend to or reach the place where the sacrifice was to take place. The donkey itself signifies the synagogue. The ram, caught by its horns among the thorns, also appears to be a figure of the Lord. For Christ, too, was held fast as if by horns among thorns when He hung upon the cross, nailed to its beams.

⁵ Isaac carrying the wood for his own sacrifice also prefigured the Lord Christ, who carried His own cross to the place of His Passion. This mystery had been foretold long before by the prophet: “And the government shall be upon his shoulders”. Christ truly bore this government upon His shoulders when, in an astounding act of humility, He carried His cross. It is fitting that the cross of Christ represents His dominion, for through it the devil is defeated and the whole world is brought to the knowledge and grace of Christ. Thus, the Apostle Paul also speaks of the Lord’s Passion, saying: “He became obedient to the Father unto death, even death on a cross. Therefore, God has highly exalted Him and given Him the name that is above every name”.

⁶ We have said this, brothers, so that your love may recognize that the dominion of Christ, about which it is written, “And the government will be upon His shoulders”, is nothing other than His cross. That is why this reading is proclaimed at Passover, when the true Isaac—who was prefigured by Abraham’s son—is affixed to the wooden scaffold of the cross for the salvation of the human race.

⁷ In that same reading, it is also written that the blessed Abraham, as he approached with his son, saw the place from afar and said to his servants: “Stay here with the donkey. I and the boy will go over there, and after we have worshiped, we will return to you”. Why does he say to the servants—who represent the Jewish people—“Stay here with the donkey”? Could that donkey, brothers, even sit down? But he says, “Stay here with the donkey” because the Jewish people, who would not come to believe in Christ, were unable to stand; rather, weak and feeble with sin, having despaired of the staff of the cross, they were destined to fall to the ground.

⁸ Thus, the blessed Abraham says: “Stay here with the donkey. I and the boy will go over there, and after we have worshiped, we will return to you.” But what is this you say, blessed Abraham? You are going to sacrifice your son, and yet you say you will return with him? If you offer him as a burnt offering, surely he cannot come back with you! Blessed Abraham could have answered: “I speak the truth—I offer my son, and I will return with my son to you. My faith is so great that I believe the One who granted him to me from a barren mother is able even to raise him from the dead. And so I speak truly: after we have worshiped, we will return to you.”

⁹ The reason the ram was slain while Isaac was not is that Isaac was a symbol, not the reality. In him, therefore, was prefigured what was later fulfilled in Christ. Consider how the Lord, in His great mercy, contends with humanity: Abraham offered his mortal son, who was not to die, to God—while God gave over His immortal Son to death for the sake of humanity. However, we can also understand the blessed Isaac and the ram in another way: in Isaac, the divinity of Christ is signified, while in the ram, His humanity is represented. Since it was not the divinity but the humanity that was crucified in the Passion, it was not Isaac who was sacrificed but the ram. For the Only-Begotten of God is offered, and the Firstborn of the Virgin is immolated.

¹⁰ Listen to another mystery, dearest brothers. The blessed priest Jerome wrote that he had learned with certainty from the ancient and elder Jews that Isaac was offered in the very place where Christ was later crucified. In fact, the journey from the place where blessed Abraham was commanded to set out to the place where Christ was crucified took three days. Moreover, ancient tradition also recounts that Adam, the first man, was once buried in the very place where the cross was raised. That is why it is called the Place of the Skull, for it is said that the first head of the human race was buried there. And truly, brothers, it is not unfitting to believe that He was lifted up in the very place where the sick one lay. It was fitting that where human pride had brought death, divine mercy should bow down, and that the precious blood, by physically touching the dust of the ancient sinner as it deigned to trickle down, should be believed to have redeemed it.

¹¹ These things, dearest brothers, we have gathered from various books of Scripture, as best as we could, for the benefit of your souls, and we have shared them out of love. But as you frequently reread the divine Scriptures with the Lord’s help, if you pay close attention, I believe you may even find a better interpretation.

¹² Brothers, I urge you: whoever among you desires to have their son or household servant baptized, let them not delay in offering them to the Church. For it is not right that something so great and so glorious, which we believe baptism to be, should be sought negligently or later than is fitting.

¹³ I fear, however, that some women delay in offering their infants because they wish to avoid coming with them to the vigils. Yet we firmly believe that those who, at the very beginning of Lent, desire to offer their children or servants for baptism, and who faithfully attend the vigils with them, will not only see their children or servants receive the sacrament of baptism in proper order, but they themselves will also obtain the forgiveness of their sins, by the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, to whom belong honour and dominion with the Father and the Holy Spirit, forever and ever. Amen.