¹ A moment ago, when the divine reading was proclaimed, we heard the Lord saying to the blessed Abraham: “Go forth from your land, from your kindred, and from your father’s house”. For, dearest brothers, everything written in the Old Testament prefigured and foreshadowed the New Testament. Thus, the Apostle Paul also says: “These things happened to them as an example, but they were written down for our instruction, upon whom the end of the ages has come”.

² If, then, these things were written for our sake, then what we read as having been physically done in Abraham, we see spiritually fulfilled in ourselves—if we live in holiness and righteousness. “Go forth,” He says, “from your land, from your kindred, and from your father’s house.” All these things, dearest brothers, we believe and understand to be fulfilled in us through the sacrament of baptism. Our “land” is our flesh. We truly leave our land behind when, abandoning worldly habits, we cling to the footsteps of Christ. Do you not see that one who changes from prideful to humble, from wrathful to patient, from lustful to chaste, from greedy to generous, from envious to kind, from violent to peaceful—does he not indeed leave behind his own land, that is, himself, in a most blessed way?

³ Truly, dearest brothers, the one who leaves his own land for the love of God departs in a blessed way. In fact, even in everyday conversation, we are accustomed to say that if a wicked person suddenly begins to do good works, we remark of him: “He has gone out from himself.” And indeed, he is rightly said to have left himself behind if, having rejected vices, he delights in virtues. “Go forth,” says the Lord, “from your land”. Our land—meaning our flesh—was, before baptism, a land of the dying; after baptism, it became a land of the living. This is the land about which the prophet sang: “I believe that I shall see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living”.

⁴ Therefore, through baptism, we have been made into a land of the living and not of the dying—that is, a land of virtues and not of vices, as I have said—provided, however, that after receiving baptism, we do not return to the filth of our former sins. If, after we have become the land of the living, we engage in deeds of death and indulgence, we stray from our calling. “And come,” says the Lord, “into the land that I will show you”. We arrive joyfully in the land that the Lord reveals only if we first drive out from our own land—that is, from our own flesh—all vices and sins with His help.

⁵ “Go forth,” He says, “from your kindred”. By this “kindred,” we should understand vices and sins, which, in a way, are born with us and are nurtured from infancy by corrupt habits. We go forth from our kindred when, through the grace of baptism, we are cleansed of all sins and vices. However, this must be followed by our own effort, aided by God’s help, so that we do not merely reject vices but also fill ourselves with virtues.

⁶ For if, after baptism, we are cleansed of all evils but choose to be idle and negligent, I fear that what is written in the Gospel may come to pass in us: “When an unclean spirit has gone out of a person, it wanders through waterless places seeking rest but finds none. Then it says, ‘I will return to my house from which I came.’ And when it arrives, it finds the house empty, swept clean, and put in order. Then it goes and brings with it seven other spirits more wicked than itself, and they enter and dwell there. And the last state of that person is worse than the first”.

⁷ Thus, let us depart from our kindred—that is, from our sins and vices—in such a way that we never wish to return to these evils, like a dog to its own vomit. “Go forth,” says the Lord, “also from your father’s house”. And this, dearest brothers, we must understand in a spiritual sense. Before receiving the grace of Christ, our father was the devil. Confronting the Jews in the Gospel, the Lord says of him: “You are of your father the devil, and your will is to do your father’s desires”. Here, He calls the devil the father of men not because they were born from him, but because they imitated his wickedness—not by nature, but by choice.

⁸ That the devil was once our father is recalled by the psalmist, speaking in the voice of God to the Church: “Listen, O daughter, and consider, and incline your ear; forget your people and your father’s house”. Consider first what is said: “Listen, O daughter.” The one who says “daughter” is, of course, a father. But when He says, “Forget your people and your father’s house,” He is instructing us to leave behind our former father. Thus, God the Father calls us to abandon the devil as our father through a blessed and joyful transformation. We truly forsake the devil as our father if, with God’s help, we strive always to avoid and flee from his cunning and wickedness.

⁹ All these things—our departure from our own land, meaning the ways of the flesh; our renunciation of our kindred, that is, our vices and sins; and our escape from the house of the devil, our former father—have not been accomplished by our own strength, but by the grace of Christ, which has been granted to us. Therefore, as much as we are able, let us labour with God’s help so that we do not return to companionship or friendship with the devil, nor to our vices and carnal desires. As it is written: “See, you have been made well. Sin no more, that nothing worse may happen to you”.

¹⁰ Rather, by imitating Abraham’s faith and continually performing good works, may we not only receive forgiveness but also attain friendship and fellowship with God. Let us also fear what the Lord spoke concerning this matter to Moses, which we should consider with great fear and trembling. He said: “When the Lord your God has given you the land of the Canaanites, be careful not to make any covenant with the inhabitants of that land, lest it become a snare to you”.

¹¹ If, through the grace of baptism, we believe that all our sins and transgressions have been expelled, yet afterward we form friendships with these very vices and sins—by giving in to desires and indulgence—then without a doubt, such companionship will lead to our downfall. And so, as much as we are able, let us labour for the salvation of our souls with God’s help and strive to bring virtues into the field of our hearts, which sins and transgressions have long occupied. In this way, the words of the blessed Isaac, who, as a figure of Christ, blessed his son, may be fulfilled in us: “See, the scent of my son is like the scent of a field that the Lord has blessed”.

¹² May He Himself, to whom belong honour and dominion with the Father in the Holy Spirit forever and ever, grant this. Amen.