Our Old Testament reading gives us the call of Abram: ‘The Lord said to Abram, “Go from your country and your kindred and your father’s house to the land that I will show you …’ (Genesis 12:1)

These words have brought forth many a vocation to consecrated life; it may be in the literal leaving of a country, but in all cases it is the leaving of all that is familiar in order to embark on a radical new way of life. It is recorded that ‘Abram went’, and this obedience was ‘reckoned to him as righteousness’, as St Paul would later write in his Epistle to the Romans (Romans 4:3).

In the choices that face us, may we learn to trust God and walk forward in complete faith; and  may God be very close to you this day.