Word to the Wise
Thursday, February 26, 2009 - Thursday after Ash Wednesday
[Deuteronomy 30:15-20 and Luke 9:22-25]Moses said to the people: "Today I have set before you life and prosperity, death and doom. If you obey the commandments of the Lord, your God, which I enjoin on you today, loving him, and walking in his ways, and keep his commandments, statutes and decrees, you will love and grow numerous, and the Lord your God will bless you in the land you are entering to occupy. (Deuteronomy) Then [Jesus]said to all: "If anyone wishes to come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me. For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will save it. What profit is there for one to gain the whole world yet lose or forfeit himself. [Gospel of Luke]
Difficult decisions are sometimes described as the result of "considerable soul searching!" How many of us can speak to that experience: "soul searching"? It implies a lot of anguished interior dialogue, doesn't it? Pretty close to what the Prophet Joel spoke of yesterday in the Ash Wednesday scripture: "Rend your hearts and not your garments!" Perhaps the sad thing is that important life-changing decisions are often made without the kind of soul searching those decisions require. The speech of Moses calls us to obedience of a law that is greater than we are. Given the choice between "life and prosperity" and "death and doom," who would want to choose the latter? Many try to have "life and prosperity" without the obedience to God's law! When they try the kind of "end run" they are actually choosing death and doom. It is the choice to follow that law which should give rise to "soul searching." The same thing is true of the choice that Jesus places before us in the gospel scripture for today. The choice for discipleship means self-denial and acceptance of the cross! Few of us find such a challenge attractive. Gaining the whole world seems a better deal. Again, trying to "gain the whole world" without accepting penance and the daily cross will mean total loss. Again, we must do the "soul searching" that such a decision requires. What DO we want out of life? If one is searching for a meaningful way of experiencing the great liturgical season of Lent, "soul searching" may be a very good option! However, it can't be simply an interior debate. The searching should lead to action. Discipleship is not simply an inner thing. Does giving up sweets, alcohol, or other favorite things for Lent make a better disciple of a person? Does reaching out to one's neighbor or responding to any of the needs that Jesus describes in Matthew 25 (when I was hungry......) make for a better disciple? The choice seems clear to me, but I have to leave that choice to each one. It may be an introduction to "soul searching!" AMEN
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