Word to the Wise
Thursday, February 19, 2015 - Thursday after Ash Wed.
[Deut 30:15-20 and Luke 9:22-25]I call heaven and earth today to witness against you: I have set before you life and death, the blessing and the curse. Choose life, then, that you and your descendants may live, by loving the Lord, your God, heeding his voice, and holding fast to him. [Deuteronomy]
Moses makes it simple: life or death. What's to choose? Are there any other options? Can we negotiate this? Those may sound like modern responses, but they are the responses, in effect, of the Chosen People for nearly 40 years in the desert under the leadership of Moses. Again and again the people "choose" life and "do" death of various kinds, mostly idolatry - e.g. the Golden Calf! The choice of death seems to yield a short term gain, but the long term consequences were bad news. This suggests a fundamental truth about Lent.
Choosing and doing are not the same thing. It's the difference between making a promise and keeping the promise. We know from our own experience that the first is a lot easier than the second. Making a choice for Lent can be like that. Choices about favorite foods or drinks or recreational activity are scarcely ultimate choices that lead to long term commitments. Can we make a serious choice, such as a determined effort to do more for the poor, or spend time with God, or improve communications with spouse, children, friends. Can we put the career in second place so that those serious choices stand a chance of fulfillment? These choices are like that cross that Jesus says we must take up if we are going to follow him. (cf. today's gospel scripture) They are much more about life and death than a choice between which thing we are going to "give up" for 40 days! AMEN
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