Choose Life, Not Death

In today's first reading, Deuteronomy 30: 15-20, Moses has a heart-to-heart talk with his people before he passes on to eternal life. He challenges his fellow Israelites, and each of us,  to choose life, not death! How? By keeping the commandments, serving the one true God, loving God, walking with God, listening to His voice, holding fast to God, turning away from idols, and not worshiping false gods,  (and they are all around them and us)! The responsorial psalm, Psalm 1, further instructs on what it means to serve the one true God: follow not the way of the wicked (and they, too, are all around us), walk not in the way of sinners who press us on every side, do not take a seat among the insolent, the lackadaisical, the proud, the arrogant or those who lust for that which causes death to the soul or spirit. Rather, delight in the ways of God and meditate on God's laws day and night!  In other words, stay close to the Lord, cling to Him, love Him, serve Him, worship Him. In  today's Gospel, Luke 9: 22-25, Jesus also shares his concerns with us lest we forfeit that which gives us life and denies us eternal life.  "If anyone who 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 whosoever loses his life for my sake will save it. What prof\it is there for one to gain the whole world yet lose or forfeit himself?

When you and I, at all costs, run after false gods, sit with the arrogant, the proud, the lustful, the insolent, the wicked, sinners bent on evil pursuits, are we not then refusing to deny ourselves? Are we not then not refusing to "take up [our] cross daily"?  Is it possible that we fall into these traps because we fail to keep our focus on the Lord, who alone can help to make right choices and to remember our vulnerability to make poor choices that do not lead to life but to death?

May we heed the voices of the Spirit in each of the readings in today's liturgy. Forgive us, Lord, when we turn from you and rely on ourselves alone or seek only the help of fellow human beings, who, like us, are vulnerable to worship idols.

Choose Life

In today's first reading, Dt. 30:15-20, we are told that God has set before us life and death. "Choose life,...that you and your descendants may live, by loving the Lord, our God, heeding his voice, and holding fast to him."  Yesterday a young man chose death by killing 17 young men and women. This young man is allegedly mentally ill.  He was allowed to legally purchase an automatic weapon and was determined, according to a face book message, to become a professional school shooter.  Why, I ask, are automatic weapons sold to anyone and are we not choosing death by allowing such purchases to occur?  Automatic weapons certainly are not used to kill deer or other animals sought for food!  They are used to kill people! I ask myself the following questions: So what goes here? Is it that producing and selling weapons of mass destruction puts millions of dollars in the pockets of the rich? Is it that allowing every human being to possess a gun, for any reason,  also creates millions of dollars of profits in corporations that produce these weapons? Is it that gun lobbyists promise millions to politicians who, in turn, refuse to pass gun legislation lest substantial donations diminish? I also wonder whether we are refusing to learn from, and listen to, other countries where only those in law enforcement, those in the military and those hunting game for food possess guns and where there is nothing of the violence we see in our country?  I ask: is it that citizens in those countries are a priority, not making millions and making the rich richer at the expense of the poor and at the expense of victims of gun violence,  both those who lose their lives and families and friends who mourn these losses?

In today's first reading, Dt. 30: 15-20, Moses says to us:  "Today I  have set before you life and prosperity, death and doom. If you obey the commandments of the Lord,  your God, which I enjoy on you today, loving him [by loving and protecting others], and walking in his ways, and keeping his commandments, statues and decrees [do not kill and, I would say, do not promote killing],...the Lord, your God will bless you...If, however, you turn away your hearts [from what is right] and will not listen, but are led astray and adore and serve other gods [greed, consumerism, materialism, gluttony, lust, wealth accumulated illegally, through deceit and corrupt choices, and at the expense of the poor, etc.], I tell you now that you will certainly perish...."

Is the United States on the path of destruction, courting death and doom, promoting death, intentionally or unintentionally? Am I, or you, on a path that depletes life by our disobedience, our refusal to follow the voice of good spirits prompting us to do God's holy will,  to love as God loves, to be compassionate as God is compassionate? Are we on a path that shows a lack of concern for the rights of all people, all races, all genders, all nationalities, the rich and the poor, immigrants and non-immigrants, the young and the old? Am I, are you, living lives of rebellion against what we know puts us in right relationship with God, with self and others?

"Chose life...by loving the Lord, your God, heeding his voice, and holding fast to him" (Dt. 30:19).)

Making Right Choices

Choose life, we are asked in today’s first reading, Dt. 30: 15-20, by turning your hearts to the Lord, listening to God and not allowing yourself to be “led stray and adore and serve other gods.”  Moses reminds the Israelites that he has “set before[the]  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.  For that will mean life for you, a long life for you to live on the land that the Lord swore he would give to your fathers/[mothers] Abraham [and Sarah], Isaac [and Rebecca], Jacob [and Leah and Rachel].”

The questions you and I need to ask ourselves are: Am I choosing life? Am I choosing blessing? Am I choosing to love the Lord, our God, with my whole heart, mind, soul and will?  Am I heeding God’s voice and holding fast to the Lord? Or am I making choices that are not life-giving? Am I holding fast to promises that are not in line with what God is asking of me?  Am I serving idols, non-gods, God-substitutes? Am I seeking security in wealth, money, an accumulation of material things, sex—running from one relationship to another and another and giving sacrificial love to no one? 

In today's Gospel, Luke 9: 22-25, Jesus says to us:  If anyone wishes to come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily..."  Am I refusing to take up the cross of serving others, making sacrifices for others in my love for them,  of being faithful to the vows I have taken in marriage or in religious life?

Jonah's Dilemma and Ours

In today's first reading, Jonah 3: 1-10, Jonah is asked a second time--he refused the first time--to confront evil and to enter the city of Nineveh announcing that the city would be destroyed in 40 days.  Jonah was afraid of being mocked, ridiculed, made fun of should the people heed God's warning, repent and that, then, God would withdraw his threat to destroy them and, instead show them His mercy. 

There will be times when you and I will be asked, as Christians, to risk being ridiculed or mocked for taking a stance that is, to say the least, unpopular.   The Spirit may ask us to confront an evil or walk away from an evil that our friends want us to engage in or in which we want to take part so as not to stand apart or not to be mocked.  We will as disciples of the Lord find ourselves tempted to go against our conscience so that we will not look like fools for Christ's sake.   God says to us in Dt. 30: 15-20: I am offering you life or death, blessing or curse. Choose life, then, so that you...may live" and experience the fullness of life that Jesus promise. The choice is ours! Jesus shows us the way!

Choices that give life or take life away: Which do I Choose?

In today's first Scripture session, Sirach 15: 15-20, we are reminded that, if we trust God, we shall live; that God sets before us fire and water, life and death, good and evil and will give us whichever we choose. O, the Wisdom and the greatness of our God! In the second Scripture lesson, 1 Cor 2: 6-10, Paul speaks of a wisdom, not of this age nor of the rulers of this age--all of whom will pass away--but a wisdom we know as Christ Crucified, a wisdom modeled by Christ who gave His life for the ransom of us all. We, too, having the choice of water and fire, good and evil, life and death, are faced every day with choices that lead either to life or to degrees of death. We are faced with the option of giving of ourselves so others, and ourselves, live life more fully or choosing to live only for ourselves, saving our lives selfishly for our own purposes. The choice is ours. God gives us what we choose. What am I willing to lose for the sake of another, husbands/wives for the sake of their spouse and their children, women/men religious/priests for the sake of those we serve, for fellow community members, for the good of others?

Preference for the Lord's Ways

In today’s first reading, 2 Maccabees 6: 18-31, Eleazar, a prominent scribe and an elderly man respected for his integrity, his faithfulness to Yahweh, determinately refuses to violate the Mosaic law and thus give scandal to younger generations.  He “prefers a glorious death to a life of defilement.”  Even for a brief moment of earthly fame in the eyes of those who are encouraging him to pretend to be obeying a secular king, Eleazar refuses, asking “Should I thus pretend for the sake of a brief moment of life, they [younger generations] would be led astray by me, while I would bring shame and dishonor on my old age. Even if, for the time being, I avoid the punishment of men, I shall never, whether alive or dead, escape the hands of the Almighty. Therefore, by manfully giving up my life now, I will prove myself worthy of my old age, and I will leave to the young a noble example of how to die willingly and generously for the revered and holy laws.” Oh, how desperately we need the examples of adults in our day and age to stand up to secular governments, secular movements, secular ways of celebrating sacred feasts and refuse to obey laws contrary to the commandments of God and of the Church!

 How willing am I to stop pretending to be faithful and, in fact, adhere to what I have been taught from my childhood of what God asks of me.  What pain am I willing to endure when I am faced with choosing a direction the Spirit puts before me when it is contrary to what others may be encouraging me to do.