Thursday after Ash Wednesday
As we take our first steps in Lent, the Word of God again calls us to exercise our will, to choose! The Law of the Lord which Moses has handed on to the people listening to the words of Deuteronomy will necessarily demand a reining in of their whims and desires for extravagance. To follow the Law will direct their hearts and their sacrifices to the Lord. To obey God’s commands will require them to render justice to their neighbor, even when they are inclined rather to their own advantages. They can choose the disciplined ways of God which lead to life and to true flourishing. That choice is given for them to choose. And yet the freedom for loving God and following in His ways implies the capability of doing the complete opposite, of choosing (in the words of Moses) death and doom for one self and for the very fabric that holds persons together as a people.
Particularly when we as individual persons and as a whole people have chosen sin in the past, we need the remedy of Christ: to deny ourselves, to take up our cross and to bear (step by step) the difficulties of choosing the paths we have rejected before, the paths of life. What makes this choice different? What makes this choice desirable despite the difficulty of the sacrifice? Unlike the former choice of sin which left us isolated, this choice draws us closer to the One who loves us enough to face every difficulty and even death itself for our sake. The choice to do the good anew opens our eyes to our Lord who is at our side, whose arms embrace us and our cross, whose steps strengthen us against the future temptation by the honesty of His love and the profundity of the life He offers. Let us pray today with all the freedom we have: Thy will be done! Thy holy, beautiful, merciful and healing will be done!