THE CHOICE OF LIFE AND OVER DEATH


THURSDAY AFTER ASH WEDNESDAY

Deut 30:15-20; Ps 1:1-4,6; Lk 9:22-25

Imbibing the Culture of Life

The Church sets things in their priority for us as we commence our Lenten observance. As we noted earlier in the week, the central attitude that drives our Lenten observance is repentance from our sins. Hence, we have posited the importance of breaking our old, hardened, and sinful hearts for the Lord to create a new heart for us. Since we obtain all these desirables only through the grace of our God, we cannot overemphasise the centrality of prayer as the primary Lenten observance. What manner of prayer should we practice more at this time? Since the word of God is the light with which we search out our deepest self, and we do not know our sins unless the word of God illuminates our hearts and reveals how far we have deviated from God’s will, our prayer should consist more of reading and meditating on the word of God. The word of God reveals how much we have imbibed the culture of death, which is the culture of disobedience to the word of God expressing his divine will. If we have realised the emptiness of the life we are presently living and desire a more meaningful and enduring life, we are to follow the example of the man who came to Jesus to enquire about eternal life. We should seek out the word of God to know what a meaningful and eternal life consists of. 

The reading from Deuteronomy clearly states that a meaningful life is living in obedience to the will of God; we form a culture of life by keeping his commandments. “See, today I set before you life and prosperity, death and disaster. If you obey the commandments of the Lord your God that I enjoin on you today, if you love the Lord your God and follow his ways, if you keep his commandments, his laws, his customs, you will live and increase, and the Lord your God will bless you in the land which you are entering to make your own.” Irrespective of where we live, we enter the promised land when we start musing on the word of God and putting it into practice. The Psalmist teaches this doctrine. “Happy indeed is the man who follows not the counsel of the wicked; nor lingers in the way of sinners nor sits in the company of scorners, but whose delight is the Law of the Lord and who ponders his law day and night. He is like a tree that is planted beside the flowing waters, that yields its fruit in due season and whose leaves shall never fade; and all that he does shall prosper.” The psalm does not refer to any promised land where these promises hold in exclusion of other places. The only thing required to possess a blessed life is paying attention to the word of God, his Law, and commandments. We quickly add that meditation on the mysteries of the holy Rosary is beneficial as a concise summary of the gospel of our Lord. It offers us a lovely means of musing on the life of the Lord on the go.

When we come to the presence of the Lord through attention to his word, like the man of the gospel, we must pay heed and do what the word tells us. We should not be like the man who listened to the Lord but failed to follow the instructions the Lord gave him. The practice of fasting is relevant in this regard; It works through the grace of prayer to break the chains of the culture of death on our minds, hearts, and wills, enabling us to practice the teachings and instructions of our Lord. The Lord confirms this action of culture of death on the word of God in us. “Jesus said to his disciples: ‘The Son of Man is destined to suffer grievously, to be rejected by the elders and chief priests and scribes and to be put to death, and to be raised up on the third day.’” From our Lord’s teaching, we understand the necessity of fasting, self-mortifications, and abnegations for living the word of God. “If anyone wants to be a follower of mine, let him renounce himself and take up his cross every day and follow me. For anyone who wants to save his life will lose it; but anyone who loses his life for my sake, that man will save it.” So, by dying to self frequently and every day, we cultivate the culture of life and empty our hearts and wills of the prevalent culture of death propagated everywhere through social media. Let us always recall that we are dust; only the word of God transforms this dust into a heavenly being.

Let us pray: Prompt our actions with your inspiration, we pray, O Lord, and further them with your constant help, that all we do may always begin from you and by you be brought to completion. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, God, for ever and ever.  

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