Our readings today offer us a clear choice between the way of death and the way of life. The First Reading comes from near the end of the Book of Deuteronomy, just before it relates the last actions and the death of Moses. It is in a section known as the Third Discourse, a discourse attributed to Moses. Moses states that he is setting before the people of Israel a choice between life and prosperity, doom and death, but it is dependent upon them following the Lord’s commandments. In this same way, Jesus states that by taking up our crosses and following him, we will save our lives.
The life we have in God, the mandate we have to follow Jesus and to take up our crosses in a particular way of life may seem limiting by the ways of our world, but in fact, it is truly liberating. The life God calls us to is not the freedom to indulge in every desire and pleasure. In fact, each time I go to the prison and minister to the inmates there, I am reminded of how so many of those men’s lives have been destroyed by them engaging in those desires and pleasures which are against the way of faith.
In our life in God, we are called to hear, to assimilate, and to live out the way of faith to which we are called. God offers us the clear choice between life and death; he leaves the choice up to us.
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