(Homily for March 2, 2017).
Your life up to this moment is a
result of your choices. For every cause, there is an effect and for every
choice there is a consequence. You may have heard the saying: “You cannot eat
your cake and have it.” This saying goes to show that life is all about
choices. By choosing a particular course of action or a particular object, we
are indirectly letting go of other options. Even in economics, we are told of
the concept of “opportunity cost.” Every choice has a price as well as a prize.
There is something to gain and something to lose. The cost of one choice is the
loss of another choice and the prize of a choice is what we stand to gain by
avoiding a bad choice. Whether we like it or not, we are constantly making
choices, from the moment we wake up in the morning, we are making choices; to
leave the bed or to sleep on, to bath with warm water or cold water, to shave
or not to shave, it just goes on and on.
However, there are even bigger
choices; to tell a lie or to say the truth; to seek pleasure or to make some
sacrifice for God; to give in to sin or to glorify God by acts of virtue; to
try to preserve our lives or to give it up for the sake of God. This is
precisely where our readings today come in. Moses tells us the God has set before
us life/good and death/evil, blessings and curses. If you choose to serve God
and obey his commandments, “You shall live and multiply, and the Lord your God
will bless you in the land….” But if you ignore God and go against his
commands; “You shall perish, you shall not live long in the land….” In other
words, there is a good choice and a bad choice. We are free to choose but we
are not free to avoid the consequences of our choices.
I have come to realize that the best choices are usually those
that appear more painful at the onset. Choices which demand a lot of sacrifice
and pain from us initially end up becoming our saving grace in the end. This is
exactly what Jesus wants to bear in mind when he says: “If any man would come
after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me for
whoever would save his life will lose it; and whoever loses his life for my
sake, he will save it.” Jesus is literally asking us to choose death instead of
life – death to the broad way, death to worldliness, death to the worship of money
and material things. Self-denial is saying “No” to even those legitimate
cravings of the body; “No” to pride and arrogance, “No” to pleasure, “No” even
to food, comfort and luxury. To Carry the Cross is to follow Jesus rather than
the crowd, it is accepting shame, pain and dishonour willingly for the sake of Christ.
Let us
Pray: Lord Jesus, help to choose right. Amen.
Be Happy. Live Positive. Have Faith.
It is well with you. God bless you. (Thursday after Ash Wednesday. Bible Study: Deuteronomy 30:15-20 and Luke 9:22-25).
Fr. Abu.
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