Homily for Thursday, 6 March 2014‒ Thursday after Ash Wednesday

Readings of the day: Deuteronomy 30:15-20; Psalm 1:1-2, 3, 4, 6; Luke 9:22-25

My sisters and brothers in Christ, we hear in the Book of Deuteronomy that the Lord has “set before [us] life and death; the blessing and the curse.” The choice is ours.

How many of us would not choose life over death; the blessing over the curse? Not many of us would choose death or the curse, I imagine and I hope. And yet often our choices are not as clear as life or death; the blessing or the curse. More frequently our choices are among something good, which will bring us instant pleasure or prosperity but that may not last long; something better‒ a good choice with longer-lasting effects‒ or the best‒ a choice that is selfless and draws us into deeper relationship with God and one another.

In our Gospel reading from Luke, Jesus asks us not only to choose the good or the better, but the best. But for Jesus, the best choice does not appear at first glance to be the best. The choice that Jesus invites us to make; the choice to follow him appears to be the choice of death over life; the choice of the curse over the blessing: the cross. Again, who among us would choose this?

When Jesus says, “if anyone wishes to come after me, he [or she] must take up his [or her] cross daily and follow me,” of course he is not saying that if we do not literally die for Christ, we have no place among his disciples. Not many, if any, of us will face this choice, although we pray for all those who do face death or persecution for their faith.

Short of courageously accepting death or persecution for our Christian faith, though, there are still ways in which we can “choose life”; choose “the blessing” over “the curse”; choose the best, even over the good and the better. There are still ways in which this choice for what strengthens our relationships with God and with one another will involve some form of self-denial.

I invite us to do this today and throughout this season of Lent: When we pray, let us ask ourselves and God: What are or have recently been opportunities for self-denial? What have been the crosses we have been invited to take up for Christ’s sake? Perhaps someone in our family or among our friends is sick; dying; otherwise in need of care. Perhaps someone makes us angry; someone who is in need of gentle admonishment or just our prayers and the unassuming example of our lives of faith; the loving kindness of our Lord.

A second question I invite us to ask, then, is: What are the crosses we bring upon ourselves needlessly? Perhaps I need to ask someone for forgiveness. Perhaps I was impatient, failed to listen, held on to anger, or was too hurried to attend to someone’s needs properly.

By denying ourselves in these ways and by being conscious of ways in which we have added crosses to our own lives that are not of God and letting these go with a spirit of penance, we will bring ourselves into closer relationship with God and one another. We will choose life; choose the blessing; choose the best and longest-lasting good. The choice is ours.