Daily Mass Reading & Meditation for Thursday, 6 March 2014 - Catholic Meditations

Daily Mass Reading & Meditation for Thursday, 6 March 2014 - Catholic Meditations

Meditations: Deuteronomy 30: 15 Behold, I have set before you today life and prosperity, and death and evil. 16 For I command you today to love Yahweh your God, to walk in his ways, and to keep his commandments, his statutes, and his ordinances, that you may live and multiply, and that Yahweh your God may bless you in the land where you go in to possess it. 17 But if your heart turns away, and you will not hear, but are drawn away, and worship other gods, and serve them; 18 I denounce to you today, that you will surely perish. You will not prolong your days in the land where you pass over the Jordan to go in to possess it. 19 I call heaven and earth to witness against you today, that I have set before you life and death, the blessing and the curse. Therefore choose life, that you may live, you and your descendants; 20 to love Yahweh your God, to obey his voice, and to cling to him; for he is your life, and the length of your days; that you may dwell in the land which Yahweh swore to your fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, to give them.

Thursday after Ash Wednesday

I have set before you life and death, the blessing and the curse. (Deuteronomy 30:19)

A man and woman say, “I do” on their wedding day. A new president “solemnly swears” to uphold the nation’s constitution on Inauguration Day. A young woman vows to “never do harm” on the day she takes the Hippocratic Oath and becomes a doctor. All of these are pivotal moments in a person’s life, moments when an important choice is made and a new path opens up.

The Israelites faced a similar moment when Moses called them to embrace their covenant with God as they prepared to enter the Promised Land. It was a life-and-death choice, and Moses urged them to choose wisely.

Scripture has countless other examples of people facing important choices: Adam and Eve in the garden; Mary deciding whether to accept the angel’s invitation to be Mother of the Redeemer; Matthew’s choice to leave his tax collection table and follow Jesus. The list goes on and on!

All of these initial, life-altering choices need to be “fleshed out” in everyday life. The newlyweds have to choose every day to uphold their vows, “for better or worse.” Matthew had to reaffirm his choice to follow Jesus, even on those days when he missed his comfortable life back home. And Mary must have prayed, “May it be done to me according to your word” on a regular basis (Luke 1:38).

Especially during the season of Lent, we might want to focus on all the choices we have to make. What should we give up? How much time should we spend praying? What about fasting? But this year, let’s shift the focus to see what God wants to do for us. Day in and day out, we face choices—this is true. But it’s just as true that our heavenly Father is with us day in and day out, offering us grace upon grace so that we can choose life every time.

God wants to bless you. He wants to do everything he can to keep you on the path of life. That’s why he is so merciful and forgiving. So don’t give up. Choose life every day!

“Heavenly Father, thank you for your desire to bless me! I choose you today. I choose to receive the grace that comes from following you.” Amen!

Psalm 1: 1 Blessed is the man who doesn’t walk in the counsel of the wicked,

    nor stand on the path of sinners,

    nor sit in the seat of scoffers;

2 but his delight is in Yahweh’s[a] law.

    On his law he meditates day and night.

3 He will be like a tree planted by the streams of water,

    that produces its fruit in its season,

    whose leaf also does not wither.

    Whatever he does shall prosper.

4 The wicked are not so,

    but are like the chaff which the wind drives away.

Footnotes:

a. Psalm 1:2 “Yahweh” is God’s proper Name, sometimes rendered “LORD” (all caps) in other translations.

6 For Yahweh knows the way of the righteous,

    but the way of the wicked shall perish.

Luke 9: 22 saying, “The Son of Man must suffer many things, and be rejected by the elders, chief priests, and scribes, and be killed, and the third day be raised up.”

23 He said to all, “If anyone desires to come after me, let him deny himself, take up his cross,[a] and follow me. 24 For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever will lose his life for my sake, the same will save it. 25 For what does it profit a man if he gains the whole world, and loses or forfeits his own self?

Footnotes:

a. Luke 9:23 TR, NU add “daily”

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