Deacon Tom Writes,
“Make the Right Choice”
Our readings today address
the choices we have in life. Sirach seems to say that, in essence, every choice
that we make comes down to this: we choose between life and death or, stated
differently, between good and evil. Then the Sacred Writer cautions us further
that, “whatever we choose shall be given
to us”.
It is not often that we think
of the choices we make throughout the day as either good or evil or between
life and death. We probably make hundreds of choices over the course of an
ordinary day. Yet it shouldn’t be a surprise to us that every choice we make
counts; every choice we make has us heading in one direction or another. We often find ourselves in situations
where we must compromise... our faith, our values, our entire belief system. Jesus,
in saying that he has come to fulfill the law, not to abolish it, reminds us
that we have a reference point on how to determine if we are making good or bad
choices. His focal point is … the Law, specifically, the Law God handed down to
Moses on Mount Sinai.
In today’s Gospel Jesus
expands the meaning of the Law when he interprets it in a much broader sense. And
so he equates anger with the act of killing another person. And then again, the
act of calling someone a fool and thereby diminishing their dignity as a child
of God, becomes punishable by eternal damnation….
I don’t think that Jesus is
being over scrupulous. He is being very cautious. He knows that it is the
little things that trip us up not only in life but also on our spiritual journey
as well. He knows that every choice we make is either drawing us nearer to him
or has us moving further away from him. He knows that little by little we can
loose the kingdom of heaven by making bad choices.
Jesus taught us that the best
choice we can make is to choose to love, to love God first and foremost, and to
love others, even our enemies as ourselves. And this happens every time we
choose to put others first, and by doing so, we deepen our love of God, which
is always the right choice!
Enjoy the day!
Deacon Tom
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