Our first reading for this second day of Lent is from chapter 30 of Deuteronomy. We hear Moses addressing the people that he has led from the bondage of Egypt to the threshold of the Promised Land. Assembling the whole community he says: "Today I set before you life and prosperity, death and doom. If you obey the commandments of the Lord, your God, which I enjoin on you today, loving him, and walking in his ways, and keeping his commandments, statutes and decrees, you will live and grow numerous, and the Lord, your God, will bless you in the land you are entering to occupy."
Then he tells then what will happen if they do not accept, obey and follow the path set before them - death and darkness.
He boils it down to this: "I have set before you life and death, the blessing and the curse. Choose life!"
The "black and white" of this decision, the "light or darkness" of our actions has already been made for most of us. We have chosen the Lord, and his way, and his blessings.
We continue to face decisions that are much harder to make, for they involve the "gray" areas of life, those decisions that we allow to be tempered by the temptation of a lessened resolve.
Lent is the moment, as we heard in Joel yesterday, to: "Even now, says the Lord, return to me with your whole heart, with fasting, and weeping, and mourning. Rend your hearts ... and return to the Lord, your God."
In these early days of Lent let us turn to the Lord and ask him to show his love in abounding compassion and mercy. Assure him that you "Choose Life".
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