The Path of Life

Reflection on Today's Readings, Thursday after Wednesday Ashes, Year B, February 18th, 2021
Texts: Deut. 30:15-20; Ps. 1:1-4.6; Luke 9:22-25
Today's first reading reminds us that our destiny is in our hand. Whatever befalls us in life is the result of our  choice.  This is the result of our freedom. God has given us  freedom to determine whom we become.
God has made us for Himself. St. Augustine says, "Our hearts are restless until they rest in God." God also gave us the ability to reject Him so as to make us free. This shows that God was not selfish in creating us for Himself  and that He exists without us. It was out of love that He created us for Himself, He created us to be like Himself. For us life consists in being like God. Being like God consists in keeping His commandments. His commandments become for us the path of life. Hence, the reading says, "Moses spoke to the people, saying, 'See, I have set before you this day life and good, death and evil." This  means if we choose life, good will follow us; if we choose death, evil will follow us. What he set before them is the commandments of God. Their disposition towards the commandments determines which way they go. Obedience to the commandments is life while rejection of it is death. Hence, he adds, "If you obey the commandments of the Lord your God which I command you this day, by loving the Lord your God, by walking in his ways, and by keeping his commandments and his statutes and his ordinances, then you shall live and multiply, and the Lord your God will bless you in the land which you are entering to take possession of it. But if your heart turns away, and you will not hear, but are drawn away to worship other gods and serve them, I declare  to you this day, that you shall perish; you shall not live long in the land which you are going over the Jordan to enter and possess." This tells us that the path of life is the keeping of God’s commandments. If we want life, we should keep God's commandments.
The reading tells us the path that we should choose during this Lent and throughout our lives; it is the path of life, which  means keeping the commandments of God, by loving Him, walking in His ways, following His rules and regulations for our lives. In clear terms, keeping the commandments of God is to love God above all else and to love our neighbours as ourselves. The way to obtain God's blessings during this Lent is to keep His commandments, by loving Him above all else and our neighbours as ourselves.
Today's gospel reading reminds us that our Lenten journey is a participation in the passion of Christ.  We share in His passion through self-denial. Jesus Christ, after affirming His own passion, says, “If any man would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me." This participation in his passion is the way of salvation, for He adds, "For whoever would save his life will lose it; and whoever loses his life for my sake, he will save it." This self-denial is an expression of love for God; it is born out of charity. This self-denial has manifested in different ways such as martyrdom, dedication to the gospel, life of holiness, justice, truth, enduring and bearing insults for Christ, faithfulness to one's state of life, etc. Without self-denial, no one can do anything worthwhile for God; self-denial is the path to walk with God and it is the path driven by love.

Lord Jesus Christ, we love you, grant us your help to walk the path of self-denial so as to be pleasing to you. Amen

Fr.Andrew Olowomuke