\u2018Choice\u2019 was the operative word in pre-Covid time. \u2018What film or play will I choose and where will I view it? Where will we go on holidays? Will my sports training interfere with some other plan I made? Will we go away for a weekend?\u2019 How often did we make choices saying things like, \u2018I think I will visit my sister in the country next week? I am going to take a week\u2019s holidays and go to the sun. I feel like going for a stroll on the beach but its 20 km away; so what, I have the car. \u00a0Where will we go for a meal tonight to celebrate your birthday?\u2019<\/p>\n
Such were the choices people made without having a second thought. The world was the oyster for many. People were free to choose what they wanted in life. People exercised choice about most things from daily choices, to sports fixtures, to sacramental celebrations to decision-making.<\/p>\n
Alas, the restrictions clipped our wings. Restrictions limited daily choices about life. For better? For worse? \u00a0Moreover, in this current time and in the months following, consequences follow for people who make improper choices. Choice invites freedom.<\/p>\n
The reading proclaimed at Mass today (Deut 30:15-20) offers God\u2019s people a choice about their lives. God sets before us \u2018life and prosperity, death and disaster.\u2019 Choice has consequences. To obey the commandments, to love the Lord our God, to follow his ways will bring God\u2019s blessings. On the other hand, not to obey, to refuse to listen, to worship other gods will have consequences. The Word encourages God\u2019s people to choose life. Choosing life means that God\u2019s people will live in God\u2019s love, obey God\u2019s voice, and cling to him.<\/p>\n
The psalms in today\u2019s liturgy of the Word, Psalm 1 for verses, Psalm 39 as response, proclaim that the one who trusts God will be happy. The psalmist uses the image of the one who chooses \u2018the law of the Lord.\u2019 That person is like a healthy tree that is \u2018planted beside the flowing waters, that yields its fruit in due season.\u2019<\/p>\n
When Jesus speaks to his disciples in the Gospel today (Luke 9: 22-25), he understands that to live by God\u2019s commandments is not always easy. Jesus knew that suffering, rejection and death awaited him. He also knew what lay ahead for the disciples. In following Jesus and in doing God\u2019s will they would have to make sacrifices by taking up their cross every day to follow him. In Lent when we make a promise and commit to it, we make a sacrifice and by God\u2019s grace, we commit to it.<\/p>\n
Jesus\u2019 words are challenging as he teaches about freedom and choice. The Holy Spirit prompts us to choose wisely in keeping the commandments. Jesus gave us the new commandment; \u2018love one another as I have loved you.\u2019 God\u2019s love is unconditional.<\/p>\n
On this Lenten journey, we follow Jesus as we pray, fast and give to those who are in need. When disciples act in this manner, they respond to God\u2019s call to \u2018come back to me with all your heart.\u2019<\/p>\n
Choice is a popular theme in the Grow in Love\/I nGr\u00e1 D\u00e9<\/em> Religious Education programme for Catholic primary schools especially in the Fifth\/P7 and Sixth P\/8 classes. The lessons on the theme of \u2018Choice\u2019 link to the formation of conscience and the sacrament of Confirmation.<\/p>\n