Thursday after Ash Wednesday
Commemoration of Saint Polycarp, Bishop, Martyr
First reading – Deuteronomy 30:15-20
“But if your heart strays, if you refuse to listen, if you let yourself be drawn into worshipping other gods and serving them, I tell you today, you will most certainly perish”. This is not because God wants to do this but because we chose to perish. We choose! “‘See, today I set before you, life and prosperity, death, and disaster. If you obey the commandments of the Lord your God that I enjoin on you today, if you love the Lord your God and follow his ways, if you keep his commandments, his laws, his customs, you will live and increase”. We choose between life or death, prosperity, or disaster. When we are with the Lord, we choose life and prosperity. When we are away from the Lord, we choose death and disaster. In reality, our freedom is not to choose between the good and bad, but it is the state to choose the Lord in liberty. To be with God in freedom, in liberty. Let’s reflect: is our Lent, moments to be with the Lord in our freedom?