The WORD today reminds me that I should choose God daily.
Yesterday, we celebrated Ash Wednesday. We ushered in the Season of Lent. Probably most of us did fasting and abstinence. God was pleased. But it should not end there. Lent is not a one day event. Lent is a season. Love offerings and sacrifices should not be done just for one day. They should be done daily.
We make a lot of small decisions everyday: what to eat, what to wear, where to eat, what task to do, how to do it, etc. However, we sometimes do not realize that these small decisions are part of a “bigger decision” of following God. The gospel tells us that if we want to follow Jesus, we must do so everyday.
Our little everyday decisions contribute to our decision to follow Jesus daily.
They say that your thoughts become your words, and your words become your actions, and your actions become your habits, then your habits eventually determine your character. This has a lot of sense into it, and following it, we are reminded that we should start our decision to follow God with our thoughts, for they eventually shape us. We should start our decision to follow God through our simple everyday decisions for they contribute and eventually determine the kind of life we are living.
No decision is too small that it is trivial.
What we wear shows if we are following God and treating our body with the dignity it deserves as the temple of the holy spirit. What we eat shows if we follow God, if we nourish our bodies properly and keep it healthy so we can continue to serve God. How we react during situations of stress or even traffic shows if we are following God. How we treat others shows if we are following God.
Following God is not a one time, major decision. It is a conscious, everyday decision, just as Jesus said in the gospel. Especially when things are hard. The first reading and the psalm reminds us again of the benefits of following God. As we take our spiritual journey this Lent, let us make the most out of this opportunity. We need to follow God daily. We should follow him especially even if we do not want to or we do not feel like. We should follow him even if things do not go our way.
Do I follow and serve God? In what way? Do I choose God daily? Do I realize that my seemingly trivial and everyday decisions account for the life I live? How can I choose God with my actions?
May we make everyday decisions to love God, to serve Him through others, and to do our love offerings or sacrifices for him. Daily.
Father God,
Thank you for today. Thank you for another day to live. Thank you for another day to experience your love. Thank you for the reminder of how you want me to live and how I can follow you. Lord, sorry for the times I ignore these things. Sorry for not giving you the importance you deserve. Help me live pleasing to you. Be with me and guide me as I live my life. Be with me in a special way this Lent, that I may do daily my love offering and sacrifice for you. May I grow closer to you as i choose you daily. May I praise and glorify you through my acts, through my life. Amen.
Blessed Day!
In Christ,
-g-
Daily Readings
- Readings for the Optional Memorial of Saint Polycarp, bishop and martyr
Thursday after Ash Wednesday
Lectionary: 220
Reading 1
Moses said to the people:
"Today I have 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.
If, however, you turn away your hearts and will not listen,
but are led astray and adore and serve other gods,
I tell you now that you will certainly perish;
you will not have a long life
on the land that you are crossing the Jordan to enter and occupy.
I call heaven and earth today to witness against you:
I have set before you life and death,
the blessing and the curse.
Choose life, then,
that you and your descendants may live, by loving the LORD, your God,
heeding his voice, and holding fast to him.
For that will mean life for you,
a long life for you to live on the land that the LORD swore
he would give to your fathers Abraham, Isaac and Jacob."
"Today I have 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.
If, however, you turn away your hearts and will not listen,
but are led astray and adore and serve other gods,
I tell you now that you will certainly perish;
you will not have a long life
on the land that you are crossing the Jordan to enter and occupy.
I call heaven and earth today to witness against you:
I have set before you life and death,
the blessing and the curse.
Choose life, then,
that you and your descendants may live, by loving the LORD, your God,
heeding his voice, and holding fast to him.
For that will mean life for you,
a long life for you to live on the land that the LORD swore
he would give to your fathers Abraham, Isaac and Jacob."
Responsorial Psalm
R. (40:5a) Blessed are they who hope in the Lord.
Blessed the man who follows not
the counsel of the wicked
Nor walks in the way of sinners,
nor sits in the company of the insolent,
But delights in the law of the LORD
and meditates on his law day and night.
R. Blessed are they who hope in the Lord.
He is like a tree
planted near running water,
That yields its fruit in due season,
and whose leaves never fade.
Whatever he does, prospers.
R. Blessed are they who hope in the Lord.
Not so the wicked, not so;
they are like chaff which the wind drives away.
For the LORD watches over the way of the just,
but the way of the wicked vanishes.
R. Blessed are they who hope in the Lord.
Blessed the man who follows not
the counsel of the wicked
Nor walks in the way of sinners,
nor sits in the company of the insolent,
But delights in the law of the LORD
and meditates on his law day and night.
R. Blessed are they who hope in the Lord.
He is like a tree
planted near running water,
That yields its fruit in due season,
and whose leaves never fade.
Whatever he does, prospers.
R. Blessed are they who hope in the Lord.
Not so the wicked, not so;
they are like chaff which the wind drives away.
For the LORD watches over the way of the just,
but the way of the wicked vanishes.
R. Blessed are they who hope in the Lord.
Verse Before the Gospel
Repent, says the Lord;
the Kingdom of heaven is at hand.
the Kingdom of heaven is at hand.
Gospel
Jesus said to his disciples:
"The Son of Man must suffer greatly and be rejected
by the elders, the chief priests, and the scribes,
and be killed and on the third day be raised."
Then he said to all,
"If anyone wishes to come after me, he must deny himself
and take up his cross daily and follow me.
For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it,
but whoever loses his life for my sake will save it.
What profit is there for one to gain the whole world
yet lose or forfeit himself?"
"The Son of Man must suffer greatly and be rejected
by the elders, the chief priests, and the scribes,
and be killed and on the third day be raised."
Then he said to all,
"If anyone wishes to come after me, he must deny himself
and take up his cross daily and follow me.
For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it,
but whoever loses his life for my sake will save it.
What profit is there for one to gain the whole world
yet lose or forfeit himself?"
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