For the Sixth Sunday in Ordinary Time…
If you choose you can keep the commandments, they will save you;
if you trust in God, you too shall live;
he has set before you fire and water
to whichever you choose, stretch forth your hand.
Sirach 15:15-16
Sirach’s words remind me of the opening of the Didache, a first-century summary of what the Apostles taught about the Christian life, describing two paths: “There are two ways, one of life and one of death; but a great difference between the two ways. The way of life, then, is this: First, you shall love God who made you; second, your neighbor as yourself…”
The entire Liturgy of the Word at Mass this Sunday extolls the benefits of heeding God’s wisdom. We need to be attuned to the love of God, and its shaping of our lives.
This Sunday, our First Reading from Sirach teaches us that we get to choose the path, but we are wise when we choose the ways of God. Indeed, the psalmist also prays thus: “Give me discernment, that I may observe your lawand keep it with all my heart,” (Psalm 119:34). And St. Paul’s first epistle to the Corinthians stresses we need godly wisdom, “not a wisdom of the age”(1 Corinthians 2:6).
In the Gospel, Jesus is laying down the path to our success, teaching “whoever obeys and teaches these commandmentswill be called greatest in the kingdom of heaven” (Matthew 5:19).
Spend some quiet time in God’s Word this weekend. Ask the Holy Spirit to move bigger in your life. We need a clear path to the Good, to God, and to reject the paths that descend to evil. Don’t quit until you find the way that leads to life.
Lord, send your discernment to me. May your holy laws reign in my heart.
