Thursday after Ash Wednesday
What spoke to me most in today’s readings was the duality of positive and negative occurrences in everyday life that people endure on a daily basis. In the First Reading, the phrase, “I have set before you life and death, the blessing and the curse,” stood out to me the most out of any other line because it implies that we as humans are given the choice to do good each day and to avoid completing any actions with bad intentions. At the same time, I was very aware that we deal with death everyday as a human race, so we are given life to either notice or respect the aspect of the dead.
In the Gospel Reading, I noted the phrase, “For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will save it” and that also stood out to me because it stresses trust. These famous words point to the importance of entrusting one’s life to God as opposed to trying to be the king or queen of one’s own life. Those who aim to find joy, peace, and purpose under their own management will lose whatever treasure they find; those who place their lives under God’s management will enjoy His presence, the imperishable treasure, forever. As the Psalmist writes: “In Your presence there is fullness of joy (Psalm 16:11).” There is more duality here: with eternal implications.
These
readings as a whole provided me with insight into the beneficial aspects of
life as well as the depressing aspects of life. The duality of man was a theme
that stood out to me in the reading because we are all given a choice to do
good and the passage also stressed providing care for ourselves in the process
of doing so.
Inspiring. Thank you Jim mccormack 63
ReplyDelete