Daily Catholic Lectio
Thu, 15 February 2024
Thursday after Ash Wednesday
Deuteronomy 30:15-20. Luke 9:22-25
Choosing life
The readings of the day instruct us that ‘choosing life is conversion of heart.’
In the first reading from Deuteronomy, Moses, after narrating the wonders of the Lord and instructing them on the Commandments of the Lord, exhorts them to choose and to discern life and good. The implication is that nothing is predestined or fixed, nor is there automatic salvation. In each moment of life, one must choose life.
The gospel reading is a summary of Jesus’ instructions on discipleship. Discipleship means carrying one’s own cross, giving up one’s life, and safeguarding one’s own soul. Jesus’ lesson on discipleship is placed in the context of his first foretelling of his passion, death, and resurrection.
Three takeaways for us:
(a) The movement of our lives does not depend on the movement of the stars; it depends on every moment we decide. We are called to discern and decide.
(b) God’s love for us invites us to become worthy of his love through our conscious decisions and actions.
(c) Jesus instructs a ‘reverse’ lesson of life, i.e., in giving we receive, in dying we rise, and in following we lead. Our basic instinct is to receive, to rise, and to lead. When this instinct is under control, greater things happen.
‘Promoting participation in synodal church entails listening to everyone and discerning the voice of the Spirit in silence,’ says Pope Francis. (cf. Jubilee A. D. 2025, bite 31)
Fr. Yesu Karunanidhi
Archdiocese of Madurai
Missionary of Mercy
Yesu Karunanidhi 
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