Today’s title has been blithely borrowed from a favorite saint; it is one of St. Augustine’s more famous quotes. The theme of choosing life over death is highlighted in all of the readings on tap for today. If we reduce the Commandments to the Golden Rule, we are left with Love. Truly, God is Love, and if Love is at the Center of Our Lives, all our actions will be of the utmost moral rectitude, redounding to the good of all creation, especially to God and neighbor.
Weighty Choices
Moses puts the choice squarely before the Israelites. In a forerunner of the Baptismal Renewal, he asks his fellow countrymen:
Will you reject death and doom, choosing instead life and prosperity? Will you love God, walk in His Ways and keep His commandments, statutes and decrees? Further, will you reject all other gods and not be led astray? Will you love the LORD, your God, heeding his voice and holding fast to Him?
In a nutshell, Life or Death, asks Moses and pleads with us to choose the former. Or rather, he asks us to choose Love. For surely, the Golden Rule is the summary of the Ten Commandments, do you agree? In the same way, at the heart of the Golden Rule is Love: the alpha and the omega, the beginning and the end, the One Word that God spoke into Creation from the onset.
Natural and Eternal Law
We see this principle at work in Natural Law, where good is pursued and the opposite of the good, i.e. evil, is avoided at all costs. Natural Law is a subset of God’s Eternal Law; it is written upon Creation itself and also on the human heart.
With only Natural Law, can humans keep the whole moral law? The Church says yes for the short run, but no in the long run. It is God who gives grace, and it is up to man to ask for it through prayer and use it. Original Sin caused Adam and Eve to lose the infused graces of the indwelling Trinity and the virtues that kept order in the conflict between matter and spirit. Once Adam exercised His freedom to say No to God, Original Sin caused him to fall and suffer the consequences of concupiscence and death. But God immediately promised Man a Redeemer. This, as we know, is Jesus. Grace depends on the merits of Jesus, the Redeemer. Natural Law is at work all around us, and so is God’s love. Nature needs Grace. In a nutshell: we need Jesus!
Daily Cross
At the onset of his mission, Jesus says to the disciples: Follow Me. Towards the end of his earthly mission, each of the Synoptic Gospels counts the cost of discipleship. Matthew (16:34) and Mark (8:34) have identical text:
Whoever wishes to come after me must deny himself, take up his cross, and follow me Saint Luke (9:23) adds a key word: Daily.
The early command has been amended significantly: Take Up Your Cross and Follow After Me. Monsignor James Shea clarifies: Follow Me to my cross.
For the early disciples, this must have caused a shock as crucifixions were a horrific punishment for the worst of criminals; yet here is Jesus, blithely asking them to pick up their crosses and follow after Him. History chronicles that the apostles, with the lone exception of John the Beloved, all shed their blood for the Gospel, suffering martyrdom with fortitude.
A Choice
For us too, following Jesus is a choice. But after the initial choice, our intention needs to be willed and renewed. When we first encounter Jesus, we have to sift the evidence and determine if his “outrageous” claims bear truth, that He is what He repeatedly claims to be: Son of God, King of Kings and Lord of Lords. Once we conclude that He is who He says He is, we must get off the fence and enter the fray. And we need to do this not once, not twice, but daily; thank you, Saint Luke!
It comes down to a matter of life and death. As humans with the stain of Original Sin, we must daily choose Life even though our final tryst will be with Sister Death.
Yet our hopes rest on our Lord and Savior. And the difference is this. He Who Could Never Die explicitly chose Death so that we might have Eternal Life!
