Thursday after Ash Wednesday

Daffodils appear.

Today I have set before you

life and prosperity, death and doom.

Folks in the middle class of the middle states in the temperate zones of the earth might be inclined to look for a “middle way” between life and prosperity, death and doom. Can’t we make some kind of compromise?

Part of the problem – if you don’t mind my getting historical – is a narrow tradition that failed to accommodate the varied ways of the Holy Spirit. In our Catholic upbringing we were given few choices about the future. Boys could be priests, brothers or married laymen; girls could be sisters or married mothers.  The lay choice was the “default;” it’s what you got if you didn’t choose the “better” alternatives. Most Catholic school children probably considered the religious vocation a few minutes before puberty swept over them. In fact a lot of Protestant children have been fascinated by priests, monks and nuns. But with puberty and adolescence, the lay state seemed far more attractive.

In those days, among Catholics, there were no apparent “vocations” to marriage, parenthood and the single state; but these alternatives seemed like a reasonable compromise between heaven and hell.

Today the Church tries to recognize and honor the million varied ways that God calls the baptized to contribute to the Kingdom of God. So long as you follow the particular path God has chosen, following day by day his will, you can be sure you have not chosen a compromising path between good and evil. You are truly on the path of goodness.

But it’s up to each person to discover in her work the Spirit of God. I remember a lady who worked for a rural electric co-op. She seemed not to know how rural electrification had transformed life for millions of people in a single generation. She didn’t appreciate that her career had made the United States the best educated and most unified people on earth, at least for a while, and had eventually made us the most powerful nation on earth. Considering one’s job in the light of God’s plan, we start to see the “big picture.”

That said – we can turn our attention back to Deuteronomy, the words of Moses, and the Season of Lent:
Today I have set before you
life and prosperity, death and doom.

The middle way -- which does not exist -- is that compromise that says, “I’ll do God’s will on Sunday morning, and what I want the rest of the time.” Or something to that effect. The Pharisees were expert at it.

The Big Book of Alcoholics Anonymous insists, “Half-measures availed us nothing.” Recovering alcoholics admit to themselves they cannot control their drinking. They cannot drink only one day of the week, or only on vacation, or only three drinks in an evening. They must quit altogether. “One drink is too much; a thousand drinks are not enough.” They know they cannot compromise with their program of total abstinence from alcohol. Eventually, as they work through the twelve steps, they realize they cannot afford any of the usual luxuries: resentment, avarice, greed, envy, jealousy and so forth.  Sobriety will brook no compromise. Any character defect which is tolerated or entertained will certainly lead them back into drink.

During the season of Lent each Christian must ponder the questions: How have I compromised with evil? How have I betrayed the trust God placed in me? How do I  invite the judgement of God on myself? 

Because we have every confidence in the merciful God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ we can own our sins and hurry back to Grace.