choose life

The Liturgy of the Church is centred on the celebration of the Mass and the daily prayer of the Hours: the Prayer of the Church. 

The Internet enables the complete prayer of the Church to land in every computer, ipad and smartphone. Have a look at www.universalis.com. 

Unexpectedly, and daily, (when I am open to hear), there is inspiration in the scriptures of the Prayer of the Church. Often this is a clear answer to my prayer for encouragement and divine direction. 

Today's (Thursday 26 Jan) Old Testament reading from the Office of Readings is a powerful reminder of the closeness of God, and the freedom we have in any moment to choose life or death:

"For this Law that I enjoin on you today is not beyond you strength or beyond your reach. It is not in heaven, so that you need to wonder, "who will go up to heaven for us and bring it down to us, so that we may hear it and keep it?" Not is it beyond the seas, so that you need to wonder, "Who will cross the seas for us and bring it back to us, so that we may hear it and keep it?" No, the Word is very near to you, it is in your mouth and in your heart for your observance. See, today I set before you life and prosperity, death and disaster. If you obey the commandments of the Lord your God that I enjoin on you today, if you love the Lord your God and follow his ways, if you keep his commandments, his laws, his customs, you will live and increase, and the Lord your God will bless you in the land which you are entering to make your own. But if your heart strays, if you refuse to listen, if you let yourself be drawn into worshipping other gods and serving them, I tell you today, you will most certainly perish... 

"I set before you life or death, blessings or curse. Choose life, then, so that you and your descendants may life, in the love of the Lord your God, obey in  his voice, clinging to him; for in this your life consists...

 Deuteronomy 30