SIXTH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME
February 12, 2023

Imagine that a group of actors stop at your home and tell you that they have a show they would like to put on for your children. The show is loaded with values and best of all, it is free. But the actors warn you, the show will be filled with violence, blood and murder, bad language, naked people, and lewd conduct. However, they add that such things can be overlooked since their free show does have a moral…Of course, good moral or not, no parent is going to expose their children to these things…no parent would do that.

We do live in a dangerous moral climate. There is black and there is white. However, too many people insist on gray by trying to rationalize certain choices or behaviors. The gospel today tells us to remember that even though there is a color gray on the color chart, there is no such moral color. There is only black and white. If we are going to follow Jesus, we have to be clear on his expectations. We are to be good and do the right thing. There are no exceptions.

Our first reading tells us very simply, “If you choose, you can keep the commandments.” There are no buts, ors, unlesses, or escape clauses. There is life and death. To whichever you choose, stretch forth your hand.

We are given an opportunity to examine our choices. We are either choosing to follow God or we are not. There is no in between, no gray area. We are either under society’s influence to rationalize and minimalize, or we have chosen Jesus Christ and His vision that there is Right and there is Wrong. It is the most important choice we will ever make.