Here is part of our Old Testament reading, from the Book of Sirach: ‘He has placed before you fire and water: stretch out your hand for whichever you wish. Before a man are life and death, and whichever he chooses will be given to him. For great is the wisdom of the Lord; he is mighty in power and sees everything; his eyes are on those who fear him, and he knows every deed of man …’

Gaudentius of Brescia commented: ‘As Scripture attests, God formed human beings, making them in his image and likeness, and left the faculty of decision in their hands. “He put before them fire and water, saying, ‘Reach out your hand to what you will.’ “God ‘put before the man,’ it said, ‘water and fire,’ that is, rest and punishment, forgiveness and torment, life and death. Who, I ask, would not flee torment, punishment and death and not choose rest, forgiveness and life? One flees death, however, who walks in the ways of the precepts that give life. One attains the gift of life who, through the effort of his commitment to spiritual things, avoids actions that bring death …”’

These words recall those in Deuteronomy: ‘I have set before you life and death, blessing and curse; therefore choose life …’

May we indeed today ‘choose life’, in whatever form it is presented to us today; and may God bless you.