At the cusp of Lent, Jesus firmly reminds us to keep his commandments. It is a matter of life and death. Nothing will set us up better for the season of Lent than today’s readings.

Sirach gives us these proverbs about choosing life or death. In Sirach’s world, the soul was never separated from the body. A good moral life fed the soul like health care for the body. Whatever we choose in this life affects the soul in the life to come. God’s people constantly heard this command to choose life. They heard it from their great prophets.

Moses told the people:

I have set before you life and death, the blessing and the curse. Choose life, then, that you and your descendants may live, by loving the LORD, your God, obeying his voice, and holding fast to him (Deuteronomy 30:19-20).  

Joshua, who came after Moses, told the people:

Now, therefore, fear the LORD and serve him completely and sincerely. Cast out the gods your ancestors served beyond the River and in Egypt, and serve the LORD. If it is displeasing to you to serve the LORD, choose today whom you will serve, the gods your ancestors served beyond the River or the gods of the Amorites in whose country you are dwelling. As for me and my household, we will serve the LORD (Joshua 24:14-15).  

In life, you also choose the path for eternity. The psalmist reminds the hearer that those who choose to follow the Law of the Lord are blessed. They will stand firm in God’s ways, and God will instruct them, give them discernment, and fill them with the wonder of God’s Law, keeping it with their whole heart.

So we must choose life, for we set the path for eternity, and we will stand firm in God’s favor. In the Second Reading, Paul reminds the Corinthians that God’s wisdom is mysterious and hidden. It is so deeply mysterious that no eye has seen, no ear has heard, what God has prepared for those who love him. The wisdom of God is hidden because God is love. God’s complete manner of governing over our lives is solely a matter of love, giving us the freedom to seek him, to find him, and to love him.

Where is he found? We see love on full display in the cross. Saint Paul says, “The message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God” (1 Corinthians 1:18).

That is not a sentimental statement. It is a lesson. Joy in the Christian life comes through suffering. Life and true blessedness come when we take up our own cross and imitate Christ on the way to glory. Once again, Christianity is not a self-help program. Christianity is an imitation of Christ, loving the world through his heart, through the way of suffering.

The Gospel today is from Matthew’s account and continues Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount. Jesus does not abolish the Law. He fulfills it. There is a pattern in which Jesus says, “You have heard it said … but I say to you.” Jesus is revealing the Law in its completeness.

These passages in Matthew today are like going to the doctor who examines our bodies and takes an X-ray. We see the body’s inner workings and its completeness in the X-ray. Today’s passage is a reminder that the Law is more than behavior modification. To keep the Law of God is a matter of the heart.

As Lent approaches, one penitential psalm deserves our attention: “A clean heart create for me, O God” (Psalm 51:12). Lent is a time to give God our hearts. The word “create” in Hebrew Bara (בָּרָא). This word is associated with God as the subject. God is the only one who can make something out of nothing. God does not reshape or reform our hearts. God can give us new hearts, so that we may follow him in sincerity and faithfulness.

So hear the words of Sirach, Moses, and Joshua when they exhort us to choose life. Hear the words of Paul when he tells us that God’s Wisdom is hidden and mysterious. Listen with love when Jesus speaks to us on matters of the heart. Open your hearts wide; Lent is coming. Ask God to create a new heart within you.