The Freedom to Choose Holiness

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A Reflection on the 6th Sunday in Ordinary Time

God places before us life and death, fire and water, and invites us to reach out our hand. This is the startling message from Sirach, that our choices truly matter, that we are not puppets dancing on strings, but beloved children entrusted with real freedom. The Lord commands no one to sin, yet He knows we will face the daily decision between following His law written on our hearts or turning away toward easier paths. Today's readings weave together a single truth: God offers us wisdom beyond human understanding, but we must actively choose to receive it. The commandments aren't just some rules designed to restrict us; they guide us on the narrow road that leads to Heaven.

Jesus takes this further in the Gospel, showing that true holiness goes deeper than external obedience. He doesn't abolish the law but fulfills it by revealing its heart. Murder begins with anger nursed in the heart; adultery starts with lustful thoughts we entertain rather than dismiss. Jesus raises the bar impossibly high, not to discourage us but to show that we need more than willpower; we need transformation. This is where Saint Paul's words show us everything: God has prepared for us a love beyond our imagination, revealed through the Holy Spirit. We cannot achieve this righteousness alone, but the Holy Spirit dwells within us, guides us, offering divine wisdom that the rulers of this age cannot comprehend. What looks like impossible moral teaching becomes possible through grace.

The Rosary beautifully connects us to this mystery. As we meditate on the Luminous Mysteries, we walk with Jesus through His public ministry, His baptism when the Spirit descended, His teaching at Cana and beyond, His transfiguration, revealing His glory. Each Hail Mary is a choice to turn toward grace, to ask Our Lady to pray for us "now and at the hour of our death." She who pondered all these things in her heart teaches us to let God's word penetrate beyond surface obedience into the transformation of our deepest desires. The repetition of the Rosary trains our hearts to choose God again and again, moment by moment.

We stand today where the Israelites stood; before us is life and death, blessing and curse. But we don't stand alone. The same God who raised Jesus from the dead lives in us, ready to write His law on our hearts, to give us wisdom, to transform our anger into patience and our lust into love. The choice is genuinely ours, but the power to follow through comes from above. God never commands the impossible without providing the grace to accomplish it. He asks much because He offers everything, not just to follow rules, but participation in the divine life itself, following Jesus, starting now, in the ordinary choices of this ordinary Sunday.


Questions to Consider:

  • When have I treated God's commandments as burdensome restrictions rather than as invitations to freedom and life?
  • Which area does Jesus highlight: anger, lust, broken promises, that challenges me most deeply, and what does this reveal about where I need the Spirit's transformation?
  • How might my small daily choices, the ones that seem not to matter, actually be training my heart toward either life or death?
  • Do I truly believe that God has prepared things beyond my imagination for those who love Him, or do I secretly think the Christian life is about missing out?
  • In what practical way can I invite the Holy Spirit this week to change not just my actions but my deepest desires?



©2026 James Dacey, Jr., OFS

Location: Tonawanda, NY 14150, USA

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