CHOICE BETWEEN LIFE AND DEATH

Moses said to the people: "Today I have set before you life and
prosperity, death and doom.
If you obey the commandments of the LORD, your God,
which I enjoin on you today, loving him, and walking in his
ways, and keeping his commandments, statutes and decrees,
you will live and grow numerous, and the LORD, your God.
will bless you in the land you are entering to occupy.....
Deut. 30:15-20

Readings
Seeking Heaven alone

ASH WEDNESDAY - LENT

Blow the trumpet in Zion; sound the alarm on my holy mountain!
Let all the inhabitants of the land tremble, for the day of the LORD
is coming, it is near. A day of darkness and gloom, a day of clouds and thick darkness! Like blackness spread upon the mountains
are great and powerful army comes; their like has never been from
of old, nor will be again after them in ages to come....
Rend your hearts and not your clothing. Return to the LORD, your
god, for he is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love, and relents from punishing.
Readings
Psalm 51
Ash Wednesday

OBLIGATION

To keep the law is a great obligation and who observes the
commandments sacrifices a peace offering.
In works of charity one offers the fine flour,
and when he gives alms he presents his sacrifice of praise.
To refrain from evil pleases the Lord, and to avoid injustice
is an atonement.
Appear not before the Lord empty-handed, for all that you
offer is fulfillment of the precepts.
The just one's offering enriches the altar and rises as a
sweet odor before the Most High.
The just one's sacrifice is most pleasing, nor will it
ever be forgotten.......  Trust not in sacrifice of the fruits
of extortion. For he is a God of justice who knows no favorites. Sir. 35:1-12

TURN TO GOD

To the penitent God provides a way back he encourages those

who are losing hope and has chosen for them the lot of truth.
Return to him and give up sin, pray to the Lord and make your
offences few. Turn again to the Most High and away from your sin,
hate intensely what he loathes, and know the justice and judgments
of God, stand firm in the say set before you in prayer to the Most
High God who in the nether world can glorify the Most High
in place of the living who offer their praise before death ....
Sir. 17:20-24

THE HEART OF MAN

When a sieve is shaken, the husks appear;
so do one's faults when one speaks.
As the test of what the potter molds is in the
furnace, so in tribulation is the test of the just.
The fruit of a tree shows the care it has had;
so too does ones's speech disclose the bent
of one's mind.
Praise no one before he speaks, for it is
then the people are tested. Sir. 27:4-7

Readings

MAN GOD'S IMAGE

God from the earth created man, and in his own image he made him.
He makes man return to earth again, and endows him with a strength
of his own. Limited days of life he gives him, with power over all
things else on earth.
He puts the fear of him in all flesh, and gives him rule over
beasts and birds.  He created for them counsel, and a tongue
and eyes and ears and an inventive heart, and filled them with
understanding.  He created in them knowledge of the spirit.
With wisdom he fills their heart; good and evil he shows them. Sir. 17:1-5

Readings

TRUE FRIENDSHIP

If you are polite and courteous, you will enjoy the friendship of many people.

Exchange greetings with many, but take advice from only one person out of
a thousand.  When you make friends, don't be too quick to trust them; make
sure that they have proved themselves.
Some people will be your friends only when it is convenient for them, but
they won't stand by you in trouble. Sir. 6:5-17

Readings