When the Chosen People of Israel were near the end of their forty-year sojourn in the desert, they arrived in the territory of Moab. That is where we pick up the story in Deuteronomy, where Moses states one of his more famous expressions: “Choose life!” Lent has “arrived” to remind us again that the way to life God offers is not one the world proposes. The world sees God’s ways as limiting. However, if properly understood, God’s ways are truly liberating. The life God offers is not for the sake of freedom to indulge in every desire and pleasure, to pursue wealth, greed, selfishness, lies, and indulgence in the world’s ways. These things are destroying, day after day, people’s lives. Life, now and in the future, consists of hearing, taking to heart, and living out the way of life that God proposes. Today, God offers us a clear choice between life and death. And He leaves the choice to us.