The most difficult decisions to make are the ones in which we cannot tell right from wrong. We feel drawn by one solution, but we are not sure why. Are our motives pure? Is the reason we find one option attractive a reason that is ignoble? Or are we truly choosing what is good for ourselves, for those we love and for those we do not know.

Sometimes a decision is hard to make because both options seem bad. We do not want to choose because we will feel sad once we make the choice. But not choosing also brings its frustration and sorrow.

When the answer is not clear outside us, we turn inside us. We pray. We ask God for a sign. We look for some clear direction. Sometimes God is silent. Sometimes God speaks.

Moses told his people that the task is not as hard as they might think. God’s command is not up in the sky. You don’t have to look for someone to go up there and bring it back. God’s command is not across the sea. You don’t have to find someone to cross over and get it. No, God’s command is something very near, “already in your mouths and in your hearts; you have only to carry it out.”

If we live our lives in the spirit of the gospel, we know what the answers to our dilemmas should be. We only have to carry them out.

Written by Paul Turner. Liturgy Training Publications
Copyright 2003, Archdiocese of Chicago