Thursday 19 February 2026
Deuteronomy 30:15-20. Happy are they who hope in the Lord – Ps 1:1-4, 6. Luke 9:22-25.
Freedom to choose
Alexei Navalny, the closest thing Putin has had to a real opponent, died in jail in mysterious circumstances. He was probably assassinated. He had spent many hard years in appalling Russian prisons where he wrote a superb memoir called Patriot. It is full of hope even in the darkest hour, and never loses its sense of humour. Once an atheist, the birth of Navalny’s first son warmed his heart to the reality of God. While in jail, he observed Lent in all the ways he could. I was astonished by this. Surely jail was worse than Lent and I can’t imagine that God expected him to add to his own sufferings. But that was not the point. Navalny chose Lent. The rest of his experience was simply piled onto him. It is challenging to find so much about choice in today’s readings. We are called to freely choose life. To freely take up our choice. Let’s allow this Lent to take us deeper in God’s freedom.
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