Choices and judgement

A quote attributed to MartinBuber by the authors of Living with Christ, which notes that “The older we get, the greater becomes our inclination to give thanks, especially heavenwards” sets the stage for the attention getting proclamation of the Prophet Joel that the Day of the Lord when the neglect of God by the people of Israel will be judged by God is near. The psalmist today in the texts from the Roman CatholicLectionary expresses these two aspects of our understanding of God; praise for the wonders we experience through our life with others in His Creation and the need to be aware that the righteous must triumph at the time of judgement. The Hebrew Testament today exhorts us to penance, reflection on our sinful neglect of others, and fasting to restore our realization that our Life is in the Spirit of God. Friar Jude Winkler sees our need to recognize our lowliness and our need to move with Jesus as he continues to call us to our Jerusalem, which in the passage from the Gospel of Luke today, brings us to consider the decision we need to make to reject those influences which lead us away from deepening our relationship with Jesus and deciding to be with Him, working to put our spiritual house in order so that we will trust that His Presence is the exorcism of the evil which leads us to decide, as encouraged by the author ofDaily Exegesis, to align our lives with things of real value and structure which is essential for making good decisions.