Turning toward God, Not Away from Him

In today's first reading, Jeremiah 7: 23-28, the Lord says to us through the prophet: "Listen to my voice; then I will be your God and you shall be my people. Walk in all the ways that I command you, so that you may prosper. But they obeyed not, nor did they pay heed. They walked in the hardness of their evil hearts and turned their backs, not their faces, to me."

Have you, have I, have we turned our backs on the Lord and walked away from Him? Or do we turn our faces to the Lord and in faith walk with Him and toward Him?  In hope and in faith and in love, do we keep going forward no matter how difficult the journey might be? Or do we return to "the flesh pots of Egypt," to our whims, urges and impulses, walking away from doing what we know is right and choosing the easier path that makes no demands upon us? When challenged to go forward, do we say to people, either in word or action: "Leave me alone. I've done enough! I'm too tired. I'm too old! I'm too young!"

No matter what, God always walks along side us on the journey of faith, giving us the strength, the courage, and the wisdom we need to move forward!  Not only is God with us on our way to heaven, so, too, are all the saints, those who have gone before us and those here on earth making the journey with us to our eternal homes! And furthermore, the angels, especially our guardian angel, walks with us as well!

Lord, forgive us for the times when we have turned our backs to you and give us the strength to turn back to you again and again in faith, hope and love!

In whom am I putting my trust?

In today's first reading, Jeremiah 1: 5-8,  the Lord says to us: "Cursed is the one who trusts in  human beings, who seeks his [her] strength in flesh, whose heart turns away from the Lord.  [Such a person] is like a barren bush in the desert that enjoys no change of season, but stands in a lava waste, a salt and empty earth." In other words, if my trust is in human beings and not in God, that is, I have turned away from the Lord, I am in deep trouble!  If I seek my help from human beings only and do not go to God, I will find myself eventually in a desert.  That is what has happened to those who, having engaged in criminal activity, are in our prisons.  This also happens for those of us who occupy the  "prison" of non-life-giving, selfish, sinful choices, hurting ourselves and others.  By repeatedly choosing such choices, our lives enjoy "no change of seasons."  However, when, in hope,  we turn to the Lord from the "lava waste" and from the emptiness, God is waiting to help us out of the mess into which we may have sunk!

"Blessed are they who hope in the Lord," we pray in today's responsorial psalm. "Blessed the [person] who follows not the counsel of the wicked nor walks in the way of sinners, nor sits in the company of the insolent, but delights in the law of the Lord and meditates on his law day and night. [Such persons are] like a red planted near running water, that yields its fruit in due seasons, and whose leaves never fade. Whatever he does, prospers. Not so the wicked, not so"!

What kind of choices am I, are you, making?