October 8, 2011 - Saturday of the Twenty-Seventh Week in Ordinary Time

Today's Readings

Are you ready for that day: the day of the Lord? For near is the day of the Lord, in the valley of decision. We will all gather there, in the valley of decision. Crowds of crowds, a hundred billion people, in the valley of decision. The sun will be darkened, and the stars will not shine, in the valley of decision. And God will sit in judgment of all sinners, in the valley of decision. We can make excuses now; we can explain our actions so well, but we will have nothing to say there except the truth, the real truth, in the valley of decision.

We shall know then, even as we are now known. We will all see God, and there will be no doubt any longer. The era of faith will be over because we will see for ourselves what is invisible now. Now there is a curtain between us and the angels, but it will be lifted and we will see everything. We have been visible this whole time. Right now we are like blind people in a world of those who can see. All of our actions, even those done in the dark which we think no one knows about, have already been seen, but only then will we see.

On that day, there will be a land flowing with milk and honey, the mountains dripping with wine, and water flowing in every stream. It will be a garden, like the garden that we lost by our sin, and the people there will live forever and they will never lose their home again. And on that day there will also be a land that is a desert waste, where nothing will grow. It will be a land of constant violence.

When the judgment is over, we will all go to one land or the other. We will all enter into eternal joy or perpetual boredom. Some will blessed, and some will be cursed. The blessed will be those who hear the word of God and observe it. The cursed will be those who only do what they want. This will not be decided on that day; it is being decided today, here, now. Today is the day of salvation. Today we are deciding where we will spend forever. We decide it here and now; it is revealed then and there, on that day in the valley of decision.