We enter into a time of reckoning of sorts. The readings for this Sunday extol the fruits of a life of wisdom, issue a call to live awake and in the light, and warn us with the parable of the talents.

There will not likely be a person in the pews this weekend who will come away from these readings feeling that they fully measure up. Many in the congregation may even suffer from a touch of “spiritual inferiority complex.”

GIVE AN ACCOUNTING of your net worth. Where would you begin? Some might have only to turn out their pockets. Others might peek into a checkbook. If you’re especially fortunate you may have columns of investments, home equity, a vehicle or two, a handful of jewels.

WE have become a nation of gamblers. It is not just the proliferation of casinos, or the growth of Las Vegas, or even the liberalization of gambling laws in so many states and all the lottery games that go along with it.

A lot of people have been paying attention to the financial markets lately. It’s become clear that, in the world of finance, there’s always a risk in any investment.

Sisters and brothers, as a people of the light, let us ask for the strength and courage to persevere as God’s good and faithful servants.

You yourselves know very well that the day of the Lord will come. In the Hebrew scriptures, the “day of the Lord” points to the time when God’s final manifestation will bring an end to the world, salvation for those who do justice, and judgment upon those who do evil.

We desire peace but not the things that make for peace. —Thomas À Kempis