preparation

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Sunday, 1 December 2013 : First Sunday of Advent (Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, the Lord is coming soon, and He made it clear again to us today, as we hear the words of the Gospel. Christ will come again in His glorious Second Coming, and He will judge all creations, all mankind. There will be a scourging and separation of the righteous from the wicked, and the faithful from the apostates.

We must be ready for that time, because the Lord will come like a vengeful conqueror, to harvest the good wheat that He had planted and get rid of the weeds of darkness. He will not show mercy to those which have repeatedly showed rebelliousness and challenged His will at all times and did not change. He will gather those He regards as His own and discard those who are against Him or those who are not worthy.

We are like the people at the time of Noah, if you realised it. What happened during the time of Noah? You all know who Noah was. He was the one saved by the Lord by building an ark as the Lord instructed him to, in order to avoid the great Flood which covered the entire earth and destroyed all lives except all those which had been saved through the ark.

Why did the Lord do all this? Did He not love all of His children with all of His loving heart? Is He not love personified Himself? Yes, these are all true, and God is indeed Love that He is. However, mankind at the time of Noah had grown proud of themselves, and not just proud and filled with ego, but they also had grown to be very wicked. They disregarded all the laws of the Lord and lead a life entirely in abandon of the Lord.

The Lord grew angry at them and tried to bring them back to righteousness, and yet they did not listen, they turned deaf ears to His calling. And in that wicked world before the Flood, only Noah and his family remained righteous and obedient to the Lord. That was why the Lord called him to save him, by commissioning him to build a massive ark, to safeguard the righteous from the coming catastrophe and punishment that would befall the wicked ones.

The people of Noah’s time mocked him as he built the ark, and did not repent until it was too late. After the door of the ark had been closed, there was no hope left for them. They were left behind to perish, and perish they did. Noah was saved, as a righteous one, while the wicked were destroyed. And indeed, the same can be drawn as a parallel on the present day situation.

For our world today is also growing increasingly wicked. Wickedness does not necessarily mean doing things clearly defined as evil, such as murder, stealing, or adultery. Wickedness can also come about in even things such as greed and desire. Yes, for our world today increasingly distance itself away from the Lord and from the ways of the Lord. We are increasingly more and more engulfed in the corruption of evil and sin.

And the coming of the Lord is like the Flood, which came unexpected to those who ignore the warnings and heedings of the Lord. That is because many of us, like the people of Noah’s time, are hard-hearted and hardened our hearts towards the Lord and His love. We grew proud and arrogant, trusting in our power and achievements, and blasphemed more and more against the Lord our God. We had forgotten His love and the promise He has made for us.

The Lord comes at a time when we are most unprepared, when we are most deceived by the lies of the evil one through the world. He will come and judge us, for our actions and deeds, whether we are worthy of Him or not. And He will judge us not only based on our actions and deeds, be it good or bad, but also our failures, the failures to do things in accordance with His will and His ways.

Will we then choose to be like Noah? Or to be like those others who mocked and ridiculed Noah as he built that ark? We have a choice, brethren, and we have indeed been given the instruction on how to built our own ark of salvation, and the materials to do so. We have been well equipped by the Lord, with all these materials, that is none other than love, hope, and faith, and alas, many of us remain ignorant of our gifts and did not use them.

Hence, brethren, if we have not begun to work on towards our salvation in God, do not wait, and begin now. For the Lord does not wait on us to execute His will. He may come again any time, even in the next year, next month, tomorrow, or even in the next hour and even now! If He comes and we are caught wanting and unworthy, that is the end for all of us.

Do not fear, brethren, if we have done lots of bad and evil things in our lives. Our Lord hates sin and evil, but He is also rich in mercy and love. If we are truly sincere in our dedication to Him, to change our sinful ways and turn over a new page in our respective lives, the Lord will forgive us, and we will be well on our way towards salvation. Remember that many of the greatest and holiest saints were themselves once great sinners. What differentiated them from the condemned ones is that they change and were committed to changing their lives, to be in accordance with the will of God.

May the Lord our God, show us His everlasting mercy and love, giving us a new lease of life, one where we will once again walk in His ways, and be righteous and faithful. Amen.

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Sunday, 1 December 2013 : First Sunday of Advent (Gospel Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet

Matthew 24 : 37-44

At the coming of the Son of Man, it will be just as it was in the time of Noah. In those days before the Flood, people were eating and drinking, and marrying, until that day when Noah went into the Ark. Yet they did not know what would happen, until the flood came and swept them away.

So will it be at the coming of the Son of Man : of two men in the field, one will be taken and the other left; of two women, grinding wheat together at the mill, one will be taken and the other left.

Stay awake then, for you do not know on what day your Lord will come. Obviously, if the owner of the house knew at what time the thief was coming, he would certainly stay up and not allow his house to be broken into. So be alert, for the Son of Man will come at the hour you least expect.

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Thursday, 14 November 2013 : 32nd Week of Ordinary Time (Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Green

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, the Lord warns us today, that the kingdom of God is coming, and indeed it is drawing nearer even as we speak. No one but God Himself knows about the exact timing when this will happen. We can only know that it is indeed very, very soon. We are urged to be prepared that when the time comes, we will not be caught unprepared and therefore thrown into the pits of hell and suffer for eternity.

Jesus revealed that the kingdom of God has arisen within each one of us, since the Holy Spirit that gives us life, dwells within all of us. It is with this Spirit that the kingdom of God arrives to us within our hearts. As mentioned in the first reading taken from the Book of Wisdom, wisdom itself came from God, and indeed everything eventually has their origins from the same, one, and true God.

It is the Holy Spirit who dwells in us that represent the wisdom present in all of us. Wisdom is a gift from God to mankind, that we all may, through the Spirit, discern about our lives and what happens around us. A truly wise person is not someone with plenty of knowledge or intelligence, as this is not true wisdom. A truly wise person is someone who realise that the Spirit within them has empowered them to do many things, including realising and preparing for the coming of God’s kingdom.

Through wisdom in the Holy Spirit, the full truth of the works of Christ in this world has been revealed completely, just as it had to the apostles many years ago. Through Christ, God wants to reunite mankind to Himself, by the redemption of their sins and the resurrection of the body and soul from death. That has been revealed to us in the life of Jesus Himself, who suffered for our sins, died, was buried, and rose up from death, leading mankind towards the Father in a similar way.

Those who sincerely believe in God will have no need to ask what the Pharisees and the people had asked, because they already know God’s involvement in all things, especially in what Jesus had done throughout His ministry. These others asked because simply their faith is not strong enough and lacking. They doubted the works of God in Jesus, and were not convinced by what Christ had told and taught them all those while.

They asked for signs of the coming of the kingdom of God, and yet Christ Himself is the concrete sign that the kingdom of God is near. All the prophets had been prophesying about Him, the one and true Lord who would come to save His people, and yes, He came indeed, in Jesus, saving all mankind through His sacrifice on the cross, that a new hope may dawn, the hope of everlasting life in glory in heaven.

Jesus has given us much, as He gave His own flesh and blood for us, through His disciples, and which we commemorate in every Mass until today, for us to eat and drink, and be strengthened by His power and presence within us. Through the Most Holy Eucharist, the Lord comes within each one of us who believes and dwells within us. That is the essence of wisdom that had been mentioned.

For wisdom cannot come without accepting the Lord our God as our Saviour and Lord, and immerse ourselves in the abundance of His divine love. For it is in the Lord and with the Lord who dwells within us, with His presence and His Spirit, that we gain the complete perfection of wisdom as well as the completeness of salvation.

Many would say that science and the present day discoveries and developments prove that our faith in God and all that are meaningless. Why so? Because they tried to use human wisdom to explain what is divine, and in the same way, this is precisely what the Pharisees had done. They doubted the coming of the kingdom of God through Jesus, just because they were not able to see it. They were blinded to the truth that has already been revealed through Jesus and through His actions.

Science, brethren, is in fact not a bad thing. It is how people use it makes it look bad, especially to us the faithful ones in God. Science is our humble men’s attempt to explain what happens around us, and inevitably, the greater understanding we have for our surroundings, for our universe, will bring us to the greater picture, that is the realisation, of how wondrous God’s love for us, and how great God is, in bringing about all creation together, by Himself.

Many phenomena in our universe cannot be fully explained by mankind, and through science, no matter how advanced it is. Why so? That is because many of the important events that scientists have deduced through science are in fact, deductions and hypotheses. These are predictions based on what people think might have happened, through observation. Yet, again, in all these, without the presence of God, everything truly is empty and meaningless.

For it is God who made all things, in ways that our minds and our understanding can never comprehend, not even with the most advanced tools and technologies. It is He who give purpose and meaning to all things, even to our very existence, to our very own lives. How wasted and meaningless our lives would be, if it were to be without meaning, without a clear goal, that is for us to reach out to God, the One who made all things exist.

And the Lord promised us that He will come again, and come again He will indeed! As we all always say in our Creed, that the Lord will come again to judge the living and the dead, that is the moment, when the kingdom of God is truly present and become a perfect reality, when all the righteous ones will join God in heaven, while those who are wicked will be cast out from the sight of God for eternity.

Yet, as Jesus had said, the kingdom of God is already within us, as we who received the Lord and the Spirit that He sent us, the kingdom of God is already within our heart. Inside, the Lord had planted various good seeds that awaits us to germinate, grow, and produce fruits. Therefore we are all expected to give fruitful and indeed, bountiful returns. We cannot be barren nor be useless. For when the Lord comes again to judge all creation, we will be found unworthy by the Lord.

May the Lord our God who loves us, continue to do so, and keep us always in His grace. God bless us all. Amen.

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Wednesday, 6 November 2013 : 31st Week of Ordinary Time (Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Green

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today we hear on the importance of being ready, being prepared at all times, and most importantly to plan before anything. How is this then relevant to our faith? It is everything! This is because we cannot be idle nor should we be ignorant and lazy in our faith, that we neglect to do what the Lord expects from all of us, from each one of us.

The commandments and the laws that God had given us mankind, are what. He wants from us, not to be mere relics and symbolisms, but in fact as living laws that we all obey and follow with every actions, with every words, and with every deeds we do. Indeed, with every breath we take, we ought to be obedient to God and His laws.

We cannot ignore these laws, and we cannot dismiss them, as they are our guide so that we will not lose our way in this world, and through the obstacles and difficulties that bar our path towards the Lord our God. The laws can be likened to the strategies that one should take, in dealing with the troubles and the enemies that lay themselves on our path.

Without a good plan, as Jesus said in His parable on the houses and the king’s war to the people, there can be no success or good outcome. Such reckless actions without planning will only bring about failure or even getting lost in the way, being without any guidance. Good planning will ensure that we truly know what we are to do, or expect what will come about in the future.

These laws and commandments God has given us, and revealed in its completeness in Christ, are the laws of love, which guide us on our expected behaviours. That we ought to love one another just as we love and care for ourselves, that we truly reflect the Lord as God’s beloved children. Yes, brethren, just as God is Love, so we too should be children of love, expressing through our own actions, words, and deeds, the acts of love, kindness, and compassion.

Jesus today urged all of us, as He urged His disciples and the people who followed Him, to be more proactive in our faith, that we take the responsibility to plan and prepare for our salvation in Him. That we do not take it easy and become complacent in this world. That we are prepared for any contingencies, and any kind of trouble that may come in our way.

Why so, brothers and sisters in Christ? That is because there are, as I mentioned, many obstacles and enemies that lay themselves on our path to God, and that this path will not be an easy path, but a path filled with sorrow and challenges. We who have been made righteous in God, through the sacrifice of His Son, Jesus Christ, are not automatically out of danger. For as long as we remain in this world, we are always under threat from the evil one, Satan, the deceiver, and his forces of darkness.

The sacrifice of Jesus on the cross has broken Satan’s hold and dominion over all of us. Ever since our Lord bared all, suffered and died for the sake of us all, and redeemed us from our original sins, Satan no longer has any authority over us. Nevertheless, he is loath to allow all of us to be lost to God forever. That is why, just as He had tempted Jesus in the desert in a vain attempt to prevent his defeat at the hands of God, he will definitely also tempt all of us with all the things in his disposal.

This can be likened to how a house without preparation will end up in disrepair, and a king without preparation will likely to lose his war. We are the builders of that house, and we are like that king. We have to plan ahead and be prepared, so that we will not end up in the situations I had just mentioned. To achieve this, we precisely need to follow what the Lord Himself urged us to, that is to be obedient to His laws, that is to love!

Yes, brothers and sisters in Christ, we need to love, and not just any love, but love tenderly. It is not easy to love, but it is indeed what we need to do, to prepare us and to ensure that we have a well-planned journey towards the Lord and the eternal reward and glory He has prepared for us all. Hence, brethren, let us then resolve from now on, that we will strive to love, first our God with all of our strengths, and then to love our neighbours, all our fellow brothers and sisters, children of the same God, also with all of our heart.

May the Lord guide us and continue to watch over us, as we progress through this path towards salvation. God be with us all. Amen.

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Wednesday, 6 November 2013 : 31st Week of Ordinary Time (Gospel Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Green

Luke 14 : 25-33

One day, when large crowds were walking along with Jesus, He turned and said to them, “If you come to Me, unwilling to sacrifice your love for your father and mother, your spouse and children, your brothers and sisters, and indeed yourself, you cannot be My disciple. Whoever does not follow Me, carrying his own cross, cannot be My disciple.”

“Do you build a house without first sitting down to count the cost, to see whether you have enough to complete it? Otherwise, if you, have laid the foundation and are not able to finish it, everyone will make fun of you : ‘This fellow began to build and was not able to finish.'”

“And when a king wages war against another king, does he go to fight without first sitting down to consider whether his ten thousand can stand against the twenty thousand of his opponent? And if not, while the other is still a long way off, he sends messengers for peace talks.”

“In the same way, none of you may become My disciple, if he does not give up everything he has.”

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Wednesday, 30 October 2013 : 30th Week of Ordinary Time (Gospel Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Green

Luke 13 : 22-30

Jesus went through towns and villages teaching, and making His way to Jerusalem. Someone asked Him, “Lord, is it true that few people will be saved?”

And Jesus answered, “Do your best to enter by the narrow door, for many, I tell you, will try to enter and will not be able. When once the master of the house has gone inside and locked the door, you will stand outside. Then you will knock at the door, calling, ‘Lord, open to us!’ But He will say to you, ‘I do not know where you come from.'”

“Then you will say, ‘We ate and drank with You, and You taught in out streets!’ But He will reply, ‘I do not know where you come from. Away from Me, all you workers of evil.'”

“You will weep and grind your teeth, when you see Abraham and Jacob and all the prophets in the kingdom of God, and you yourselves left outside. Others will sit at table in the kingdom of God, people coming from east and west, from north and south. Some who are among the last, will be first; and some who are among the first, will be last!'”

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Tuesday, 22 October 2013 : 29th Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of Blessed Pope John Paul II, Pope (Gospel Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Green

Luke 12 : 35-38

Be ready, dressed for service, and keep your lamps lit, like people waiting for their master to return from the wedding. As soon as he comes and knocks, they will open the door to him.

Happy are those servants whom the master finds wide-awake when he comes. Truly, I tell you, he will put on an apron, and have them sit at table, and he will wait on them.

Happy are those servants, if he finds them awake when he comes at midnight or daybreak!

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Saturday, 21 September 2013 : Feast of St. Matthew, Apostle and Evangelist (Scripture Reflection)

Liturgical Colour : Red

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today we celebrate the feast of one of the Twelve Apostles, that is of St. Matthew the Evangelist, one of the four writers of the Holy Gospels. St. Matthew was once the tax collector, known also as Levi, whom the Lord called out of his previous life as money collector for the Roman overlords, to be the collector of souls, to take part in the salvation of mankind.

Brethren, today the Lord wants us to know that firstly, He loves us all without condition, with all of His heart. Then, He also cares for all of us His children, whom He loves best over all of His other creations, particularly the lost sheep, the ones who had been lost to darkness. That was why He mentioned the need for these lost ones for His love, and He made Himself available for them, calling them up from the depth of darkness into the light.

The Lord Himself called His Apostles and disciples from the rank of sinners, those who were sinful in various ways, from various backgrounds, and all of them, in one way or another, repented from their sinful past, and open themselves to God’s love, and eventually become great tools of salvation through which Christ our Lord made manifest His saving power. And St. Matthew, once sinner and tax collector, became the writer of the Holy Gospels, the bearer of the Good News of salvation.

However, being the followers of Christ were not an easy thing, just as it is not easy in our world today. There will always be opposition and even persecution against us, just as the world had hated Christ, they too will hate us, His followers and disciples. Many sneered at us, as they had done so for the Apostles and disciples of Christ through the generations. They mocked us for the sins we have, although they themselves were sinners and did not repent.

Jesus was mocked by the Pharisees and the scribes very often, for eating and gathering together with sinners, tax collectors, and prostitutes, whom they considered to be the lowest tier in the society, and whom they considered damned and cursed to hell. That was why, they distanced themselves from these sinners, trying to keep their own purity, disassociating themselves from all these ‘impurities’.

Yet, in doing so, they had instead incurred the wrath of the Lord. Not only that they praised themselves for their own achievements and deeds, but also that they had put down in contempt, the people of God whom they were supposed to lead. They had not reached out to them, and instead distanced themselves from the most needy of God’s people and condemned them for their sinfulness while they themselves were equally sinful as well, if not even more sinful.

The Lord brought His disciples from the depth of their sinfulness, lifting them up, and bringing them, including St. Matthew, from their fate in hell, to the new heavenly glory, with Him in heaven. Yet, the process is not a simple one, brethren, as the path was truly difficult, filled with the traps and devices of the evil one, attempting to bring them from God. All but Judas Iscariot survived those tests victorious, rebuking the devil and his temptations.

They were sorely tempted, and fear crept into their hearts when the Lord was arrested at the Garden of Gethsemane, after His Last Supper with them. They were scattered and broken, as if sheep without a shepherd. Even St. Peter, the leader of all the apostles and disciples of Christ, fell, and denied Christ three times, out of fear for his own life and safety.

But, brethren, this is where they were different from Judas the traitor, as they persevered while Judas gave in fully to Satan’s advances, and in the end, chose to take the quick way out by suicide, instead of seeking for the Lord’s mercy and reaffirmed his faith and love for Him, as the other Apostles had done.

The Lord had prepared His apostles through trials and difficulties, as St. Paul had mentioned, and they passed, not because they were righteous, but because they had risen up from their sinful ways towards righteousness, towards their love and dedication, for the Lord their Master and our God, and towards all of God’s children, whom they spilled their blood and shed their life for, following the very example Christ had set Himself.

They feared no human authority nor persecutions, for the Lord was always with them throughout their mission journey, to bring all God’s people and gather them to Himself, that they may be saved. St. Matthew was a part of this, and through the Gospel he wrote, inspired by the Holy Spirit, he saved many souls from damnation.

He was himself once a sinner, a tax collector shunned by many of his own people, branded as traitors, since they were seen as the collaborators of the Romans, and yet, he became a great fisher of men, bringing many towards the Lord their God. What then, about the Pharisees? What is their fate? It is possible to deduce that indeed, their lack of true faith and love for God, had doomed them to hell for eternity, for they care nothing about their brethren or God, and all they ever cared about was themselves.

Therefore, dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today, as we commemorate this great feast of St. Matthew the Apostle and the Evangelist, let us follow in his footsteps, in his readiness to leave all that he had once had, and abandon his old, sinful life, to start anew in Christ, that the Lord who loves all, will put His Spirit within us, empowering us to be like the Apostles of old. May the Lord continue to bless us and embrace us with His love, for ever and ever. Amen.

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Sunday, 8 September 2013 : 23rd Sunday of Ordinary Time (Gospel Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Green

Luke 14 : 25-33

One day, when large crowds were walking along with Jesus, He turned and said to them, “If you come to Me, unwilling to sacrifice your love for your father and mother, your spouse and children, your brothers and sisters, and indeed yourself, you cannot be My disciple. Whoever does not follow Me, carrying his own cross, cannot be My disciple.”

“Do you build a house without first sitting down to count the cost, to see whether you have enough to complete it? Otherwise, if you, have laid the foundation and are not able to finish it, everyone will make fun of you : ‘This fellow began to build and was not able to finish.'”

“And when a king wages war against another king, does he go to fight without first sitting down to consider whether his ten thousand can stand against the twenty thousand of his opponent? And if not, while the other is still a long way off, he sends messengers for peace talks. In the same way, none of you may become My disciple, if he does not give up everything he has.”

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Friday, 30 August 2013 : 21st Week of Ordinary Time (Scripture Reflection)

Liturgical Colour : Green

Brothers and sisters in Christ, today we heard the well-known story, the parable of the five careless and five wise women, of whom the careless ones lose out against those who are wise, by not preparing ahead of their time, that they would be ready when the bridegroom comes. Those women truly represent mankind, brethren, that is all of us, in our daily lives and in our waiting for the great bridegroom, none other than our Lord Jesus Christ.

The wise and sensible women made ample preparations and brought with them backup of fuel that might be necessary for the event, and their hard work earned them with the welcome and entry into the banquet of the bridegroom, while the careless and unwise women did not made ample preparations beforehand, and ran out of oil when the bridegroom came late to the event.

The wise women gained entry to the party when the bridegroom came at midnight, with their lamps lit with the extra oil they had prepared beforehand. The unwise women, the careless women did not have enough oil and as they could not greet the bridegroom without their lamps lit, they had no choice but to go and buy the oil first. When they went away, the bridegroom came, and the unwise women were therefore late to the party.

The unwise women knocked in despair and pleaded to be allowed entry into the party, but the bridegroom rebuked them and rejected them, and that he did not know them, because they were not there when he came to greet him. The end result is that while the wise women enjoyed in happiness inside the party with the bridegroom, the unwise women were left out, outside the party, in bitter cold and suffering.

We can easily draw parallel between this parable and our own experiences in this world, and the things expected from us, as Christ had told us through His parables and through His teachings to His disciples passed down to us through the Church and the Scripture. As mentioned, Jesus is truly that bridegroom, the wise and unwise women waiting for the coming of the bridegroom are all of us, all mankind, all seeking for the coming of Jesus Christ our Lord, in His glorious second coming into this world, indeed, pretty much like that of the coming of the bridegroom in the parable.

This is where it gets very important, and what differentiates who will end up becoming those unwise women and perish, and who will end up being in joy for being the wise women, ever ready and ever prepared. As Jesus had often reiterated to His disciples over and over again, including in this parable, that the coming of the bridegroom, that is His second coming, is totally and completely unpredicted by any power of men. No one is able and will ever be able to discern the precise moment when the Lord will come again in glory at the end of time. Even that end of time moment is undefined, except the warnings that it is indeed close at hand.

Yes, brothers and sisters in Christ, to our God there is no such thing as being early, on time, or late. We can never box Him up in such categories, because we certainly will have no knowledge at all about the time of His coming. He had also specifically said that He will come again at the time when everyone is at their most unprepared, at the moment when no one on earth expects that He will come again at that precise timing.

We must indeed be like the wise women, who brought with all of them extra oil for use, that when the bridegroom came very late at night, their lamps would have sufficient oil for the entirety of the long vigil of waiting. Do not be like the unwise women, who came unprepared, and when the time comes, their lamps were without oil.

What is this oil and extra oil that the wise women bring therefore? It is not the physical oil that Christ truly referred to, when He taught us how to prepare for His coming. It is the love that is within us that burns brightly as the fire of love, that Christ will come and find that we are there when He comes, and He will recognise us and welcome us into His kingdom. But love is not meant for us just to be kept within ourselves and remain hidden from the world. Like fire, it requires fuel in the form of oil, and also oxygen to burn. If the fire is placed in enclosed space, it will eventually die out, and without fuel, the fire will also die out.

The fuel that inflames our fires is our own actions, words, and deeds, infused with the love we have within us, the love God had given to each and every one of us. If we open our hearts and let loose the love within us, that every word, every deeds, and every actions of our hands, legs, and others result in love for others, and for God, the love within us will multiply, like a fire brightly lit, well-supplied with fuel, yes, the fuel of love itself. If we keep our hearts closed, that love will grow dim and will die out eventually. Love is something that cannot be measured, but it can only grow when we share that love with one another, and with God.

If we keep ourselves from sharing our love, and if we remain idle and do no good for the sake of others, for the sake of God, we end up being like the unwise women, who will be too late for the coming of Christ, and at His coming, we will all be caught unprepared, and He will cast us out from His presence, because the fire in us has died out, running out of the fuel of love due to our own failure to act, our failure to love.

St. Paul had reminded the Church people in Thessalonica, that they ought to live according to the will and the commandments of God, that is love, in our First Reading today. Indeed, we are urged to love, to love God first and foremost before anything else, before even ourselves. We are ought to give ourselves, our heart, and our entire being to the Lord in complete and total dedication. And then, we also must give ourselves to our fellow mankind, to those who are in need for our love, for our help, for our care, especially the unloved ones, the ostracised, the prejudiced ones.

Therefore, brothers and sisters in Christ, having listened to the parable of the talents, and now in full knowing how we can make sure that we become like the wise women instead of the unwise ones, let us thus, from this moment onward, strengthen our acts of love, and commit ourselves more strongly and deeper into the cause of love, by making sure that all our words, our deeds, and our actions are based on love, that the fire of love within each one of us will burn ever brighter, and the Lord who comes unpredicted in His own time, will come and find our faith worthy, and reward us eternal life with Him. Amen.