Are You Prepared for the Big Exam?
Friends,
How time flies. … This weekend is the end of our liturgical year. Next Sunday, we will celebrate Advent and prepare for the birth of Jesus and a new beginning of life and a new cycle of the church year. . . .
However, on this last Sunday, the church wants us to remember our personal judgment. We really do not like to think about our judgment, but it is a reality that we cannot escape. It is similar to a student taking a college course and at the end of the semester, the student must take an examination to test what the student has learned in that semester. When we die, we will have our personal judgment, or exam, and the Lord will ask us how we lived our life. The Gospel today gives us a hint abut the questions that will be asked of us. Did you feed the hungry, clothe the naked, visit the sick and those in prison. … In other words, how did we care for the poor? There will be no excuses because God will have everything written in our Book of Life. This is a salutary reflection for us at the end of this church year. We are still alive and we still have time to make a better show of our love for the poor. Think about it!!!
This Thursday, Nov. 27, is Thanksgiving Day. Even though this is not a “holy day,” I encourage you to put God first and make this day sacred and a day of thanks to God for all of the blessings that God has given to us and to our family. We will have a Mass at 8 a.m. and a second Mass at 10 a.m. God has truly blessed us. Let us use Nov. 27 as a real day of thanks to God.
Peace,
Fr. John Maxwell
