The readings today refer to the day of the Lord, the Prophet Malachi talking about the
day of the Lord, lo, the day is coming, blazing like an oven, and the day is coming that will
set them on fire, and the people in St. Paul's time were expecting the end of the world to
come as well, and so some of the people weren't working, thinking what's the sense in working
when all's coming to an end anyway, and so he said, no, work quietly to eat their food,
which must be reminding them to work.
And our Lord talking about the end of the temple in Jerusalem as a punishment for not
accepting the Messiah, and it did come, the end, the destruction of Jerusalem, when not
a stone would be left upon a stone, they say, because they were trying to get all the gold
around the stones, so they'd lift up all the stones, and after they destroyed the temple.
But our Lord said, do not...
be terrified, for such things must happen first.
Not be terrified by these things, and even in our own time, we're sort of afraid of the
next terrorist attack, you know, apocalyptic events that could happen, you know, terrible
things to our country, all these terrible things that could happen, earthquakes and
famines and destruction that could...
come, and all that's frightening, and something to sort of prepare for and try to avoid if
at all possible, but that's nothing compared to the day of the Lord that will come at the
end of our life, the truly dreadful day of the Lord of our judgment, our death.
That's something to be prepared for, certainly it's a hundred times worse than anything that
could happen here in Jerusalem.
Here in this life, hell or purgatory, the day of the Lord is that, it's also, the day of the Lord is
also the day when we meet our Lord, which is kind of like a wedding, a wedding banquet that we're
preparing for too, so we have the positive and the negative there at the end of our life, the
dreadful day, and the day that we are awaiting with all our heart, when we meet our bridegroom,
our Lord.
We both take preparation to meet our dreadful death, our judgment, prepare for that, and prepare to
meet our Lord with a clean conscience, a clean heart, an immaculate life, so that we truly please
our bridegroom, so we must be prepared, prepared for these, these days as our Lord was, you know,
our Lord prepared the Israelites for so many years.
You know, where they say 4,000 years preparing for the coming of Jesus Christ, constantly
preparing, you know, it's an image of our, our own personal life, the preparation for our death is
like we prepare for any great, any great day, any great celebration, we always prepare for it, you
know, prepare in sporting events, in boxing, they say it takes a lot of training and a lot of
preparation.
And, and every day, form of training, marathon runners are training every day, running long
distances every, every day, so that they don't lose that momentum, they don't lose what they had
gained, that commitment, that stamina, you know, preparing, preparing for these things.
Our Lord prepared for 30 years at home in Nazareth with our, with Our Lady.
He prepared for His, His public ministry.
He prepared especially for His passion and death, preparation, 30 years preparing Our
Lady herself for that great and dreadful day of the, of His passion and death.
Our Lord Himself prepared, prepared for those, the great day of the election of the apostles
on the mountain and His retreat.
All these things that take preparation, this preparation and training, we have to train
ourselves.
It's a beauty, beauty of religious life, it's a constant training in virtue and mortification
and, and training for the day of our death, for to live a holy life, training day in and
day out.
We know that judgment day will come and we'll be examined and judged for every little minute
thought, word, and deed, you know, so that, that means we have to be vigilant in, in every
little thing that we do.
Vigilant, guardians of our own self, trying to, striving to conquer ourselves, striving
to practice these virtues, striving to build up our spiritual life, a day, day to day building
up of strength for that day, a day of the Lord, which become dreadful or a day of immense
joy in being united with our, our bridegroom and Our, Our Lady and all of the, all of the
angels and saints and God in heaven.
The dreadful day and the, and the beautiful day takes preparation and, and training.
We're here to, to do that day in and day out, which means I need to examine my life, I need
to organize my life, prepare, takes organization as our Lord had said in that parable, you
know, if you're going to build a house, you need to, you know, have a blueprint, you need
to, you know, see if you have enough money, you need to see if you have all the resources,
otherwise you're going to get halfway done and you won't be able to finish.
You have to prepare and, and, and organize that.
Or if you're going to go out with 10,000 men in battle against someone 20,000 men strong,
can you do it?
Do you have this strength?
Do you have this strategy?
Can you, can you do it?
Otherwise you sue for peace, our Lord said.
That's an image of our own life.
We have to organize, organize our life from the beginning of the day and to the end.
I need to organize, strategize, make a plan, a blueprint of my own life.
And that's why I always think of religious life.
Religious life is so minutely organized in particular.
Think of our, our, the Franciscans and the Immaculate were the structure of the day is
all organized in a range.
It's all arranged for our perfection, for the apostolate, for a life of prayer and penance.
But we all have to organize our life, whether we're lay people or, or religious.
We have to arrange it so that we fulfill our duties faithfully and we, we can do it with
the strength of God.
So we come to the Eucharist, we pray the rosary every day, we turn to our Lord at every moment,
so that every moment of my day is a day of prayer.
And that's what we do.
Every day is organized and strategized so that I can meet that, that day, that day of
the Lord, which will come to you and me soon.
Like a thief in the night, like when we least expect it, but it doesn't matter whether it
comes like a thief in the night or when I least expect it.
I'm ready every day, every moment, always.
I'm always ready.
I'm always vigilant.
Always.
Always praying.
Always with that rosary in my hand or in my mind.
Always with Our Lady with me, present in my heart and my soul.
With the grace of God always with me.
The Holy Eucharist always with me in my heart, preparing to receive the Eucharist or the
Thanksgiving after receiving our Lord.
Day in and day out, always, always ready, always prepared, so that it doesn't matter
what happens.
I'm always ready.
And I have the strength and the resources that I stored up in my soul through a life
of prayer and penance and the sacraments, storing up grace and strength so that I'm
always ready for that day, which can come today or tomorrow or the next day.
But it will come and it will be a great and dreadful day or, and, and a great and wonderful
day.
And that's the Lord.
So let us prepare for that.
And this little meeting of our Lord, our big meeting, and our, our Lord at Holy Mass where
we meet.
And we prepare to receive Jesus and the Eucharist.
We prepare with our minds and heart and participation in Holy Mass, preparing to receive Jesus
with the foretaste of Heaven, Jesus Himself who is Heaven.
We ask Our Lady, Our Lady to prepare us to receive Jesus and the Eucharist.
We ask Our Lady to get us together in the Eucharist.
Let us pray.
to prepare us every day, throughout the day, at every moment, for the day of the Lord.
Praise be Jesus and Mary.
Praise be Jesus and Mary.