In the name of the Father and the Son of the Holy Spirit.
Today's reading and the gospel both point to us a lesson of vigilance and being vigilant and being attentive that we may not be in any way led astray or controlled by our passions and our passions and as Saint Paul wrote to the Romans, sin must not reign over our mortal bodies and this is so important that we not allow ourselves in any way to be infected by a mentality of this society of the world in which sin is literally being glorified or excuses are being made for sin.
I've heard from people, various people, excuses for sin such as everyone is doing it, is God going to send everyone to hell, or people can't help it, they can't help that they're falling into sin, or perhaps, the one that is the most upsetting, just the response, I don't care.
I've heard all these responses from people and it's just a reminder to us that the world has been infected by a mentality that it doesn't matter what you do, that you're going to get to heaven and that's of course a deception of the devil and but this mentality is just infecting the world in which people have no thought about the consequences of sin or where sin could lead them or that they are called to share in something higher in which is the holiness and sanctity of God and to see that our bodies are to be transformed and to share in God's glory.
St. Jacinta was told by our Blessed Mother that the most souls go to hell for sins of the flesh and it's just a reminder to us that we must not allow ourselves to be infected by this mentality and to be vigilant.
It's not to say if we fall into sin that we despair, that we give up.We never give up, we never give into despair. We trust in God's mercy, His love, His assistance, the grace that comes to us through the sacrament of confession, through the Holy Eucharist, through our devotions, our devotions to our guardian angel, St. Michael, St. Joseph, but that we must be vigilant and not allow ourselves to be infected by a mentality which has poisoned this world, poisoned the world and Jesus reminds us of that in the gospel in which He reminds us to be vigilant, to not be led astray by ,thinking that we have ample time to prepare ourselves or that we have ample time to prepare ourselves, giving the example of a thief, of the master not knowing when the thief was coming in and not being prepared. You must be prepared for now or you do not expect the Son of Man will come."
And of course the best way to prepare is just to daily make our efforts in prayer, spending time in prayer, in reflecting and meditating, spending time with Jesus in the Eucharist and asking of course our blessed mother's assistance each day to prepare us. That's one of the beautiful things about the Hail Mary, we say in the Hail Mary, pray for us now and at the hour of our death, we're already asking our lady to prepare us for that moment in which we will stand before God.
Today we honor in the liturgy Pope Saint John Paul II and it's always a marvel for me to talk about a saint who we got to witness and who was alive for most of us. We were able to witness him and see his papacy and to see his example of being a heroic witness in following Jesus Christ from his election and from forgiving the man who attempted to assassinate him and even in bearing so patiently with the effects of his sickness that he dealt with in his last years.
And of course his love for the youth, his love for our lady, his love for the Eucharist. Of course his motto was, "all yours Mary, totus tuus," and just living that consecration to our lady to the fullest.
He was of course remembered for his dedication in revising the Catechism of the Catholic Church and the Code of Canon Law and of course his traveling perhaps more than any other pope before his time around the world and visiting Catholics in various places around the world.
And so we can ask Pope Saint John Paul II today to help us to be totally Mary's, to be totally hers and to remember one of my favorite phrases of his which I always try to reflect upon is, "be not afraid." He always stressed that, "be not afraid," to trust the Lord, to trust our lady, to be not afraid knowing that we're not here on our own but that God is with us and on our side to help us each day as we strive to follow Christ and to use the time we have to prepare for eternity.
In the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Amen.