Matthew 13: 47-53

In the summer of 2016, a sad event in the history in the Church happened in France. An 85-year-old priest was killed while celebrating Mass. As to the events that followed, we can only pray. On social media, one of the hottest topics is the end times. When things become unbearable and unfathomable, people ask, “Are the end times here?”

Certainly, as Jesus said, no one knows the hour or the day the Kingdom of the Lord will come, but as the Gospel today says, it is inevitable. The Kingdom of God is like a net that catches everything, the sinners will be thrown into the fire, the faithful will experience eternal peace.

But while we are journeying here on earth, three things we can do to prepare for the Kingdom of God:

1. We are not sure how much time we have. – One of the greatest illusions of life is we tell ourselves, “There is still time.” Hence, things that should have been done, we defer for some other time. Before we know it, the things we should be doing have been buried in the past. The Challenge: do what needs to be done. Unfinished business is so hard to deal with.
2. The Kindness we do now goes a long, long way. – There is a saying, “Never underestimate even the smallest act of kindness.” Not only do you bless one person, but you also bless the persons that person that you bless encounters. Not only do you bless a person in this generation, but the kindness that one shows goes all the way to the future generations.
3. God sees everything. At the end of our lives, we are all coming face to face to God. He sees everything and knows everything. 

Hence, in this Mass, we reflect on our lives. The decisions that we make; the words that we speak and the actions that we do, all of these have an effect on life eternal. Hence the challenge to be a person of wisdom. Should temptation confront us, the challenge to ask ourselves, “Will this matter in the life eternal?”