It is 31st August 2017. The readings are from 1 Thessalonians 3:7-13; and the Gospel from Matthew 24:42-51. In the first reading, St. Paul after hearing from St. Timothy about faith and love among the Thessalonians urging them to extend their love and faith to the whole human race. Love and faith must not be just shared for the people we live with and belong to. It needs a wider circulation so that it grows and deepens the rest of humanity. “May the Lord make you increase and abound in love for one another and for the whole human race, just as we abound in love for you.” (1 Thes.3:7-13). Our love and faith for Christ must overflow to the rest of the world. We need to demonstrate this deep love for Christ persistently and actively in our daily lives when we are struggling to know the will of God and when we are repeatedly refused or denied what we long to have in our lives. Our love for Christ must not be overshadowed by the experiences and the treatments we receive from the others. It needs to be growing and maturing day by day through all sorts of experiences whether painful or joyful. Our capacity to love needs to be filled by God time and time again. The world around us needs to experience the love of God when we express it maturely. We need to create opportunities of expressing selfless love of God in our humble services to the others. Let us not be satisfied loving those few people in our lives and in our communities; let us courageously move forward and move out of the comfortable shell of loving the few to sharing our deep and selfless love to those who lost everything in their lives. The responsorial Psalm prays, “Fill us with your love that we may rejoice.” (Ps.89:14). The Gospel invites us to be prepared at all times to meet the Lord. God can call us anytime of our life whether we have completed the mission of love and charity in our lives. It is just one single chance to be human and to be charitable, let us love and lead others to love the one who filled us with such deep love. Christ coming is sudden and there is no second chance for bargaining and repentance. Our destiny will be decided the way we have demonstrated the love in the world. Are we ready to meet our creator? Our preparation to meet the Lord must culminate not just waiting for Him in idleness rather taking care of the vulnerable people and doing God’s will in the church and in the world. May you have courage to love when love is meaningless and under criticism. May God bless you.