In today’s Gospel, Jesus tells us to be ready when he comes to call us to himself. Our waiting though, is not to be passive. Waiting for Christ to return means working for the coming of the kingdom of God. It means combatting poverty, ending the hatreds that divide us – within families, in society, and among the nations of the world; curbing the pride that causes us to be confrontational with God, and with each other and building social structures that respect the dignity of everyone. Throughout the Gospel, Jesus makes this very plain–those are his friends who have gone out of their way to share themselves, and what they have, with the neediest of the needy. Those who make this their first priority in life are no strangers to Jesus, because they fully recognise that ,”As often as you do this to the least of my brothers, you do it to me.”
It is living like this that we amass real wealth, not only for ourselves, but for others as well. By living like this we are ready, at any time, to meet our Lord and Saviour. And when we do meet him, we will know that, all along, we have lived with him in those we loved and served during our pilgrimage through life.