Have clean clothes on.

St. Bernard worked zealously to convert sinners. He was also not afraid to visit various inns and other places where sinful people gathered. Once, he played billiards with his friends in a restaurant. One of them asked, “What would you do if God revealed to you now that you will die in one hour?” They answered differently. One would go to confess quickly, another to return what he had stolen, another to reconcile and say goodbye to his family… When everyone had answered, they curiously turned to Bernard. “What would you do?” Bernard replied: “I’d be happy to keep playing pool.”

Soon we are starting Advent – the coming of Jesus Christ. This period should not only remind us that Jesus came to Bethlehem but, above all, our expectation: the second coming of Jesus, the appearance of Christ the King. He urges us today:  “Therefore, watch all the time and pray that you may escape all that is to come and stand before the Son of Man” (Lk 21, 36). Expecting a meeting with the Lord is not something rigid, something which would kill us. This does not mean living in fear. On the contrary. Who lives in such a way that he is ready to meet God, lives a peaceful and joyful life. Because he has what is necessary for a quiet life – a clear conscience. A person with a clear conscience lives in harmony and friendship with God and the people around him. He who does not steal, does not slander, does not lie, who knows how to share, keeps Sundays and holidays holy, approaches the sacraments … in short, who gives to God what is God’s, to man, what belongs to man and to himself, which requires health of body and soul, he is ready to meet God. He is holding a lamp, that is – in his heart is the light of God’s grace.

Our life is full of meetings. From ordinary life, death appears to us as loneliness, as the severing of all bonds, friendships, and acquaintances. But the Gospel says otherwise. In it, we read about a big – new meeting with the Lord, which has a festive atmosphere. Therefore, a “new” forum because it is a meeting with Jesus, a person who has not yet seen with our own eyes but with whom we have been in contact for a long time with the help of our faith. Thus, a person living according to the Gospel, a person living with a clear conscience, has and can enjoy the fact that in death, he will not be thrown into solitary confinement because then he will leave everyone to meet Jesus in whom he will find the fullness of peace and happiness.

To enter the encounter with Jesus, we must have a wedding dress. Otherwise, we will be thrown out the door, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. The sign of this dress is our christening shirt, which we received at baptism. We were then cleansed from all sins and became God’s children. Let’s remember this day. It is our birthday when we are born into heaven. Brother, sister, when you received this robe, the baptist said: “…you have become a new creation, and you have put on Christ. Let this white robe be your sign of this rank. Your parents and relatives will help you by word and example so that you may bring him undefiled into eternal life.”

However, in life, we ​​often fall into a puddle as children; that’s why we have the sacrament of reconciliation. Don’t we sometimes delay repentance? Therefore, let’s prepare for the reception in the wedding hall now. Are we ready for a class we have no idea about?

If God revealed to us the hour of our death, would we remain calm like St. Bernard? If we are ready, then yes. If not, let’s consider our approach to reconciliation with God. Let’s resolve today that whenever we feel in our souls that we are heavy, we will surrender everything to God, as he wishes, and thus be ready with our hearts and our life to meet Jesus in full glory.