ARE YOU READY IF GOD CALLS YOU TODAY? | 08 November Homily with Fr. Jerry Orbos, SVD

HOMILY | November 8, 2026
32nd Sunday in Ordinary Time

THE STORY IS TOLD ABOUT A LITTLE GIRL who observed her grandmother going to church often. When she asked the grandma about it, the latter's reply was: My child, I am cramming now for my “final exams"!
______________
In today's GospeI (Mt. 25, 1-13) the Lord's message is clear: "Stay awake, for you know neither the day nor the hour." Death comes when we least expect it, ''like a thief in the night", so we should always be ready for our “final exams”, but we must also be ready for a “surprise quiz”, which may come anytime.
______________
Someone once told me an anecdote about a child who asked God: "Lord, You know and understand everything. Is there anything You don't understand?" And the Lord said: "My child, whenever I look at the world, I don't understand why people rush their childhood to become adults, and then long to be children again; I don't understand why people go for wealth and forget their health when they are old; I don't understand why people live in the past or in the future, and live half-heartedly in the present; and I don't understand why people live as if they never will die, and they die as if they never have lived."
______________
It is so easy to lose our balance and peace with all the events happening around us and with all sorts of people who pressure or annoy us. The best thing to do when such circumstances arise is to listen not so much to our thoughts and feelings inside, but to concentrate on the will of God. Try this prayer: "Lord, what is Your will in what is happening right now? Help me to know Your will, and may Your will be done. Amen." It is a simple prayer that opens a door and leaves a space for God at any given moment or time, and when God comes in, all the darkness goes out. Try it. In God's will is true peace. Stay with the divine will. Stay in peace.
______________
Fr. Ed Guarin, SVD once sent me this text message which is really worth pondering upon: "Strange how people