I met a young boy and his mum yesterday because they are hoping to gain a place in one of our very good Catholic primary schools here in our parish. He proudly told me in our meeting that he was a member of the Scouts. The motto of that movement is of course;  “Be Prepared”. I think this is the advice from Jesus in our Gospel this weekend; to ‘be prepared’. What does this mean for us ? Perhaps the answer to this question might come from our natural inclinations. Imagine if for the first time, we were going to come face to face with the most important person in our lives, someone who we had tried to love and honor, someone to whom we owed our very existence. I’m guessing we would want to have ourselves ready, our clothing presentable, our conversation somewhat prepared . We would have thought carefully about our meeting – even tried to ‘second guess’ this person’s expectations of us. None of us know with certainty when we will meet the Lord face to face, but let’s be prepared.     Regular reception of the Sacrament of Reconciliation, regular attendance at Mass, daily prayer, regular  scripture reading, all of these things will prepare us for that wonderful day when we will finally see Him face to face. Fr John