Prepare for Jesus

“Produce good fruit as evidence of your repentance.” Matthew 3:8

Yesterday my sister advised I should receive the anointing of the sick and hear confession in preparation for my upcoming surgery tomorrow or Tuesday. It is not easy to make a big decision to have open heart surgery. We opted for a procedure called pulmonary artery embolectomy under deep hypothermic circulatory arrest to remove three big blood clots in a major artery. 

Today, because the priest is coming, I will spend some time listing down my many sins. I find it especially appropriate because it is Advent, a time to prepare for Jesus’ coming, to make space in the inn of my heart, just as the surgeon removes what does not belong there. Not many face a future that includes an open heart surgery. But when you think about it, we are all under a death sentence, all marching towards the “Grim Reaper”. The question is, are we prepared?