SUNDAY REFLECTIONS 32nd Sunday (06 November 2011) Wisdom 6:12-16; 1 Thessalonians
4:13-18; Matthew 25:1-13
Christian spirituality has always insisted on the need to live this life as a clear
and certain preparation for the future eternal life. The mere desire of eternal life
is not sufficient but the life a person lives must show in practical ways this preparedness
and the worthiness for the Kingdom of Heaven. The message given to us today is one
of watchfulness and to be ready to receive the Lord. As we approach the end of the
Liturgical Year, the Church seems to place these very mysteries before us. We have
to be alert to the signs God gives us in our lives. When troubles overtake us, we
are left without any faith, hope and love. We are called upon to keep the light burning
in our lives. The Book of Wisdom affirms the immortality of the soul and promises
the gift of the Divine personification of Wisdom to all who seek her. The stress is
on the desire of those who want to live wisely; wisdom will be granted to those who
search for God’s meaning and purpose in life. St. Matthew’s Gospel changes the emphasis
on the theme of eternal life to stress the necessity of being awake and prepared for
the Lord’s coming and the definitive establishment of the Kingdom of Heaven. Jesus
tells of a division between those who prepare themselves for the patient wait for
the proverbial spouse and those who do not. He speaks of a lost opportunity as those
who should have been ready are shut out. Paul in the second reading reminds the Christians
at Thessalonica of the true meaning of death for the Christian. The sleep of death
is converted into a risen life and all Christians, both living and those who have
already died, ‘shall always be with the Lord’. It is this second coming that is to
comfort and strengthen Christians here on earth. The first reading of today taken
from the Book of Wisdom written about hundred years before Christ speaks about what
the title indicates. The word wisdom has several meanings. It means going beyond mere
knowledge to the depth and breadth of the mind boggling issues of life. It means understanding
and insight. It means the best way for one to relate to God and to other people.
It means seeing every thought and word and deed in relation to the very purpose of
life. Here wisdom presented is personified and presented as an alluring woman because
of her divine origin, unfading, caring and waiting for the one who searches for her.
It is in fact a literal personification of the attribute of God. The author says
that the wisdom is easily recognized by those who love the truth and is easily found
by all who seek knowledge. The person who searches for true wisdom and really desires
it will not have far to seek. The divine wisdom is never denied to all those who
are worthy and are honest in their quest. Wisdom is ever present to the man who seriously
thinks on life and its meaning and value. The Christian who shares his wisdom with
the needy is the true Christian whose personal wisdom is ever radiant and unfading.
The Thessalonians were much preoccupied with the question of Christ’s second coming
as judge of the world. They even thought of escaping death by the early arrival of
Christ in the Parusia. Some of the members of the community had died and they were
worried about it. In today's Second Reading Paul tells the Thessalonians church what
the Second Coming of Christ will be like. He tells them the Thessalonians converts
must not grieve over the death of their relatives and friends unlike the pagans who
had no hope in resurrection. Here Paul was addressing the issue of the resurrection
of the physical bodies and the glorifying of all those who lived their faith in Christ
until the end. He was telling those who were present that those who die first will
not be glorified first. In fact, when the moment arrives, the physical bodies of the
dead will rise from their graves to be lifted into the clouds alongside those who
are presently living. The final judgment of all shall come at the same time, some
going to the right and some to the left according to their rewards. The resurrection
of Jesus from the dead is the proof and the guarantee of our own resurrection. Paul
stressed to his brothers and sisters in Christ that he did not want them to be uninformed.
Those who are alive today, who are left until the coming of the Lord, will by no means
precede those who have died. As such, we should encourage one another with these words.
The tells them that all the faithful will have eternal life with Christ when they
complete their allotted time on earth. In today's passage from Matthew, Jesus tells
a parable, partially an allegory, based on Palestinian matrimonial customs, teaches
us to be prepared at all times for the Lord’s return. The narrative is something
which would be very familiar to his Palestinian readers – a village marriage. Matthew
gives the parable of ten virgins who were waiting eagerly for the coming of the bridegroom.
Apparently ten girls would be asked to accompany the bride as she awaited the arrival
of the bridegroom. The problem was that they had no idea when the bridegroom would
turn up and, when it got dark, they would need to have lighted lamps. If the bride's
companions were caught unawares, if they were not around when the bridegroom came,
they could be locked out or left behind. The wedding among the Jews at the time of
Jesus was preceded by a week of feverish preparations on the part of the bride, assisted
by her chosen attendants, unmarried maidens of her own age. The wedding celebration
generally took place in the bridegroom’s house. He accompanied by the friends of
the bridegroom came to bride’s house about sunset. Having received his bride from
her parents and guardians, a procession was formed. With music and dance they went
to the bridegroom’s home for the wedding feast which would last whole night and sometimes
a few days. There would be large number of invited guests, relatives and friends and
all the neighbours and they would not exclude strangers if they dropped in. The guests
who came for the wedding brought gifts and things necessary for the celebration.
The rules of oriental hospitality were rigidly followed. In this parable our Lord
describes the fate of very special guests, the intimate friends of the bride who gladly
accepted the invitation and went through a lot of trouble to prepare for the occasion
and yet through carelessness was found unworthy to share in the festivities. The
chosen bridesmaids had to carry lighted lamps in the bridal procession which always
took place at night. All the ten came to the bride’s place in good time dressed for
the occasion and carrying their lamps with them. These lamps were generally small
bronze or earthen vessels which held little oil enough for a few hours. Hence they
normally carried small jars of oil to fill their lamps and to keep them burning continuously.
Here Jesus points to the folly of the five young girls who took the lamp but forgot
to take extra oil with them. The wise on the other hand remembered to take extra
oil for they realized that their celebration would last through the night. As the
bridegroom was delayed in coming they dozed off and fell asleep. There was the call
at midnight to meet the bridegroom and the foolish ones recognized their mistake.
They then unsuccessfully tried to borrow and finally had to go in search of the merchants
for their purchase. Meantime the bridegroom arrived and the foolish ones lost their
opportunity to join the festivities. They were indeed selected for the honour but
now proved themselves unworthy of such invitation and privilege. Jesus tells the
story to impress his followers of the supreme need of vigilance and watchfulness.
The parable shows that some of his followers who have been chosen to play a special
role in the nuptials of Christ with his Church, will forfeit their place at the eternal
nuptials in heaven through their carelessness and not positive malice. The image
Jesus gave of marriage regarding the kingdom of heaven was easily understood by his
hearers. The reference here is primarily to the second coming of Christ as he comes
in glory to judge all mankind. On that day his kingdom will be completed and the eternal
triumphal kingdom of heaven will begin. In this story Jesus illustrates what will
happen on that day to some of those whom he had chosen and to whom he had given every
facility to reach their one and only goal. In this parable, Matthew is telling the
Christian community that the return of the Lord may be delayed beyond their expectation
and that they should, therefore, prepare for the long wait by providing enough oil
for their lamps. Many details of the parable make good sense when seen against the
framework of this principal theme. The bridegroom is Christ and the bride is the church.
The ten bridesmaids are the totality of the members of the church. The lamps, which
all the bridesmaids had, could represent faith which all Christians have. The oil,
which some of them had and others did not, would then represent good works. A lamp
without oil is like faith without good works -- dead and useless. The message is
still relevant to the Christians of our time. Their wisdom here consists in their
taking prudent steps to do what they need to do in order to come face to face with
their Lord. The conclusion to be drawn from this story by the disciples is this:
the time of the arrival of our Lord as judge of the universe, the day on which the
eternal wedding feast of Christ with his elect will begin, is as uncertain as the
arrival of the bridegroom. There is one sure way to be found ready on that all important
moment is to be ever prepared and ready to meet the bridegroom. A follower of Christ
cannot afford to be casual and unprepared for that moment. Like the foolish bridesmaids
many will fail to make use of the means provided for the salvation and only realize
their folly when it is too late. As we draw close to the end of the liturgical year,
the church, through the gospel, invites us to contemplate the end – the end of our
lives and the end of the world. The way to prepare for the end is not to live in fear
and anxiety but with hope and expectation for the coming of the Lord. Jesus has
told us that the Son of Man will come back on the Last Day to judge the living and
the dead. How and when that will be, we do not know for sure. But today’s parable
gives us the hope and tells us to prepare for the end by following the example of
the wise virgins. The wise virgins took enough oil to keep their lamps burning. In
the same way we should engage and persevere in good works to keep our faith alive.
That is the best way to make ourselves ready and prepared for the Lord, no matter
when the Lord chooses to come. The Christian faith requires of us to listen to
that transcending movement of hope within us and to recognize the path it leads us
to. For those who have squandered the gifts they have been given, the announcement
fills them with dread. We might feel that the "wise" virgins were rather selfish in
refusing to share their oil with the "foolish" in such a critical situation. However,
the parables of Jesus normally are making one point taken from some common experience
of daily life. The focus is on that one point and other details are not part of it.
Another example might be the parable of the dishonest steward who falsified all his
employer's accounts so that he could make sure of future employment for himself. Jesus,
who was obviously not condoning this man's behaviour, only used it as an example of
how even a bad person can take prudent steps to guarantee his future. We can also
say in the context of today's parable that the "oil" of loving service is not strictly
speaking transferable to others. Our preparedness to meet the Lord is something that
is ultimately only our responsibility. No one can say "Yes" to Christ on my behalf.
Lord’s response to those unprepared seems harsh, “I do not know you,” as they were
the ones unprepared to receive him. All are invited, but not all get inside. All are
called but few are among the chosen ones. This is not due to any partiality on the
bridegroom's part but because of the tardiness of some in responding to the invitation.
Let us be thankful to God for His infinite love that reminds us to be wise in
the management of our spiritual lives. We are thankful for the Body of Christ, the
Holy Church, where we can find spiritual support from our brothers and sisters so
we may all persevere until the end in our spiritual journey as pilgrims. We are thankful
for today's message that awakens our awareness to our human weaknesses so we may spiritually
mature in Christ to answer our call to become as shining lights in the world. The
final advice of Jesus is very clear and his heavenly message calls each and every
one of us to be prepared, to stay awake, because we do not know the day or the hour
when we will be summoned to answer before the Lord God. We hear the Lord's call to
be wise. We live most of our lives spurred on by hope in the future. In business,
at home, in Church projects, we always find ourselves reaching out for something better
than we suppose we will attain at some point in the future. Even beyond our conscious
decisions and programs, we find ourselves constantly being drawn forward. Different
things appear on the horizon, but they come and go, and we still find ourselves pushed
forward. If we thought about it nothing really seems to fulfill that expectation for
any length of time. Even the achieving of long-term goals like the building of one’s
own home is never definitive. Within us the restless movement continues to push us
forward to a broader horizon, and what was a life goal becomes assumed into the past.
We discover that that goal was not everything, did not correspond to all of what I
really wanted. When the great library of Alexandria burned, the story goes, one
book was saved. But it was not a valuable book; and so a poor man, who could read
a little, bought it for a few coppers. The book wasn't very interesting, but between
its pages there was something very interesting indeed. It was a thin strip of vellum
on which was written the secret of the "Touchstone"! The touchstone was a small pebble
that could turn any common metal into pure gold. The writing explained that it was
lying among thousands and thousands of other pebbles that looked exactly like it.
But the secret was this: The real stone would feel warm, while ordinary pebbles are
cold. So the man sold his few belongings, bought some simple supplies, camped on the
seashore, and began testing pebbles. He picked up ordinary pebbles and when he felt
one that was cold, he threw it into the sea so as not to mix with others. He spent
a whole day doing this but none of them was the touchstone. Yet he went on and on
this way. He would pick up a pebble, find it cold, and throw it into the sea. He did
this for weeks and months. One day, however, about mid-afternoon, he picked up a pebble
and it was warm. He threw it into the sea before he realized what he had done out
of sheer habit. Meantime he realized that the metal piece attached to his waste belt
was heavy and shining. It had in fact turned into gold. He had the stone in hand and
he had lost it forever. So it is with opportunity. Unless we are vigilant, it's easy
to fail to recognize an opportunity when it is in hand and it's just as easy to throw
it away.Fr. Eugene Lobo S.J.