Thirty-second Sunday in Ordinary Time - Cycle A

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Introduction

 

We are getting close to the end of the Liturgical Year. Three weeks are left to start the new year. This is reflected in the readings which have an eschatological sense, with the eyes focused on the future. They invite us to be vigilant with a view placed on the end of time.

Jesus inspired himself in a simple wedding feast to pronounce this parable we have just heard.

In Galilee, in a small village, a wedding was a big celebration. The whole village participated in it, because most of the inhabitants were relatives and friends of the bridegroom, or the bride. There was music, singing, the beautiful girls prepared themselves to be the bride’s court of honor, the streets and the homes were decorated.

The parable describes to us a wedding celebration of the time of Jesus. The bridegroom went to the house of the bride, where he was waited for by the bride and her friends, and when the bridegroom arrived they would come out to meet him. Upon sunset, with great rejoicing, they would accompany them to the house of the bridegroom, with lamps lit with oil.

EXPLANATION OF THE PARABLE

Jesus wants to explain what the Kingdom of God is like. A kingdom which starts here on earth and will continue in Heaven for ever. He compares it to a wedding celebration, where joy and happiness reign.

Those who present the message of Jesus as being sad and oppressive, are wrong: Jesus talks about a wedding celebration full of joy.

Jesus tells us in the parable: The kingdom of heaven will be like ten virgins who took their lamps and went out to meet the bridegroom. Five of them were foolish and five were wise. The foolish ones, when taking their lamps, brought no oil with them, but the wise brought flasks of oil with their lamps. Since the bridegroom was long delayed, they all became drowsy and fell asleep. At midnight, there was a cry, ‘Behold, the bridegroom! Come out to meet him!’ (Mt 25,1-6).

WE MUST ALWAYS BE READY

Jesus, in this Parable, tells us that we must always be ready because we do not know the hour the bridegroom will come.

One day, they asked saint Luís Gonzaga what he would do if he knew that at that moment he was going to die. He answered: “I would continue playing, because this is the will of God”. He was always ready. Others said that they would go to confess, or to the chapel. He repeated: “I would continue playing”. The Christian is he who must always be ready to receive the Lord. 

To have the Oil ready

We have to be like the wise virgins who took oil for their lamps. And, updating the comparison, we must be like the driver who has to go on a long trip, and so he checks the car and fills the gas tank not to run out half the way. 

What maintains the lamp on is the oil. What maintains and gives life to the Christian is the oil of love.

The Christian vocation is a vocation to love. 

Some Examples of Love 

The love of children of God

This love is the foundation of everything. Other loves will have to grow and to develop as a continuation and expression of this love. I am a son of God and I have to love Him will all my heart. 

Saint Paul writes: As proof that you are children, God sent the spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying out, "Abba, Father!" (Ga 4:6).

Apostolic Love  

This love is able to proclaim the faith and to attract others with a life that is a transparent sign.

Jesus said: Go into the whole world and proclaim the gospel to every creature (Mk 16:15).

Eucharic Love  

Jesus, in the Eucharist, gives us strength so that the torch of love is not extinguished. Jesus said: I am the bread of life (Jn 6:35).

Merciful Love 

Jesus, at the end of our life, will judge us on love, on the works of mercy described by the gospel:

Then the righteous will answer him and say, 'Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you drink? When did we see you a stranger and welcome you, or naked and clothe you? When did we see you ill or in prison, and visit you?' And the king will say to them in reply, 'Amen, I say to you, whatever you did for one of these least brothers of mine, you did for me' (Mt 25, 37-40).

Vigilance

Jesus warns us that we are to be vigilant. To be vigilant means to be awake, not to sleep, because we know neither the day nor the hour when we will have to appear before God. How many people have died of a sudden death, be it by accident, or natural death? 

At midnight, there was a cry, 'Behold, the bridegroom! Come out to meet him!' Then all those virgins got up and trimmed their lamps. The foolish ones said to the wise, 'Give us some of your oil, for our lamps are going out.' But the wise ones replied, 'No, for there may not be enough for us and you. Go instead to the merchants and buy some for yourselves.' While they went off to buy it, the bridegroom came and those who were ready went into the wedding feast with him. Then the door was locked (Mt 25:6-10).

Many people live, as if the bridegroom would never arrive, and think: Let us eat and drink; let us enjoy ourselves and live carefree, without realizing that at the less expected hour they will have to present themselves before God; and nobody will be able to help them, because salvation is something personal. Nobody will be able to lend them the oil to enter the Kingdom of Heaven with their lamps lit. With faith there are no loans. 

When everything goes well for us, we have the danger to live carefree

Today Jesus reminds us that our life is fragile and that we have to be always ready for the moment when the bridegroom comes, since the door will be locked. 

We are pilgrims on the way to the Father’s house, on the way towards eternal life; and to arrive there we have to have our lamps lit, and the lamp is our faith. To have the lamp lit, we need the grace God along with our effort to fulfill the two great commandments: to love God and our brothers and sisters with all our heart, as Christ has taught us. 

Our personal prayer, and also together as couple and family, will help us, along with the Eucharist, to follow and not to lose the way that leads to Heaven. 

To finish, I want to explain what a couple told me they do before going to sleep: “we hold hands and we pray the Our Father, very slowly, meditating the words that Christ taught us, and we wish each other a good night; thus we finish the day the Lord has given us. 

In the words of Jesus, we find three fundamental affirmations:

Lord, help me to always have my torch lit. And while I live on Earth, help me to make abundant provisions of good works, and mainly of love, which is the oil that feeds the lamp of my life, and allows it to shed light on the way of God, for me and for my brothers and sisters. 

I wish for you a Good Sunday and a Good Week