THIRTY-SECOND SUNDAY OF YEAR "A"

THIRTY-SECOND OF YEAR 1

Cycle “A”: Wisdom 6, 2-16; Mt. 25, 1 -13: “Stay awake, be ready.”

“It is not easy to be a Christian, but it is easy to make a start,” observes a spiritual writer. The originality of Jesus is once again revealed in the ease with which he takes ordinary customs around him and weaves them into his parables. A wedding in Palestine was a marvellous excuse for a super-party. The people deserved it. Their lives were ones of back-breaking toil, as the wonderful musical “Fiddler on the Roof” put it, from sunrise to sunset. There was no honeymoon for bride and groom in a posh resort. Rather, they stayed home and threw a party for seven days. It would the most joy filled interlude of their lives. And the overworked townspeople never complained that there were too many weddings. All, even workaholics, love a good party and a few laughs.

Now you can gauge better the bitter disappointment of the five careless bridesmaids. It’s easy to make a start but hard to persevere. The prized privilege of Jewish bridesmaids was to escort the bride and bridegroom into the wedding hall and to take part in the wedding feast. When the foolish bridesmaids heard that the wedding party was on its way they went off to buy oil. They were not present when the bridegroom arrived and so he was unable to get to know them. That is why when the bridesmaids finally showed up, he tells them, “Truly I say to you, I do not know you.” (vs. 12) and does not allow them to take part in the wedding celebrations. The bridesmaids lost the chance to know the bridegroom and to be known by him. Despite all their new finery, they were shut out of the wedding ceremony and they would not be able to party hearty for a week. Seems like harsh treatment for those maidens. Yes, maidens they were, but they were not children. They knew the rules and should have played the game accordingly.  They didn’t reflect on the how, what and the when of the facts they were going to face. They were called to something superb, but failed to prepare themselves thoughtfully, wisely, to meet the needs of the situation. When the Word of God has shown us the way to achieve something, there are no two ways about it.

Flasks of oil are what distinguished the wise and circumspect bridesmaids. In other words, resourcefulness, which is the mark of wisdom.  There is something wonderfully hard-nosed about the Jewish concept of wisdom. It is supremely practical. Like the scales of the money-changer, it enables you to weigh up whether you are dealing with the real thing or with counterfeits.  Wisdom helps you to make up your mind. It enables you to see things as God sees them. There are no two ways to achieve something when God has shown us the way for it. No finer prayer for wisdom than the prayer of Saint Therese (of Child Jesus): “Make me see things as they really are.” 

To be wise we must be willing to suspend our own beliefs about something, to set aside our prejudices, and to think with an open mind. We must be eager to branch out and learn in many different areas, even at the risk of being embarrassed or looking foolish. We must be willing to admit we don’t know everything and are willing to learn. We must see learning as a desirable process that may include making mistakes along the road to knowledge. The more you learn about a subject the more interesting it becomes and the more there is to learn.

In this parable the five enterprising bridesmaids represent the Gentiles. They have embraced the Messiah. The foolish ones, the Jews, look wistfully at their dead lamps. They have come up empty.  How long can you keep running on empty? There is never a time when it is safe to take a vacation from the Christian life. That microsecond could be our last.  We cannot get character or virtue on a Credit Card; we must develop our own. We must be ready for Christ when he comes knocking at the door for our already scheduled deaths. So even while we wait, we must make sure that what we are living for is truly worth dying for.

So, how shall we want wisdom ? To answer that let me end with the story of the young Greek and the philosopher Socrates. A young man went to the philosopher Socrates and said, “I want wisdom.” Socrates asked him, “How do you want it ?” the young Greek answered, “How do I want it ? I don’t know; you show me.”  Socrates advised him, “Come here tomorrow morning and I’ll show you how to want wisdom.” The next morning the young man reported for his lesson, and Socrates led him walking to the seaside. They both walked into the sea until they were waist deep in the water. Suddenly Socrates caught the man’s head and dunked it into the water, keeping it there for a long time. Then he pulled it up, the young man gasping and coughing. Socrates dunked his head again and once more, keeping it under the sea for a longer period. When finally he released the man’s head, he asked him, “When your head was under the water, what were you wanting most ?”  The young man, with desperate gasps and coughs, answered,  “I...I...I...was wanting air, to breath for dear life.” And the philosopher Socrates said, “That’s how you must want wisdom.”

PRAYER (St. Thomas Aquinas  1225 - 1274):   O Creator past all telling, you have so beautifully set out all parts of the universe; you are the true fount of wisdom and the noble origin of all things.  Be pleased to shed on the darkness of my mind the beam and warmth of your light to dispel my ignorance and sin.  Instruct my speech and touch my lips with graciousness; make me keen to understand, quick to learn, and able to remember; and keep me finely tuned to interpret your word, for you are God for ever and ever.    Amen.