The Scripture readings for this reflection can be found at Friday of the Twenty-first Week in Ordinary Time | USCCB
In our readings for today we hear from
St. Paul in his letter to the Corinthians and from the Gospel of Matthew about
two things we need to be: followers of Jesus Christ and to be God centered people.
In the first reading from St. Paul, we
hear Paul talk about the challenges of being a follower of Christ. Most people
do not understand why we follow Jesus. All they see is someone who was
crucified on the cross on Good Friday more than 2,000 years ago. Paul says,
“The message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing…” These are
people who have rejected belief in God and are living out their lives with no
thought of finding salvation in Jesus Christ. They are centered on themselves
and have no concern for anyone else. They feel that it’s foolish to believe in
the Lord and to believe that he not only died on Good Friday but rose on Easter
Sunday. To them it’s a “stumbling block” and “foolishness.” They continue to
live out their lives rejecting salvation from the Lord Jesus Christ.
In the gospel we hear of the Wise and Foolish Virgins. The wise virgins were always ready for the “Bridegroom” and focused on when it was time for him to call them to the banquet. The foolish ones were too distracted by other things rather than on being ready for when the Lord comes to call them to the banquet. Do we live our lives focused on being ready for the time when we meet the Lord at the banquet in heaven? Or do we just live out our lives by ignoring the eventual time when we will meet the Lord face to face?
As followers of Jesus Christ, we need to
always live out our lives as God centered Christians by receiving our Lord in
the Eucharist often and by the regular use of confession when we fall short of
our call to love God and to love our neighbor.
The people in our lives may think we’re
foolish for our faith in the salvation that comes from Jesus Christ. But we are
always to remain focused on the Lord in our lives and pray for the conversion
of those we hold dear in our lives that they, too, may turn to the Lord to seek
salvation and forgiveness of their sins.
From Arlene B. Muller
ReplyDeleteI have always found the parable of the 5 wise & the 5 foolish virgins somewhat puzzling. From the wonderful upbringing & inspiring example of my parents & other family members I learned very early how important it is to share. So I would think that if I had been one of those 5 wise virgins who had the forethought to bring along extra oil (and I have more of a tendency toward overpacking than underpacking), I would be inclined to share at least a little of my extra oil, once I had replenished the oil in my own lamp. Part of working with preschool children is teaching & encouraging them to share, so a frequent complaint heard in the classroom is that someone is "not sharing"--and it's usually over toys.
We really don't know why the 5 foolish virgins did not bring extra oil while the 5 wise virgins did. Was it distraction? Maybe too much attention to the dress, hairdo, veil, jewelry, makeup?? Was it that the foolish virgins were "running late" & in too much of a hurry? Was there a difference in upbringing so that the wise virgins had been taught by the parents--especially their mothers--always to be prepared "just in case"?
So my first response to this parable is to wonder why Our LORD, Who was all about loving, giving & sharing, would not want the 5 wise virgins to share some of their oil! Sounds somewhat selfish & contradictory to the spirit of the GOSPEL to me!
From commentaries I have read or heard over the years, this "oil" represents something that another person CANNOT give to someone else. Is it the indwelling Holy Spirit? Sanctifying grace from reception of the sacraments? A track record of one's prayers & good deeds? Maybe a combination of these? Of maybe the cultivation of one's own personal relationship with the LORD!
At any rate each person is responsible for having more than sufficient oil & maybe even up to overflowing! Something others cannot do for us or give us.
I still feel sorry for those 5 foolish virgins. They were not bad people--they just were lacking something. Hopefully they just had to spend some time of purification in purgatory & would eventually make it into heaven. I hope so.