Sunday, November 12, 2017

Thirty second Sunday in Ordinary Time, cycle A

Matthew 25:1-13
When I was young, just starting out as a father, a husband, and a physician, I used to resent people and things that took up my time. Most of the time it was just a little resentment, and I would smile and probably no one knew. Sometimes I would be more demonstrative – cutting conversations short, looking at my watch, turning my attention to something else in the presence of the one who was stealing my minutes. Because my time was precious.
But when I had a few minutes to myself, I usually cracked open a book or looked at a magazine or turned on the television. And eventually I began to realize that the worst waster of the time I had been given was myself. And I think that's still true.
And probably I'm not the only one who abuses time. I know of people who get up in the morning and launch off on a long list of things to get done. They get upset when they are interrupted and they fall into their beds at night exhausted.
Jesus tells the story of the wise and foolish virgins today. Like all of his stories, once you've heard it you can't forget it, at least in essence. But there are several little things to think about. First, the ten young ladies (which is probably a better translation from the Greek) are entrusted with an important role. They are to meet the bridegroom and his friends and escort them to the banquet hall where he will meet the bride. In the days when there were no telephones or clocks people did a lot a standing around waiting, because if you were going to meet someone, sometimes the best you could do would be to agree on a particular day and place. The second thing is that all the young ladies fall asleep.
There was a popular song a few years ago which had the refrain, “live like you were dying”, and the singer went on to describe all the things he did after learning he had a fatal disease, and how glad he was that this had happened, because he would have never done all those things if he had been going along believing he had an indefinite number of tomorrows. And it's probably good advice. But no one can live like this all the time. When life throws us a huge setback or hurdle, we always adjust, because we like normalcy. No one can stare into the abyss forever. If you go to an assisted living facility and see people who've had strokes or lost limbs, They have adjusted to a new normal.
So even though our young ladies were anticipating meeting the bridegroom and the big party, they couldn't keep their senses heightened all the time, and they fell asleep.
When they hear the bridegroom and his friends coming, the rest of the story unfolds; the foolish ones run out of oil and go off to the village to buy more and they miss the party. The wise ones, having brought extra oil, fulfill their mission and join in the wedding feast.
Jesus tells us to be prepared, we don't know the day nor the hour, and this isn't the only time he says this. In fact it seems like Jesus says this or something like this a lot. And he is really talking about living in the present, I think. When I resented people stealing my time, I wasn't living in the present; I was living in a vague future where I would be doing something better with my time, something more worthwhile. And when someone is filling every moment with a list of planned tasks, she is not living in the present either, but looking forward to a time when all the tasks are done, and of course they never will be.
When the ten young ladies woke up, five were prepared for what they were there for, and five were not. You and I can't always be awake; we do have people and things that use up our time, so how can we learn to live in the present, to be where God himself is? God is not in the future or the past, but in the eternal now. So how do we keep our focus on the present? The monks of the desert had a lot of tricks. Each day was marked with certain prayers; at night some might sleep in the coffin in which they planned to be buried. The day had place markers as did the week,, the month, the year. Our church year beginning with the first Sunday of Advent helps us focus. But we need more than a Sunday mass. If we really want to be alert, we need to have a daily prayer life. Our first thoughts should be greeting Our Lord in something like a morning offering. When we sit down to eat, we should pause and bring our minds to God, who ultimately is the one who feeds us. Somewhere in the day, we should take ten minutes at the bare minimum to speak to Him in silence and without being disturbed, and longer is better. Towards the end of the day we should look back and try to see where God might have touched us, and where we might have done something that we could have done better. They say an unexamined life is not worth living; do we examine our lives every day? And finally, at the end of the day, we should give thanks. And don't forget the rosary. Even if you can't say a whole rosary, say a little bit of it. Think about one of the mysteries and say an Our Father, ten Hail Mary's and a Glory Be. You are saying the same prayer that many of the great saints prayed. Padre Pio called the rosary his weapon, and when he wanted something from God, he would use his rosary.
How is your prayer life? Could it be better? If you don't have regular times for prayer, even short prayer, please start today. I promise you that your life will change.
If we develop a prayer life, you can be sure we won't be caught off guard. We will have the oil we need when the bridegroom comes.