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.
