Preparing for Jesus: 32nd Sunday in Ordinary Time

Listen to the homily here.

Notes:

As I read the Gospel with Jesus’ parable today, one of my first thoughts was my Dad

·      If he is listening to this, he may be nervous!

·      One of my Dad’s mantra is “Failing to prepare is preparing to fail”

·      My family always jokes about preparation, and today this is quite funny

·      But as a child, as an adolescent, as a young man: it reminds me in my life as an adult

Jesus spoke about a wedding—again

·      "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.”

·      Groomsmen and Brides Maids

·      Five were prepared for the bridegroom…five were not

·      When the bridegroom came, the five who were prepared, trimmed their lamps, while the other five said, “‘Give us some of your oil, for our lamps are going out.'”

Another thought for me

·      Wait, aren’t we to serve those who are not prepared?  The poor?  The hungry?  The sick?

·      Well, both yes and no

o   Of course our service

·      For instance, this parable was from the mouth of Jesus Christ: God

o   Sometimes we take the Bible—a steak—and then dice it so small that God’s Word really becomes to “My word”

·      “Afterwards the other virgins came and said, 'Lord, Lord, open the door for us!'  But he said in reply, 'Amen, I say to you, I do not know you.'”

In this parable, it is within a larger context

·      As the last weeks of Ordinary Time, we are preparing to Advent—another preparation for Christmas—our journey

·      We are listening to big issues: Jesus’ second coming, those who do not believe, a war for souls and death itself

Here is one key for this parable: wisdom: to be wise

·      “She hastens to make herself known in anticipation of their desire; Whoever watches for her at dawn shall not be disappointed, for he shall find her sitting by his gate.”

·      “Five of them were foolish and five were wise.”

We must grow and learn and be taught

·      In our physical world: Dad and Mom, grandparents, teachers, coaches

·      And spiritual lives: Mass, sacraments, Pope John Paul II, Pope Benedict XVI, Pope Francis, the Bible, the breviary, the Catechism of the Catholic Church, friends

You must grow with wisdom and this is a preparation, for us, and the next generations, to follow Jesus Christ