HOMILY for 13th Sunday Ordinary– Cycle A 2023
One thing that all Scouts, young and old, especially us old Eagle Scouts never forget is the Boy Scout Motto: “Be prepared.”
• If you’ve ever set up a tent and didn’t tie your lines securely, you know what happens when the wind and rain hits!
• Or, if you get a brand-new pair of hiking boots and don’t break them in properly, then go on a ten-mile hike, you know what will happen
• You know what will happen if you forget the bug-spray during mosquito season.
• Or if you bring a flashlight on a camp out, but not extra batteries; that can make it challenging finding the latrine in the middle of the night!
Well, we too, are called to be prepared for our final encounter with God.
As the church year begins to draw to a close, the liturgy appropriately draws us to two basic spiritual realities: wisdom and the kingdom of God.
I like the homey definition of wisdom: “Wisdom is what you have left when you forgot all that you learned in school.” Wisdom is rightfully given a place of honor in the first reading. Wisdom does not impose herself but is gracious to all who desire her and reaches out to those who want her. Wisdom is not a gift to old sages but a gift to everyone who cares.
Since Jesus’ parable in today’s Gospel has five well-prepared, wise women, the first reading chosen for today is one which personifies wisdom as a woman. The author advises Jews in Alexandria not to envy the wisdom of the pagan philosophers, because they themselves have true wisdom in their Sacred Scripture, a wisdom which regulates not only this life but also the next. Hence, they must live their lives in strict conformity with the Divine wisdom given them so generously by God.
In the second reading, Paul offers Christian wisdom, assuring those Christians who expected Jesus’ second coming in their lifetime that the death and Resurrection of Jesus is powerful enough to save even those who die before Jesus’ second coming. But they need to be alert, well-prepared and vigilant.
In the Gospel parable of the ten virgins, the foolish virgins represent the members of the “Chosen People of God” who were waiting for the Messiah but were shut out from the messianic banquet because they were unprepared. The parable teaches us that, like the five wise virgins, we should attend to duties of the present moment, preparing now, rather than waiting until it’s too late.
1) We need to be wise enough to remain ever prepared: Wise Christians find Jesus in the most ordinary experiences of daily living — in the people they meet, the events that take place, and the situations in which they find themselves, and they carefully make their daily choices for God. They are ready to put the commandment of love into practice by showing kindness, mercy and forgiveness.
2) Let us be sure that our Lamps are ready for the end of our lives: Spiritual readiness, preparation, and growth. Those are the result of intentional habits built into one’s life. We cannot depend on a Sunday Mass to provide all our spiritual needs. We cannot depend on Christian fellowship to provide us with spiritual development. The meeting of spiritual needs and spiritual development itself come through routine, mundane attention to ordinary spiritual disciplines — making sure we have enough oil or spiritual fuel: the oil of compassion and mercy, the oil of patience, sympathy, and forgiveness. We open ourselves to receive these graces by taking time for prayer and being alone with God; by reading God’s Word; by living a sacramental life; by offering acts of service to others; by moral faithfulness, by loving obedience, and by spending time with other Christians for mutual prayer, study and encouragement. When we receive the graces we need, we thank God for His generous love. As taking these ways becomes habitual, they cease to be a struggle and begin to be a source of strength and blessing. They make our lives powerful against the onslaught of the world.
No criticism is made of the women’s need for sleep or for the lack of sharing the oil.
Two criticisms are made by Jesus;
first, the thought-less and care-less attitude of part of the group; they have come without engaging in the process of preparation and expect the cooperation and sacrifice of those who have come to the festivities properly prepared.
Second, Jesus is telling us of the impossibility of borrowing spiritual riches from others. have you ever heard: “My wife does the praying in my house? She is the one with the spiritual life”. I surely have. Jesus is clear in saying that each of us, individually, is to take responsibility – to do our part.
The foolish imagine that Jesus will open the door for them. They don’t understand that the kingdom has already been passed on to them. What opens the door is their having the lamp of their consciousness burning with the oil of their dedicated lives. Lacking this, they will hear, “I never knew you” in spite of their claims that they knew about him and somehow value him. They have failed to appreciate, to value themselves as the new bearers of his inner mindfulness and outer actions.
Responsibility is our greatest burden; AND it is also our greatest gift. Jesus is telling us that he takes us seriously and wants us to take ourselves seriously. It is no small responsibility to be co-responsible with God in the forming of the kingdom of God.
Later in Matthew 25, Jesus will speak of sheep who will be separated from goats based on working on our inner consciousness and outer actions that flow from our properly formed inner consciousness.
The days are growing shorter. The cold weather is beginning. The church year is ending. That is the mood for today’s readings: darkness descending on Jesus and coldness of hearts on those who do not listen to his call.
Not exactly a warm parable for a chilled heart, but surely a warm invitation to a warm, bright banquet hall for a listening disciple.
As we continue our journey forward, let us all be aware of Jesus’ presence among us, in our family and friends, and in the poor and needy, and most especially in the Blessed Sacrament.
Light the oil in your lamp, let God’s light shine brightly through you in your daily encounter.
I would like to recite this Communion Reflection I recently found….
COMMUNION REFLECTION
An empty lamp,
no matter how beautiful it may be,
is a useless lamp for it cannot give light.
The foolish have no oil in their lamps.
They have burned themselves out
through a life of self-seeking
and dedication to worldly cares and vanities.
They do not even think of the Lord,
much less wait for his coming.
The wise have oil in their lamps.
They are detached from themselves
and from the cares of the world,
and are full of charity.
They are indeed waiting for the Lord,
and desire nothing else but his coming.
Lord, grant that when you come
. our minds may be alight with faith,
our souls alight with hope,
and our hearts alight with love.
Then you will lead us into the wedding feast,
a feast of unending light and joy.
And I would like to conclude with a special note to today’s world.
You can live your life like a Kardashian or a Mother Teresa,
But as the Grail Knight in Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade warns us;
CHOOSE WISELY.
God bless you