Thirty-Second Sunday in Ordinary Time – November 12, 2023

11-12-2023Weekly ReflectionFr. Ralph D'Elia

As we approach the end of the Liturgical Year culminating in the Solemnity of Christ the King, our readings take on a more urgent tone and our longing for all things to be subject to Christ intensifies. In these days, the Church is encouraging us to be prepared. But how?

Jesus offers us the parable of the wise and foolish virgins. Five went prepared to meet the bridegroom with flasks of oil to keep their lamps burning bright. The other five brought no oil with them, only what was in their lamps. As we have just heard, when the bridegroom comes, the foolish virgins have to go out to purchase oil, and so arrive late to the wedding feast.

We live in a dramatic moment in history. Though it could be said that every generation faces its own unique moments of challenge, this no less softens the blows we feel every time we turn on the news or open our eyes to see the great suffering that surrounds us. Such circumstances could easily lead us to become fearful. But this is not the point of the parable.

Those wise virgins were not afraid of what they could see as they awaited the bridegroom by the light of their lamps. It was the foolish virgins who feared that what they had would not be enough, who ultimately feared that they would not be welcomed into the banquet. So, what is the point?

In these days the Church is inviting us to become like the wise virgins, to be prepared, “for you know neither the day nor the hour,” (Matthew 25:13). But the preparation that we are being invited into is not extraneous to our lives as Christians; it is not an extraordinary response to extraordinary circumstances.

Instead, it is a reminder to redouble our awareness of the nature of our Christian sojourn, that our entire lives be lived with the knowledge of our ultimate destination, that eternal wedding feast of the Lamb.

So, what is this preparation that we are called to make as we continue our journey? At first blush the answer seems simple: the Sacraments. In particular, the Eucharist and confession. But it is not enough that we receive these Sacraments and then live our lives off fumes as we go about our week in between “fill-ups.” No, instead we are called to deepen that grace that we receive in the Sacraments each day through a deepening of our relationship with the bridegroom, Jesus Christ.

The Sacraments are not just meant to be fill stations, but chances for a concrete encounter with the love and mercy of the Living God which fills our lives and gives us the strength to persevere. The grace of the Sacraments helps us to live with a greater awareness of Christ’s presence in our lives each and every day, so that we may receive from the source of life itself in our daily prayer, in our encounters with others, and through the circumstances of our lives. Living a Sacramental life means living a life imbued with the presence of Christ, in which all of reality points to Him.

In this way we do not run the risk of finding ourselves in the same difficulties as those foolish virgins. This is how we are to prepare: to grow each day in our awareness of the presence of Christ in our lives, strengthen by the grace of the Sacraments. This, after all, is true wisdom which hastens to make herself known in the anticipation of our desires (Wisdom 6:13). “Behold, the bridegroom! Come out to meet him!” (Matthew 25:6).