A Homily for Friday of the Twenty-first Week in Ordinary Time
Thursday, August 22, 2024
Prince of Peace Catholic Church – 8:00 Mass
1 Corinthians 1:17-25; Psalm 33:1-2, 4-5, 10-11; Matthew 25:1-13
Today we hear a parable about 10 virgins who are awaiting the coming of the bridegroom. The bridegroom is meant to be Christ himself…the bridegroom of the Church, his bride. The virgins are understood to represent the Christian community, waiting for Christ the groom to arrive. Did Jesus tell this parable because he knew that his Church would be in for a long period of waiting for his return and that we must persevere in faith and charity as we wait for him? Most likely.
We may ask what this is all about…why are 10 virgins waiting for the bridegroom? Well, in first-century Palestine a wedding procession was guided by maiden torchbearers. These young ladies led a long procession of family members and friends of the bride and groom down the street as they sang and danced to celebrate the marriage. When they finally reached their destination, guided by the light of the torches carried by the young maidens, the wedding feast began.
If the virgins arrived at the procession without enough oil to keep their torches burning, they would certainly be embarrassed when their torches went out during the procession. If they didn’t show up with enough oil, they couldn’t just borrow some from the others. Doing so would risk that there wouldn’t be enough to keep all the torches burning during the procession.
In this parable, Jesus’ is warning each of us to be prepared like the wise virgins so that when our time comes to meet the Him, we’ll have flasks full of oil, oil that will be needed for our torches to be burning brightly.
So just what is this oil we must have in our flasks when we come to the time of our death? What exactly is it that will keep our torches burning when we meet the Lord?
Traditionally, this “oil” has been understood as a reference to CHARITY, to love of neighbor. The message is simple. As we really prepared to meet our Lord in Heaven?
It’s not enough to make the claim that we are Christians. We must also produce the good fruit of charity by our actions. Faith must result in charity, otherwise it is not true faith at all. We should all ask ourselves if we are using our God-given gifts to do the good works necessary to keep our oil flasks full. We must be deeply in love with Christ and show this love in our care for others. This is how we can be sure we will have enough oil to keep our torch burning brightly when we go to meet Christ.
We must diligent in fostering charity in our lives, not only in our DEEDS, but also in our THOUGHTS and in our WORDS. We must stop being critical and condemning of others in our THOUGHTS, striving to see others as God sees them, even those who profess beliefs that are offensive to us. Charity must also direct our WORDS. Our words must be encouraging of others, kind, supportive and merciful. Our DEEDS become charitable when we become generous with our time, go out of our way to serve and are diligent in the ways we express our love of others.
This parable is so much more than a story. It is TRUTH. And the truth is that some who call themselves Christians will arrive at the day of judgment without the necessary “oil” for their lamps. We must each take our Lord seriously and examine our life of charity: charity in our THOUGHTS, in our WORDS and in our DEEDS. Where we are lacking, we must become fervent in our resolve to change. Only then we will meet the bridegroom with a full flask of oil and we’ll be eternally grateful that we were well-prepared for his coming.