The texts from the Roman Catholic Lectionary today invite contemplation of how a change in our behaviour toward others may align us better with holiness as we build up our relationships through acts of Love.
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| Prepare our encounter |
The reading from 1 Thessalonians urges holiness in sexual contact.
* [4:3–8] Many think that this passage deals with a variety of moral regulations (fornication, adultery, sharp business practices). It can be more specifically interpreted as bringing general norms to bear on a specific problem, namely, marriage within degrees of consanguinity (as between uncle and niece) forbidden in Jewish law but allowed according to a Greek heiress law, which would insure retention of an inheritance within the family and perhaps thereby occasion divorce. In that case, “immorality” (1 Thes 4:3) should be rendered as “unlawful marriage” and “this matter” (1 Thes 4:6) as “a lawsuit.” The phrase in 1 Thes 4:4, “acquire a wife for himself,” has often been interpreted to mean “control one’s body.”1
In Psalm 97 Israel rejoices in the overthrowing of idol worshipers and their gods (Ps 97:7–9) and the rewarding of the faithful righteous.
* [Psalm 97] The hymn begins with God appearing in a storm, a traditional picture of some ancient Near Eastern gods (Ps 97:1–6); cf. Ps 18:8–16; Mi 1:3–4; Heb 3:3–15. Israel rejoices in the overthrowing of idol worshipers and their gods (Ps 97:7–9) and the rewarding of the faithful righteous (Ps 97:10–12).2
In the Gospel from Matthew, Jesus uses the Parable of the Ten Virgins to underline our need to be prepared.
* [25:13] Stay awake: some scholars see this command as an addition to the original parable of Matthew’s traditional material, since in Mt 25:5 all the virgins, wise and foolish, fall asleep. But the wise virgins are adequately equipped for their task, and stay awake may mean no more than to be prepared; cf. Mt 24:42, 44.3
Larry Gillick, S. J. shares that the oil is faith which is a way of seeing ourselves and others as belonging to the King. Each person has been given a longing, a sense that somehow, life is an invitation seeking a response. The oil is a symbol of a faith which lives reverently with that sense of longing, of waiting, watching. That can seem rather passive and self-absorbed. ”I want to be in that number.” Faith as well as religion can be “all about me!” Perhaps the “unwise” young maidens were foolish, because being included was their preoccupation.
Jesus is asking in this entire chapter, as well as in the whole of His life, to know and live the difference between “self-awareness” and “self-absorption”. The wise are those, who by the light of faith, can see themselves and then all others in the Light of Christ, belonging in and to Christ. The “unwise” have lost sight, light, and live in the darkness of a self-contained prison. They do not know themselves except in the darkness of exclusion and fear.4
Don Schwager quotes “The Kingdom of God compared with ten maidens,” by Hilary of Poitiers (315-367 AD).
"The whole story is about the great day of the Lord, when those things concealed from the human mind will be revealed through our understanding of divine judgment. Then the faith true to the Lord's coming will win the just reward for unwavering hope. For in the five wise and five foolish virgins (Matthew 25:2), a complete separation between the faithful and unfaithful is established... The wise virgins are those who, embracing the time available to them, were prepared at the first onset of the coming of the Lord. But the foolish were those who were lax and unmindful. They troubled themselves only over present matters and, forgetting what God said, did not direct their efforts toward hope for resurrection." (excerpt from the commentary ON MATTHEW 27.3,5)5
The Word Among Us Meditation on Matthew 25:1-13 comments the wise people are the ones who strive to stay open to the Spirit, who refuse to give up on prayer, and who persist in doing good for the people around them. Jesus promises that anyone who follows the example of the wise women in today’s Gospel will receive the ultimate reward: they will see him face-to-face.
It’s not always easy to be kind and loving to your spouse day in, day out, or to be patient with your children when they’re acting out. You might find it difficult to carve out time for prayer every day or to accept the Spirit’s wisdom and guidance. It takes real effort as well as a generous helping of God’s grace. But every act of love and service, every prayer, every act of trust and faith is like a drop of precious oil in your lamp.6
Friar Jude Winkler offers background information on the difference between Judeo Christian morality and the neglect of morality in pagan worship. Betrayal of a spouse has serious consequences. Friar Jude picks the wisdom of being prepared to meet Jesus as the point of today’s parable.
Fr. Richard Rohr, OFM, attends to the science of physics commenting that the term “quantum entanglement” names something that we have long intuited, but science has only recently observed. Here is the principle in everyday language: in the world of quantum physics, it appears that one particle of any entangled pair “knows” what is happening to another paired particle—even though there is no known means for such information to be communicated between the particles, which are separated by sometimes very large distances. He shares the writing of Judy Cannato (1949-2011), a visionary of a “new cosmology.”
Emergent theories seem to confirm what mystics have been telling us all along—that we are one, not just all human beings, but all creation, the entire universe. As much as we may imagine and act to the contrary, human beings are not the center of the universe—even though we are a vital part of it. Nor are we completely separate from others, but live only in and through a complex set of relationships we hardly notice. Interdependent and mutual connections are integral to all life. . . .
My heart tells me that the new physics is not new at all, but simply expresses in yet another way the fundamental truth that underpins creation. . . . What science is saying is not contradictory to but actually resonates with Christian faith and my own experience of the Holy. As I continue to reflect, the new physics gives a fresh framework from which to consider the action of God’s grace at work in human life. [1]7
Our lives have consequences for others. Building up our “Spiritual fuel” will enlighten our relationships through which we see the Bridegroom.
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