First
Reading – Wisdom 6:12-16 ©
Responsorial
Psalm – Psalm 62(63):2-8 ©
Second
Reading – 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18 ©
Gospel
Acclamation – Matthew 24:42, 44
The Gospel According to Matthew 25:1
- 13 ©
(NJB)
Listen!
God, the creator of the universe; God has nothing to
do with the appointment of kings or the management of kingdoms.
Both the wise and the despotic rise to the role of
ruler, though it is less often the wise. Justice and mercy, kindness and grace,
these qualities are always received as blessings to those in need of them, such
qualities blesses those who administer them as well as those who receive them. And
yet it must be understood that the kind and the humble are easily overrun by
those whose thoughts are only for themselves.
A despot may rule for generations, founding
dynasties that abuse the people whom they are charged to uplift and defend. This
is the way of the world, and this is the world God made.
Know this.
God created the universe and our world in it, God provided
for the generation of human beings, from out of this earth, but God did not create
human-culture. By creating us in freedom, God has left the nature and character
of our society in our hands; God calls us to sanctify it and God has shown us the
way.
Consider the words of the psalmist.
It is right to thank God for all the good things
that come our way, and yet to not blame God for the hardships we suffer in this
life, in these bodies. We do not thank God for giving us the good things, we
thank God for providing a world in which the possibility for the joys we take
pleasure in…exists.
This is called providence and it is in divine
providence that we see most clearly the workings of grace in the world.
The good and the bad come to us irrespective of who
we are; what we do or have done, or who we might become, there is no plan to it.
God is no respecter of persons, and God does not love anyone of God’s children
more than God loves any other…so God does not intervene in any way.
Nevertheless, praise God and give thanks for the
good; do not dwell on the bad, it was not God’s design to thwart you, or punish
you...our failures are ours alone, and we are all subject to the vicissitudes of
chance.
Be mindful.
There is peace to be had in patience and
contemplation, in meditation and prayer. Therefore make your life a constant
prayer, expecting only grace and a peaceful spirit in return.
Let the peace of peace bubble up within you, like a
fountain gently overflowing, let it flow from you so that others might quench
their thirs
Consider the writing of the apostle.
Jesus rose from death; this is the gospel, and the
gospel’s promise is that all people will rise from the dead in and through him.
In the narrative it must be understood that the
living have no advantage over the dead, this is both literal, in terms of the
spirits ultimate destiny of those who have died prior to Jesus’ sojourn on
earth, and it is metaphorical in terms of those living people who are
spiritually dead, Jesus promises to reach everyone, and bring all of those who
die in him, with him to life everlasting.
Remember the teaching of John!
All things and beings exist in the Word who is God,
and not one thing exists without God.
Through God all things came to be and in God all
things are sustained, continuously.
Taken together, we are given to understand that scope
of God’s plan includes everyone.
Be mindful!
The future history of the world has not been
written.
Even when we read them in scripture, any
suppositions made about our future on earth are merely guesses. We can speak in
terms of possibility and probability, but we cannot know anything about the
days and nights to come.
Prophecy is social criticism, not fortunetelling or
some mode of augury.
There are thousands of ways in which the plans we lay
and the hopes we cherish can come undone; lightning will strike, a tornado will
blow, a meteor will fall, a volcano explode. A person in the fullness of their
life may trip and fall, hit their head and die, leaving all their everything
behind them…unfinished.
Know this,
The promises we have received from God are not of
this world.
God has promised to bring an end to suffering,
injustice, hunger, illness. It is wise to believe in these promises, but not to
expect them in this life.
Our belief in a loving God, our hope in the words of
the prophets, our trust in the gospel, these allow us to act as if God’s
promise is real…and this is a good things because such trust, hope and belief
are powerful instruments in fomenting the common good. But anyone who pretends to know for certain
what is going to happen on any given day,
or what God’s plan is for the day after tomorrow, they are over stating
their case and likely trying to sell you a bill of goods.
Consider
the gospel reading for today.
This
parable is a classic betrayal of the way.
It
is clear that the writers of Matthew’s gospel, or perhaps some later editors, it
is clear that they did not understand the basic meaning of the most prevalent teaching
Jesus’ gave, “the last will be first and the first will be last.”
These
leaders of the early church, imposters and pretenders to the way, betray
the teaching of Jesus while providing justification for their miserly behavior
and ambitions. It must always be understood that those who would withhold from
others the gifts they had received from God under the mistaken notion that the
gifts of heaven are distributed according to some standard of rank, a standard
that would disregard the entirely selfless love God has for all of God’s
children, it must be understood that these people do harm to the promise of the
Gospel.
The
way is obscured when we marginalize anyone on it, and we are all on it.
Know
this!
A
person is not rewarded because they are smart, people are not punished because
they are foolish or unprepared.
The
commandment Jesus issued is simple: Love one another, as I have loved you.
Here is the whole of it…pay attention.
To
be a Christian means that you have made a commitment to love God with all your
heart, and all your strength and all your mind. A Christian is meant to love
their neighbor even as they love themselves, and to do for them as they would
do for themselves. Jesus tells us that within the framework of these words the
entire code of the law and all of the teachings of the prophets are contained,
their wisdom has been distilled into the formula we call the golden rule,
it is the the sublime synthesis: do unto others, as you would have them do
unto you.
The
parable in today’s Gospel betrays that teaching, it put a lie in the mouth of
Jesus and harmed everyone who sought to follow the way after them.
First
Reading – Wisdom 6:12-16 ©
Wisdom
is Found by Those Who Look for Her
Wisdom
is bright, and does not grow dim.
By
those who love her she is readily seen, and found by those who look for her.
Quick
to anticipate those who desire her, she makes herself known to them.
Watch
for her early and you will have no trouble; you will find her sitting at your
gates.
Even
to think about her is understanding fully grown; be on the alert for her and
anxiety will quickly leave you.
She
herself walks about looking for those who are worthy of her and graciously
shows herself to them as they go, in every thought of theirs coming to meet
them.
Responsorial
Psalm – Psalm 62(63):2-8 ©
For
you my soul is thirsting, O God, my God.
O
God, you are my God, for you I long;
for you my soul is thirsting.
My
body pines for you
like a dry, weary land without water.
For
you my soul is thirsting, O God, my God.
So
I gaze on you in the sanctuary
to see your strength and your glory.
For
your love is better than life,
my lips will speak your praise.
For
you my soul is thirsting, O God, my God.
So
I will bless you all my life,
in your name I will lift up my hands.
My
soul shall be filled as with a banquet,
my mouth shall praise you with joy.
For
you my soul is thirsting, O God, my God.
On
my bed I remember you.
On you I muse through the night
for
you have been my help;
in the shadow of your wings I rejoice.
For
you my soul is thirsting, O God, my God.
Second
Reading – 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18 ©
Do
Not Grieve About Those Who Have Died in Jesus
We
want you to be quite certain, brothers, about those who have died, to make sure
that you do not grieve about them, like the other people who have no hope. We
believe that Jesus died and rose again, and that it will be the same for those
who have died in Jesus: God will bring them with him. We can tell you this from
the Lord’s own teaching, that any of us who are left alive until the Lord’s
coming will not have any advantage over those who have died. At the trumpet of
God, the voice of the archangel will call out the command and the Lord himself
will come down from heaven; those who have died in Christ will be the first to
rise, and then those of us who are still alive will be taken up in the clouds,
together with them; to meet the Lord in the air. So we shall stay with the Lord
for ever. With such thoughts as these you should comfort one another.
Gospel
Acclamation – Matthew 24:42, 44
Alleluia,
alleluia!
Stay
awake and stand ready, because you do not know the hour when the Son of Man is
coming.
Alleluia!
The Gospel According to Matthew 25:1
- 13 ©
The Wise and Foolish Virgins
Jesus
told this parable to his disciples: ‘The kingdom of heaven will be like this:
Ten bridesmaids took their lamps and went to meet the bridegroom. Five of them
were foolish and five were sensible: the foolish ones did take their lamps, but
they brought no oil, whereas the sensible ones took flasks of oil as well as
their lamps. The bridegroom was late, and they all grew drowsy and fell asleep.
But at midnight there was a cry, “The bridegroom is here! Go out and meet him.”
At this, all those bridesmaids woke up and trimmed their lamps, and the foolish
ones said to the sensible ones, “Give us some of your oil: our lamps are going
out.” But they replied, “There may not be enough for us and for you; you had
better go to those who sell it and buy some for yourselves.” They had gone off
to buy it when the bridegroom arrived. Those who were ready went in with him to
the wedding hall and the door was closed. The other bridesmaids arrived later.
“Lord, Lord,” they said “open the door for us.” But he replied, “I tell you
solemnly, I do not know you.” So stay awake, because you do not know either the
day or the hour.’
The Thirty-second Sunday in Ordinary
Time (Year A)
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