32nd Sunday in Ordinary Time A

Sunday 32^nd Sunday In Ordinary Time A

            First, we take note of some important details: The oil in this parable is not just oil. It stands for the sum of good deeds each virgin has accumulated during her lifetime. And the wedding party is not just a wedding party. It is the parable’s way of describing the banquet of the blessed in heaven.

*****

             One obvious lesson is that each of us is accountable for our own conduct. Our task in life is to make sure that when the Lord comes to fetch us, we are well stocked with the oil of good deeds. After our death, there will be no second chance. The parable expresses this in 5 simple words: “Then the door was locked.” Jesus concludes his parable with the familiar truth: “You know neither the day nor the hour.”

*****

            Here we are reminded clearly that we can never be sure when that end will be. In another gospel passage, Jesus says: “as to the day and the hour, no one knows, not even the angels in heaven, but only my father (Mt 24:36).

*****

            Wisdom consists not in knowing WHEN will our end be. The more important thing to ask is HOW are we using the present and WHAT do we hope to accomplish in the days and years that lie ahead.

*****

            Could we await the end with confidence, knowing that we have done all we could? Or would we rather feel that there was so much we have left undone, so many faults to atone for, so many omissions to make up for and we would crave for a little more time to put things right?

*****

            Our whole eternity depends on our decision to prepare for eternity. We cannot afford to gamble our eternal happiness by ignoring the word of Jesus as he admonishes us today—here and now—to prepare for the day of reckoning.