Reflection for the 32nd Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year A
(Wisdom 6:12-16, 1 Thes 4:13-18, Mt 25:1-13)
1.0. The
Dawn of Wisdom
As we draw closer to the end of
the Liturgical year, the readings talk about the end times. Patterning our
present lives for a successful ending is wisdom. The first reading describes
wisdom as adorned with feminine beauty. She is radiant and unfading, and
readily available to those who seek her.
 |
| The wise seek Jesus |
However, the first reading
personifies wisdom. Now, it has become a practical response to a person. There is
a limit our human mind can understand. The far-sight that goes beyond human
mind can only be grasped through revelation. The fullness of this divine
relation is given in Christ Jesus. Hence, the wisdom that lights up our life
even after death is here with us in Christ Jesus. Therefore Jesus is the
Incarnate Wisdom. Our intelligence is enriched when we begin to understand
Jesus, and we are acknowledged to be wise when we put into action the life of
Jesus.
2.0. “Behold the Bridegroom!”
Jesus tells us the parable about
the wisdom that leads to eternal life. Ten virgins took their lamps to meet the
bridegroom, five of them were wise, and five were foolish. By choosing the ten
to enter the wedding hall with the bridegroom, the greatest act of charity had
been shown them. But their personal commitment and choices are necessary for
their realization of the opportunity given them.
“As the bridegroom was delayed,
they all slumbered and slept.” Their hopes were stretched! They all got tired
of waiting. But the five wise virgins had a backup plan; they took extra flasks
of oil with their lamps. This practical step rendered them “wise”, as compared
with the foolish ones. The extra oil was a practical
demonstration that they did not know the hour the bridegroom would arrive. Now,
they had to carry lamp in one hand, and extra flask of oil in another. That means
they took extra ‘inconvenience’, which is a demonstration of personal
responsibility and commitment to the invitation. Wisdom is not cheap.
Furthermore, the wise virgins
were able to carry backup oil because their minds were focused on the coming of
the bridegroom. They directed their imaginative gaze at the Bridegroom and his
feast, and followed him up with a practical step. Wisdom is selfless. Meditation is the school of
wisdom. A wise choice secures an enduring future. Even while we slumber in
human weakness or our hopes diminishing, our earlier wise choices would back us
up. So, we must guide our thoughts and act for a better tomorrow.
“But at midnight there was a cry,
‘Behold, the bridegroom! Come out to meet him.’” It is from the treasury of our
earlier choices can we meet the bridegroom. The wise are revealed in
retrospect. However, our present choices can continue to shine if our mind and
heart are focused on Jesus. The Incarnate Wisdom is our guide.
3.0. The
Backup Wisdom
“Lord, let us learn the shortness
of our lives that we may gain wisdom of heart” (Ps 90:12). St Paul in the
second reading talks about the end of life. Knowing that human life will end
one day is intelligence. But living so as to continue life after death is
wisdom. “For since we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so, through
Jesus, God will bring with him those who have fallen asleep” (1Thes 4:14). At the
end, the living shall also meet the Lord in the air, and so we shall always be
with the Lord. This means that Jesus is the meeting point of life and death. He
is our hope in life, and our life in death! Those who died shall live in Christ
Jesus, and we who are alive should die to Jesus (cf. Phil 1:21, Rm 6:8). Therefore,
wisdom is to live for Jesus.
It is a wise choice to put Jesus
at the centre of our lives. If our present choices are informed by the faith
and love we have in Jesus, they would constitute a treasury of wisdom that
would guarantee our participation in the heavenly banquet. This is the kind of backup wisdom that would see us through
even when our hopes are stretched to the twelfth
hour. This backup assures us of a future with the Bridegroom. Thus,
abandoning our selfish ways, and following Jesus each day and in every
situation we may find ourselves, is wisdom that endures—a backup wisdom that
carries us along...
The light of the wise continues
to burn. When it dims, they refill from their backup flasks. For this they were
recognized as wise. Let your light shine. Those who light up their mind and
heart with Jesus will always have the light of their lives shining. Wisdom is
radiant and unfading.
_____________________________________
Fr
Chinwenwa J. Nwachukwu, C.Ss.R
St
Francis Catholic Church,
College
Road, Ekenwan,
Benin
City, Nigeria.
November
12, 2017.
