(Wisdom 6:12-16; 1 Thessaloniansn4:13-18; Matthew 25:1-13)
Dear Brothers and
Sisters in Christ, our first reading reminded us of a supremely important
Christian truth: God speaks to, tries to communicate with, all those He has
created in His own image and likeness:
Wisdom is readily
perceived by those who love (want) her and found by those who seek her. She hastens to make herself known in
anticipation of their desire.
Jesus Himself said much
the same thing but in more easily understood words once:
Whoever chooses to do His will shall know whether My
teaching is from God or whether I speak on my own. (John 6:17)
Those who, even in the
slightest degree sincerely want make something of their life as a whole, not
just here and now in this or that difficulty or challenge, but as a whole,
have feelings, thoughts, such as: ‘does my life have a purpose, a meaning? I personally can’t be meaningless,
surely. How am I to live my life aright,
fulfil its, fulfil my purpose?’
All who have thought
about, wanted to answer, take up, such seeking, wanting, wondering and longing,
will most certainly ‘be contacted!’ by Wisdom, our first reading told us;
that is by the Holy Spirit, Jesus’ parting Gift to His Church and
human-kind. There is not, nor ever has there
been — according to Christian teaching -- any such sincere human being who has never
known, experienced, or been aware of, anything from God, about God, from
His Spirit of love and truth contacting them, speaking within them.
Whoever chooses to do His will shall know … know something that
could lead to his or her eternal salvation.
As regards our
Gospel reading, we can, surely, all agree, if I say that the five foolish virgins
were certainly not thinking girls. Their
minds were filled with present happenings, what they had recently heard, seen, or
done …. Such people will eventually say, in self-justification, that they
never heard anything from God, anything convincing about God.
What they should have
said was that they had never adverted to anything from, about, God! The reason was that they simply lived life as
they found it, and in that sense, they were subject to life, servants of
life, slaves to, life as it was being lived in their day. They had no ears for God whatever words
He whispered to them, they had no thoughts about the meaning of life,
not even about their own life; their whole concern was for living their life
span as pleasurably, ‘as well’ they would say, ‘as possible’.
Another fundamental
Christian truth is made clear in our Gospel reading today for all who have ever
-- in their life-time -- thought of responding to, taking up, those whisperings,
from the almost unknown depths of your being, about possibilities of life over
and above the everyday, more-or-less humdrum, events of life, however important,
out-of-the-ordinary, and exceptional they may have once seemed: possibilities, opportunities,
to truly understand and joyfully fulfil, the life given you. And that fundamental truth is, that possibilities
not taken up, opportunities offered but rejected, put aside, ignored, can be
lost forever, without possibility of recall:
“Lord, Lord, open up for us.” But He answered, “Truly I say to you, I do
not know you”.
Others in that situation
you may remember said, ‘We heard you in our street, we did this or that good
thing!’
But you didn’t want to
know Me! You didn’t answer My call:
Truly I say to you, I do not know you”.
Dear friends in
Christ, I haven’t said anything about the synod or synodality! No, such things come and go as excogitations
of human minds. We today have considered
– I hope, I pray – fruitfully in some measure, two essential aspects of Jesus’
saving Gospel of Salvation, treasured in the Spirit-endowed memory our Catholic
and Apostolic Church.
