28th August >> Fr. Martin’s Gospel Reflections / Homilies on Matthew 25:1-13 for Friday, Twenty First Week in Ordinary Time: ‘You do not know either the day nor the hour’. (2024)

28th August >> Fr. Martin’s Gospel Reflections / Homilies on Matthew 25:1-13for Friday, Twenty First Week in Ordinary Time: ‘You do not know either the day nor the hour’.

Friday, Twenty First Week in Ordinary Time

Gospel (Europe, Africa, New Zealand, Australia & Canada)

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.’

Gospel (USA)

Matthew 25:1-13

Behold, the bridegroom! Come out to meet him!

Jesus told his disciples this parable: “The Kingdom of heaven will be like ten virgins who took their lamps and went out to meet the bridegroom. Five of them were foolish and five were wise. The foolish ones, when taking their lamps, brought no oil with them, but the wise brought flasks of oil with their lamps. Since the bridegroom was long delayed, they all became drowsy and fell asleep. At midnight, there was a cry, ‘Behold, the bridegroom! Come out to meet him!’ Then all those virgins got up and trimmed their lamps. The foolish ones said to the wise, ‘Give us some of your oil, for our lamps are going out.’ But the wise ones replied, ‘No, for there may not be enough for us and you. Go instead to the merchants and buy some for yourselves.’ While they went off to buy it, the bridegroom came and those who were ready went into the wedding feast with him. Then the door was locked. Afterwards the other virgins came and said, ‘Lord, Lord, open the door for us!’ But he said in reply, ‘Amen, I say to you, I do not know you.’ Therefore, stay awake, for you know neither the day nor the hour.”

Reflections (6)

(i)Friday, Twenty First Week in Ordinary Time

I am often struck by that line in today’s gospel reading, ‘The bridegroom is here! Go out and meet him’. In the parable the bridegroom’s coming had been delayed. Only some of the bridesmaids had enough oil to light their lamps and greet him, in spite of his unexpected delay. They alone were ready to escort him through the darkness with their lamps alight towards the bride’s house. These wise bridesmaids, as they are called, were ready for a possible late arrival of the bridegroom; they had prepared themselves for the long haul. To each of us it could be said, ‘The bridegroom is here! Go out and meet him’. The bridegroom is the Lord. In the gospels Jesus spoke of himself as the bridegroom; in and through him, God was renewing the marriage covenant with his people. Every day of our lives the Lord is here, and every day we are invited to go out and meet him. We are called each day of our lives to welcome the Lord’s coming to us, even when his coming is late and unexpected, even though he may come to us in ways that seem strange or foolish from a human point of view. As Paul says in today’s first reading, God’s wisdom is often experienced as foolishness to humans. We are to welcome the Lord each day with our lamps burning, with the flame of faith and the fire of love alive in our hearts. The Lord’s coming to us each day is assured and he looks to us for a faithful and reliable response to his coming. The Lord is here for us, and he asks us to be there for him, like the wise bridesmaids. Like them, we need to be there for him for the long haul. Even when the Lord seems absent, we need to keep the flame of our faith and the fire of our love brightly burning. We can be tempted to give up on the Lord, like the foolish bridesmaids, perhaps thinking he has given up on us. The Lord never gives up on us; he is faithful to us, to the end, and he looks for the same faithfulness in us.

And/Or

(ii)Friday, Twenty First Week in Ordinary Time

It is lovely to be met by someone when we arrive home from a journey. To be met by a friendly face is all the more gratifying if our arrival has been delayed. Recognizing the hoped-for presence in the crowd, despite our very late arrival, makes us all the more appreciative of their coming. They have been faithful, in spite of the inconvenience of the unexpected delay. The bridegroom, in today’s parable, who turned up late must have been equally pleased to find that at least some of the bridesmaids were there to meet him with torches lit and to escort him to the wedding banquet, in spite of his late arrival and their long wait. After speaking the parable, Jesus turned to his disciples and said to them, ‘Stay awake, because you do not know either the day or the hour’. The Lord was calling on them to be faithful to him, especially during those times when he seemed absent and their expectations of him were not coming to pass. When the Lord calls us to be his followers, it is always for the long haul; he looks to us to keep our light burning right to the very end, through the good times and the bad times. Earlier in Matthew’s gospel Jesus had addressed his disciples as the light of the world and called on them to let their light shine so that people might see their good works and give glory to God for them. Keeping our lamp burning, letting our light shine to the end, amounts to doing the good works the Lord calls on us to do, for as long as we are able to do them, so that when he comes he will find us at our post, ready to welcome him.

And/Or

(iii) Friday, Twenty First Week in Ordinary Time

Jesus often spoke of the kingdom of God as a wedding feast. It connected in with the understanding of God as the bridegroom and of the people of God as God’s bride, which is often found in the books of the prophets. In the gospels Jesus is sometimes portrayed as the divine bridegroom; John the Baptist is described in the fourth gospel as the friend of the bridegroom. The parable Jesus speaks in this morning’s gospel reading is about the coming of the Lord, of the bridegroom, at the end of time, and the need to be ready for his coming. Of the five bridesmaids assigned to welcome the bridegroom, only five of them were ready with their torches lighting. The parable calls on all of us to keep our own torches lighting so that when the Lord comes at the end of our lives he will find us ready. What does it mean to keep our torches lighting? Earlier in Matthew’s gospel, at the beginning of the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus called on us to let our light shine by means of our good works, works of love, mercy and justice. This is what Paul refers to in the first reading as ‘the life that God wants’. It is the kind of life which will keep us ready at all times for the Lord’s coming.

And/Or

(iv) Friday, Twenty First Week in Ordinary Time

Many of us are fortunate to have so many good shops around us. If we run out of something we can go to the shops and purchase what we need. The parable in the gospel reading this morning speaks of five bridesmaids who discovered they had run out of oil for their lamps. However, they made this discovery too late. The bridegroom was on the point of arriving. They were at the shops when they should have been part of the procession leading the bride and the bridegroom to the bridegroom’s house for the wedding feast. In the parable the bridegroom is clearly a veiled reference to the Lord who, in the course of the gospels, speaks of himself as the bridegroom. The parable calls on us to have a good supply of oil at all times to keep our lamps burning because we do not know when the bridegroom will arrive. It is a call to faithfulness, to be at our post at all times. Earlier in Matthew’s gospel Jesus addresses his disciples as the light of the world. We are to keep that light burning brightly by our good works, by continuing to hear the word of the Lord and to keep it in our lives. That is the call that is addressed to us every day, and every day we try to respond to it so that whenever the Lord comes we are ready. When does the Lord come? He comes not just at the end of our lives but every day of our lives. At the end of Matthew’s gospel he says to his disciples, ‘I am with you always, to the end of the age’. We need to be ready every day.

And/Or

(v) Friday, Twenty First Week in Ordinary Time

The parable in this morning’s gospel reading reflects a marriage custom in the time of Jesus whereby bridesmaids waited at the bride’s house for the arrival of the bridegroom. When he arrives they go out to meet him with lighted torches and then they escort the bridegroom and his bride to the house of the bridegroom where the marriage feast is ready and the guests are waiting. What distinguishes the five bridesmaids who are described as ‘sensible’ from the other five is that, when the bridegroom arrived much later than expected, they had enough oil to ensure that their torches did not go out. They were able to welcome the bridegroom as was expected of them and escort him and his bride to the bridegroom’s house. In the gospels, Jesus refers to himself as the bridegroom. The parable encourages us to have our torches blazing brightly when the Lord comes to us, whenever that might be. Earlier in the gospel of Matthew, Jesus had said to his disciples, ‘You are the light of the world... let your light shine before others so that they may see your good works’. The parable could be calling on us to keep the light of our good works shining. We are not to allow that light to go out; we need to keep it burning for the long haul. We are to keep the flame of faith which shows itself in good works alive in our hearts to the very end. When the bridegroom, the Lord, comes at the end of time or at the end of our own earthly time, he will hope to see the flame of our loving faith burning brightly. The Lord who comes to us at the end is the Lord who is present to us now. If we are to welcome him with torches burning brightly at the end, we need to open ourselves to the oil of his presence now. We will stay the course only with the Lord’s help. We need to keep opening ourselves to the resource only he can give us if we are to reflect that light back to him at his final coming.

And/Or

(vi) Friday, Twenty First Week in Ordinary Time

We have a very good scout troop here in Clontarf. Certainly in the past one of the mottos of the scouts was –and presumably still is – ‘Be prepared!’ Before they went hiking they had to make sure they had all they needed to meet with an unexpected eventuality that may arise. Five of the bridesmaids in this morning’s gospel reading wouldn’t have made good scouts. They weren’t prepared for the late arrival of the bridegroom and, as a result, their oil had run out and they couldn’t escort the bridegroom with their lighted torches as was expected of them. When the procession set off they were at the shops. By the time they arrived back, the moment had passed, the banquet had started and the big heavy doors had already been locked and no one was going to open them for them. The parable calls on us to be ready with our lamps brightly burning whenever the Lord, the heavenly bridegroom, comes, whether that is at the end of time or at the end of our lives. Just after a child is baptized the godfather is invited to light the baptismal candle from the Easter candle and the priest says, ‘Parents and godparents, this light is entrusted to you to be kept burning brightly’. As the child becomes an adolescent, he or she has to take responsibility to keep the light that has been entrusted to them burning brightly. The parable calls on us to keep this light of Christ, the light of faith, burning brightly, and not allow it to go out completely. Then whenever the Lord comes, be it early or late, we will be ready to welcome him, and the light of our faith will give way to the eternal light of the Lord’s presence.

Fr. Martin Hogan.