32nd Sunday in Ordinary Time (Year A)
Wisdom 6:12-16 | Psalm 62(63):2-8 | 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18 | Matthew 25:1-13
We like to think that we’re the sensible bridesmaids, prepared to meet the bridegroom with oil to spare.
But are we truly prepared?
Do we spend our days immersed in worldly affairs, only turning to God for a few minutes each day, convinced that no matter what sins we commit each day, we’ll have time to repent tomorrow?
Or do we let God infuse our every thought, word and deed, quietly acknowledging our misdeeds as they happen with repentant heart, striving daily to draw closer to the perfection of His unconditional and all-consuming Love–because we know not when our time on earth is done, nor when the Son of Man is coming?
I’m reminded yet again of the familiar Commendation to Priests Before Mass:
Priest of God, celebrate this Holy Mass as if it were
your first Mass,
your last Mass,
your only Mass.
As I remember my dear old friend Theresa Helen Broughton, currently lying in tube-fed immobility, I’m moved to spend more time with God each day, because I fear passing on while not at rights with my Creator.
Above all else, I long to see Him in the fullness of time, so it behooves me to do His will while I’m still able.
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. (1 Thessalonians 4:14)
Almighty God, turn our hearts towards You daily, as we wade through the muck of daily life. Help us find the capacity to love our neighbours fully and freely, and thereby find the courage and strength to raise them and ourselves above that muck, so that we may all present ourselves as best we can on the last day, to stand in Your presence and serve You. Amen.