I Corinthians 1:17-25,
Psalm 33: 1-2.4-5.10- 11,
Matthew 25: 1-13 Full Readings
Saint Augustine of Hippo
Being Wise Versus Foolishness
Today's Readings are all talking about Wisdom. The first reading presents to us that even God's foolishness is far more than the highest human wisdom, which calls us to only trust in God if we want true wisdom. The Gospel makes a clear distinction between the wise and the foolish maidens who were waiting for the bridegroom. Five of them took extra oil and foolish ones never took more extra oil. When the bridegroom came, he found that the lamps of foolish ones had gone off and had no more oil. On going out to buy oil the door was locked and the bridegroom told them as they came back, "I don't know you."
This central message is that we should be wise in trying to attain the eternal kingdom but also to always be prepared because we don't know what time when the Lord will come back. The principal moment of a wedding at this date was when the groom went to fetch the bride from her father’s house and took her to his own. The torches should be pictured as oil-soaked rags, flaming on the end of a stick, to usher him either into one house or into the other. (The little oil-lamps found in archaeological excavations would hardly be suitable for such a celebration: they provide minimal light and would blow out in any gust of wind).
In a typical black-and-white Matthean parable the point is not that they all went to sleep, but that only some had brought oil with which to soak the rags. In Matthew this would be a stock of good works (like the wedding-garment in 22.12). The point is no longer alertness, as in the previous parable, but due preparation. It is not that the silly girls did not have enough oil; they simply did not have any; no wonder the rags kept going out! Without oil the rags wouldn’t even light properly! The story is not an allegory, but only a single-point parable on the need to prepare for the final wedding. That wedding-feast is the joyful moment of the wedding of the Lord to his bride at the end of time, as so often in both Old and New Testaments.
We prepare for this final wedding with the wisdom we get from God and by it we carry with ourselves more oil to keep our lamps lighting. Jesus always teaches a spiritual lesson in his parables. In today's Gospel, Jesus’s message focuses on lamps. Like yesterday, his point is to encourage us to be alert for his coming. The shining lamps stand for the virtues with which we want to present ourselves; the oil is the persevering dedication we need to grow in these virtues by living accordingly.The actions of love and charity which we close ourselves make us worthy to meet the bridegroom.
This is the wisdom St Augustine employed after his conversion by devoting himself in studying and teaching the orthordox doctrine of the church. It's because of this that we are celebrating him as a saint and Doctor of the church. His mother whose memorial we celebrated yesterday, played an important role in his conversion and this is an encouragement for mothers to do these same especially for today's children.
Reflect today on how wise you are and how you are applying your wisdom for attaining the kingdom of God. Are you prepared for the last day? Pray to God to grant you wisdom and use it in attaining eternal life.
Let us pray.
Lord grant me wisdom so that I may know you more and love you more and do what you will and at the end, meet Jesus our bridegroom. Amen
Be blessed.
No comments:
Post a Comment