Bible
Study: 1st Corinthians 1, 17 to 25 and Matthew 25, 1 to 13.
The theme
of watchfulness which we saw in our Gospel passage yesterday continues today. This
time, Jesus emphasizes another aspect of being prepared, which is WISDOM. To be
wise is to be ready for the Lord. To be wise is to prepare ahead for any
eventuality. To be wise is to live not only for the present moment but for the
possibility of what could happen in the future.
There were
ten maidens, five were foolish and five were wise. The foolish ones are called
foolish not because of their lack of reasoning but because of their lack of
preparation for the future. They carried lamps without some extra oil. They did
not think the oil in their lamps could run out. They assumed that what they had
would sustain them. The wise ones prepared for the future, they trusted little
in the oil in their flask and decided to go along with extra oil.
To be wise
in the spiritual sense is to trust little in your wealth, your current status,
your education, your connections, even your present devotional practices. To be
wise is to have a back-up; something extra, something to hold on to should
everything else fail. To be wise is to have some extra oil. What is that extra
oil?
The extra
oil is the oil which distinguishes the wise from the foolish. It is, in the
words of St. Paul in today’s first reading THE MESSAGE OF THE CROSS. Your extra
oil is the cross you choose to carry for the sake of your faith. It is that
which you deny yourself of, that which makes your life less comfortable and
even quite burdensome. I am pretty sure the wise maidens who carried extra oil
must have had a more difficult trip having to inconvenience themselves with the
extra oil they carried. The foolish ones preferred to travel light.
In the
eyes of the world, carrying the cross is nothing short of foolishness since one
can afford to be a Christian without necessarily carrying any cross. In fact,
the popular Christianity of our day is one that preaches strongly against
carrying any form of cross at all. Even the cross of hard work and discipline is
considered unnecessary. Christians are made to understand that life is meant to
be sweet, super-abundant and luxurious, that they are meant to float in wealth
and control the world. The lives of our Christian leaders today are no
different from that of accomplished business men. Pastors are becoming
Senators, Governors and Presidents. There is no more cross to carry, nothing to
distinguish us from the world anymore; nothing to sacrifice. It is now Private
jets and five star hotels. Even those of who are believed to be making
sacrifice as celibates still reject the cross by what we do behind closed
doors, by our worship of material possessions and by our competition with the
world in terms of riches.
A Christian
who rejects the cross is one that fails to carry the extra oil. It may appear
wise or smart to eat your cake and still have it now but in the end, the cross
that you have rejected now will be what you need to be present when the
bridegroom comes.
For
instance, as a youth, you may had the experience of your peers laughing at you
and calling you a fool for not joining them to partake in the pleasures of the
world. I was listening to a radio program and people were asked to call in to
say what they would like to get back from their ex. So many calls came in but
one girl called to say she has nothing to get back. They asked her “why don’t you
have anything to collect from him?” She answered: “because this is my first
relationship.” You could see the expression of shock from the radio presenters.
The next question they asked was: “How old are you?” She said: “I am twenty
five.” They were like: “Where have you been? What have you been doing? You mean
you have never dated anyone at twenty five?”
That a
girl decided to keep herself to that age before she started keeping a
relationship is something that should ordinarily be commended but the way the
radio presenters spoke shows the attitude of modern youths to relationships and
dating; it shows the level of corruption in our society. It shows how people don’t
expect you to still be virgin at twenty five or older. It shows how even
so-called Christians will put pressure on you to give in to sin not minding what
God demands of us. And when you choose the hard and painful part, when you
decide to be different and carry the cross instead by depriving yourself of
those things, you are called a fool.
As St.
Paul puts it, “the word of the cross is folly to those who are perishing, but to
us who are being saved, it is the power of God. For it is written, I will
destroy the wisdom of the wise, and the cleverness of the clever, I will
thwart.” 1st Corinthians 1, 18 to 19.
Let us
pray:
Lord
Jesus, make me ready at all times. Amen.
Good morning.
Be Happy. Live Positive. Have Faith. It is well with you. God bless you.
Fr. Abu
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