The Oil of Gladness

32nd Sunday of Ordinary Time – Cycle A

WIS 6:12-16, Psalm 63:2, 3-4, 5-6, 7-8 1 THES 4:13-18, 19-20, Matthew 25:1-13

What is Wisdom?
The readings today speak to us about the gift of Wisdom.  What is Wisdom?  St. Thomas Aquinas defines Wisdom as “right judgment in accord with eternal law (ST II-II, q. 45, a. 2).”  Put another way, wisdom is the ability to understand the world from God’s perspective. 

Pondering life in the light of Wisdom.
One of the questions that the readings pose to us today is this – do we examine our lives under the light of Wisdom?  Do we spend time reflecting on the events of our lives to understand how God is reaching out to us through those events.  To ponder – how is God inviting me to grow?

Three layers of imagery in the Gospel
In the Gospel today we find that there are 10 virgins awaiting the arrival of the Bridegroom from the wedding.  They are waiting in the darkness, but God has provided them with the means of light – each one has a lamp.

They are to await the bridegroom, and when He arrives they are to enter into the wedding feast with him.  As they await, they all fall become drowsy and fall asleep.

What are the symbols of this parable?

• The first layer of symbols is the people
• The second layer of symbols is the places 
• The third layer of symbols are the things

The readings today invite us to reflect on the parable from the Gospel, and to join that reflection to the events of our lives in order to resolve to respond to those events with love.

The People
The Bridegroom is of course Christ.  He has invited us to a wonderful feast, but that feast cannot begin until he arrives.  You can’t have a party without the host.

We are the virgins.  We are the ones invited by the Lord to enter into the feast with Him.  The Lord desires to invite us into this relationship and celebration.  We should be humbled by such an invitation.

The Place
The virgins are apparently awaiting, seeking the bridegroom on the way, but near the house.  The virgins are awaiting the bridegroom in the darkness.  It is night, and in fact late in night when the groom finally arrives.  From this we can see that the virgins (us) are called to wait for the bridegroom in the world – in the midst of our own lives – filled with the darkness and confusion of sin.

The Lamps
Yet, each of those invited by the groom has a lamp.  Christ has given us the ability to shed light into this dark place.  To know the way to go and to be prepared for His coming into our lives at a time and place that we do not know and do not expect.

The Lamps are symbolic of the gift of Baptism in our life.  When each of us was baptized, we received a candle, and it was said to us.  “Receive the light of Christ.  This light is entrusted to you to be kept burning brightly. You have been enlightened by Christ. You are to walk always as a child of the light. May you  keep the flame of faith alive in your heart. When the Lord comes, may you go out to meet him with all the saints in the heavenly kingdom.”

God does not abandon us into the darkness of the world without help – but rather he gives us the tools that we need so that we can be prepared to meet Him.

The Oil
Oil is the fruit of the Christian life.  Oil is symbolic because it denotes a permanent change in things.  Oil is symbolic because it strengthens, it heals and it transforms.  Oil is symbolic of the gift of faith.

Oil is a symbol of our Faith
Faith is our relationship with God.  For each of us, our faith is unique – it is our experience and expression of our relationship with God.  I cannot give you my faith – because my faith is founded on the relationship between God and myself. You cannot give me your faith for the same reason – your faith is founded on your relationship with God.  Yet, my faith can inspire you to seek out your relationship with God and vice-versa.

For this reason the wise Virgins – the ones who had used the gift of Baptism in their life had sufficient oil and were ready to meet the Lord, and yet the foolish virgins were not.  The foolish virgins did not understand the nature of faith, and so had to run off to find oil for their lamps, and missed out on the feast.

How do we grow in Faith?  
How do we find oil for our lamps?
Wisdom leads us to ask the question – “How do we get oil for our lamps?”  To reflect on the answer to this question let us turn to St. Thérèse of Lisieux.

St. Thérèse of Lisieux – The Little way of Love
One way to prepare oil for our lamps is to learn to love our enemies. 

The Critical Sister
St Thérèse spent her time living in the convent in Lisieux, France.  At her convent she was given the opportunity to suffer injustice at the hands of one of her sisters.  This particular sister was often very critical of Thérèse. 

For example, On one occasion, Therese remembers that she left a cobweb in the cloister. In front of everyone, the nun said: "The cloisters are obviously swept by a fifteen-year-old; it is a disgrace! Go and sweep that cobweb away, and in the future be more careful!"”

This Sister would also send Thérèse out to weed the garden at half-past four every afternoon. Thérèse hated to weed the garden, but she realized that with each weed that she pulled up she could begin to pray for the Nun who was giving her such a hard time.  Even though she overheard this Nun say to her on the way to the garden "Really, this child does nothing at all. There must be something wrong with a novice that has to be sent for a walk every day."  

On another occasion someone or other had left a little vase on a window sill, and it was found broken. The Nun  thought it was Thérèse fault. She seemed very annoyed that Thérèse had left it there and told her to be more careful next time, adding that Thérèse had no idea at all of tidiness.

Without saying a word, Thérèse kissed the ground and promised she would take more care in the future. Thérèse  was able to use these events to grow in virtue, because she reminded myself that it would all be made known on the Day of Judgment.

The Lord is near to us in our sufferings
We really have two responses to injustice – One is to get angry and upset, riled up.  Another is to respond with patience – as Christ does, and to pray for our enemies.

Our Lord says:  “But to you who hear I say, love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you” (Luke 6:27-28)”.

Respond with Kindness
Thérèse was able to take these words to her heart and to allow God to transform her suffering into a source of spiritual growth.  She took up the habit of seeking to pray for her enemies and to perform little, hidden acts of virtue for them.  For example, when her sisters left their choir mantles in a mess, she would pick them up and fold them quietly, and without drawing attention to herself. 

Our enemies need our friendship
When Thérèse died and her Sisters read her autobiography – The Story of the Soul.  When the Nun who had been harsh with Thérèse listened to her Autobiography she was shocked that she had caused St. Thérèse such suffering, because she felt that Thérèse had loved her and was one of her closet friends. 

How to respond to unkindness
When we encounter injustice in our lives, we can respond out of anger and righteousness or we can see in our journey an invitation from our Lord to grow in Love.  I would like to leave you with three things to do when experiencing injustice.

1. Listen to the book of Wisdom.  Make a habit in your life of reflecting on the relationship you have with your enemies in the morning each day of your life.  Take some time during your morning prayer to specifically pray for your enemies by name.
2. When you encounter their injustice or cruelty, make it a point practice patience.  Patience means to be willing to be long-suffering.  It means to have passion as Christ did on the cross.  
3. When we encounter cruelty, we are called to respond with kindness.  Thérèse did this by always seeking to be helpful and loving towards those whom she found to be difficult.

The darkness of our present world.
In the past two months our country has suffered terribly from the acts of cruelty and violence.  The mass shootings in Las Vegas, Thornton, and Texas along with the terrorism in New York are signs that we are waiting in a dark world for the coming of the Bridegroom.  This week let us transform the sufferings of our lives into a source of oil for our lamps by praying for our enemies and those who are unkind to us with the same love that Christ gave showed us when he suffered his crucifixion and death.

If we can return cruelness with kindness, hatred with love, and neglect with prayer then the world will be transformed because the light of the lamps that Christ has given us will shine forth with His love.

The way of the cross - the way of life

Feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross

Nm 21:4b-9 Psalm Ps 78:1bc-2, 34-35, 36-37, 38 Phil 2:6-11 Jn 3:13-17

In the Name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit.

Exaltation of the Holy Cross
Today the Church celebrates the Exaltation of the Holy Cross. This feast celebrates both the discovery of the Cross by St. Helena in 320 and the Church of the Holy Sepulcher in Jerusalem over the site of where Jesus was crucified in 335.

This feast occurs every year on the 14th of September, and when it falls on a Sunday we celebrate it instead of Ordinary time. This is the day when we as the Church reflect on the transforming power of the Cross.

The Cross Defines our Lives as Christians
If you think about it the cross defines our lives as Christians. Action without understanding leads to superstition. So the Church gives us this feast to call us to reflect on the way of prayer that is defined by the sign of the Cross. It is not simply the opening motions of prayer, but rather a physical reminder to our own life and destination.

In Baptism
Last weekend I had the opportunity to baptize a baby boy and girl into the Church. The Rite of Baptism begins with claiming a soul for Christ by tracing the sign of the cross on our foreheads. We are reminded of this every time we enter or leave a church when we dip our fingers in holy water and sign ourselves with the Sign of the Cross. It is this action that reminds us of our birth into the Church – the community of faith.

As Christians we imitate Christ by allowing the Cross to transform us
It is suitable that the Cross defines our lives as Christians, just in the same way that the Cross defined the life of Christ himself. To be a Christian means that we are to follow and imitate the example of Christ. In the Gospel today we see that Christ was speaking to Nicodemus in the early part of John’s Gospel about the end of John’s Gospel. So very early in His own ministry Christ was looking to the Cross as the means of showing God’s love to us.

Christianity does not mean an end to suffering, but a transformation in suffering
So if you became a Christian because you thought it would end suffering in your life you came to the wrong place. Christ did not climb up on the cross to end suffering, but rather to transform it into a sign of God’s love for us. When we begin our prayer, our day, or our meal with the sign of the Cross, we are inviting Christ to transform our lives so that we can be united with God.

The Cross allows our suffering to be transformed into love
Suffering is hard, unpleasant and difficult. Christ took the experience of suffering and transformed it to an experience of love. Love for one another and love for God. The witness of Christ on the cross compels all Christians to look at the way in which he approached suffering. He allowed us to abuse him, ridicule him, torture him and kill him. Why? Because he was guilty? No Because he enjoyed it? No? Because he was showing us how to love the father. He was showing us the desire of the Father to have authentic relationship with us.

How did Christ transform suffering?
The figure of Christ on the Cross transforms our understanding of suffering, from one of fear to one of Love. Christ stands on the cross looking out at the world, and inviting the world into relationship with God.

The Cross formed Christ’s humanity into the image of love that pours out itself for the other.

In this way the cross undid the sin of Adam, where the image and likeness of God was disfigured by sin.

The way of the Cross leads us to imitate the Love of God. To be open, in a radical way, in a loving way to our brothers and sisters in community.

Our lives are called to be transformed by imitating Christ, by allowing our lives to be configured to that of Christ Crucified.

Blood and Water
As Catholics we have a special opportunity to share in the life of Christ on the Cross, because Blood and Water flowed from the side of Christ as he hung upon the Cross – Water symbolizing our baptism into his death and resurrection. Blood symbolizing the Holy Eucharist that we share today. Baptism that brings us into the community of the Church, and the Eucharist that brings us into communion with Christ and through Christ with one another.

My prayer for all of us today is that on this feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross that we allow our lives to be transformed. The next time that we have the opportunity to make the sign of the Cross, we ask the Holy Spirit to reveal to us the area of our lives that needs to be transformed to more closely imitate the Love of Christ on the Cross.

In the Name of the Father…

True Witness to Abundant Life

4th Sunday of Easter

Acts 2:14a, 36-41 Psalm 23: 1-3a, 3b4, 5, 6 1 Pt 2:20b-25 Jn 10:1-10

Misconceptions about Suffering / False Martyrdom
In our modern age we run the risk of losing a cultural understanding of Martyrdom, and of Suffering. In the media, martyrdom is often portrayed as someone killing others in the name of God. In our high-schools, and in the media suffering is a way of "Feeling Alive" - consider the problem of "cutting" in high-schools, or movies like "Fight Club" which glorify self-mutilation.

One of the common misconceptions that we can have from today’s readings is that suffering is good. Suffering is not good – it is terrible. To think that I must inflict self-suffering is a false sense of martyrdom. True martyrdom, true witness to Christ is when I suffer because of my witness to His love. Holiness is related to wholeness – when I lead a holy life I develop a healthy sense of self. If in the course of witnessing to Christ I suffer because of my witness to who Christ is – then I am suffering in the sense that St. Peter speaks of in the second reading today. Throughout the ages, and even today there is in the world, some false sense of martyrdom, where we bring suffering upon ourselves needlessly.

True Martyrs reflect the Truth of Christ
What is the driving force of the martyr? - Martyrs are motivated out of love and knowledge of Christ. This ties us into the Gospel today. Jesus is the sheep herder, and we are His sheep when we recognize His voice and follow Him. In our lives of prayer, we come to recognize Christ’s voice calling us along the way to Holiness. This is the path that we are all called to. We begin with a personal encounter with Christ where he becomes for us distinct and undeniable.

Do we Christians authentically witness to Christ?
Many people today deny Christ this opportunity. They feel as if they know what Christianity is about through the people that they encounter who call themselves Christians. Many times that is you and I, we find ourselves in the role of the Pharisees, that we are not encountering Christ, therefore we are not authentically witnessing to Christ. Ask the Holy Spirit to point out to you where you do not authentically witness to Christ – and ask for the grace of conversion – to change, so that your life becomes like clear crystal – so that people look at how you live your life and give praise to our heavenly Father.

Is Christ different than any other religious figure?
Because of our poor witness to Christ, many people today think that the Church does not provide an authentic understanding of who Jesus is. They say – He was a nice man, He had some good teaching, but He is no different than Buddah, the Dalai Lama, Shiva, Muhammad or any other holy figure. The world teaches that they are all the same and that they all teach about the same thing.

How Christ is NOT David Koresh
This is not true. Part of being a sheep, a follower of Jesus Christ is knowing who He is, and recognizing His uniqueness throughout all of time. Jesus came and claimed to be the Son of God. This is a profound claim. Many people have come throughout time claiming to be the Son of God, but their actions revealed them to be a fake – they were not. Think of David Koresh, who was the leader of the Branch Davidian cult in Waco Texas in the 1990’s – He claimed to be the Son of God, but was not – he was a religious nut.

If we think that Jesus is no different than any other religious teacher – a nice guy, then we don’t know him and we don't take him seriously. Jesus claimed to be the Son of God- and either he is (because he rose from the dead) – or he was isn't. If Jesus is not the Son of God then he is just another religious nut – like David Koresh and has no moral authority at all.

What makes Christ unique, undeniable, Son of God
But Jesus is not like David Koresh, he is not a religious nut-case. He is also not like the Buddha, or Muhammad or any other religious figure throughout all of time because he did come and teach us the way to God, the way to abundant life. He also showed us that he is Truly the Son of God. He did this with his actions and his deeds. He cured the sick, fed the hungry, raised the dead, instructed the ignorant, corrected the sinners. Then at the end of all of this, when He was crucified, He entered into death and then was raised, resurrected from the grave to lead us to eternal life with our heavenly Father. He didn’t just say that he was the Son of God, he proved it with His actions.

The False image that the world has leads us to repent
How do we who call ourselves Christian’s listen to the words of Scripture today – words that call us to repent, to change our ways, to believe in the Gospel and to give an authentic witness to Christ so that the world can truly recognize Him as the Son of God, in a distinct, undeniable way? How do we exhort our brothers and sisters on this planet to listen to Jesus, and walk in the way of holiness?

True Witness = True Martyr. God brings goodness out of suffering
I began this homily by reflecting on a misconception of suffering that can be had by a poor understanding of today’s second reading. We are called to be martyrs, but we are not always called to martyrdom in the classic sense. All of us gathered here today suffer from sickness, infirmity, and poor health. God does not desire that we suffer. As Christians we are called to endure the sufferings that are placed before us with courage, with the knowledge that God does not will suffering, but rather that he brings great goodness out of suffering. In this way we are invited by Our Lord this week to unite our sufferings to His, and so to allow our life to reflect His, that we can become authentic witnesses to Christ, so that the world can no longer deny Him.

Let us end with the Prayer – the Anima Christi – a Eucharistic prayer that helps us to unite our sufferings with the sufferings of Christ.

Soul of Christ, sanctify me
Body of Christ, save me
Blood of Christ, inebriate me
Water from Christ's side, wash me
Passion of Christ, strengthen me
O good Jesus, hear me
Within Thy wounds hide me
Suffer me not to be separated from Thee
From the malicious enemy defend me
In the hour of my death call me
And bid me come unto Thee
That I may praise Thee with Thy saints
and with Thy angels
Forever and ever
Amen