11 November 2023 – 32nd Sunday in Ordinary Time (Year A) (Sunset Mass)

by Fr Cosmas Francis OFM

So my dear sisters and brothers, two words that stands out for me here in the Word of God today is:-
1.  Wisdom
2.  Virgin. If we read the Gospel in other version, it is said virgin, 10 virgins – 5 foolish and 5 wise. So virgin or bridesmaid.

So wisdom and virgin.

So wisdom. Wisdom also brings the meaning of the quality of having experienced knowledge and good judgment. The quality of being wise. That is wisdom. The quality of being wise.

Virgin. Literal meaning for virgin is a person who has never had sexual intercourse, unmarried girl or woman. That is virgin.

But in our church, in our faith, we have Mother Mary. We call Mother Mary the Mother of God, the Virgin Mary because she conceived of the Holy Spirit. That is why Mother Mary is the Immaculate Conception, the Virgin Mary, the Mother of God.

So it is also her virtuous and hidden perfection (I am talking about Mother Mary), her virtuous and hidden perfection and above all, her virginal love for God and father, her maternal love for her son, Jesus Christ. Other word of virgin is purity. Means freedom from adulteration, from contamination and immorality. Freedom from immorality.

So wisdom and virgin. Two words that stands out for me today.

So my brothers and sisters, as believers, as the children of God, how can we appreciate and respond to this meaning of these two words – wisdom and virgin – in our lives?

In our lives, we ponder: Do we use the wisdom that God has given us in the best way?

I think each one of us are special. Each one of us has been gifted very special, created very special, no matter how. Each one of us are special. And we are not stupid. All of us can think. We are very special.

Wisdom. But wisdom has always a connection with humility. Without humility, there is no wisdom because it is always connected with humility, humility in front of God, in the eyes of God. And humility is not easy for everyone. Even for me for myself, it is difficult to be a person that has some humble humility. And I am still working on it, I am struggling. Each and every day I am trying my best. But the Word of God today keep reminding us that wisdom, humility to acknowledge God’s existence and God’s love for each one of us.

So virgin. Let us reflect on ourselves. Purity. virgin also means purity, pure. How pure are we in loving God, in our relationship with God, with one another, with our spouse, with our family, with our children, with our colleagues, with our friends? How pure are we?

Sometimes we are pretending. We are not pure but we are pretending because we have something, a mission or goals, that something is not right. But let us ask ourselves today: How pure are we? How virgin our heart is in relationship with God, with one another, in our faith?

So today, in the First Reading, it is talking about wisdom. Wisdom. And the Second Reading, letter of Saint Paul to the Thessalonica: Stand Firm in Faith. Use your wisdom. God exists. God is with us.

Do not lose hope when someone has died. Of course we are emotional people, we all have the feelings, we feel sad, we feel lost and everything. Not only when someone whom are so dear to us go away or pass away. Or maybe we broke up with someone that we love so much and we feel that life has no meaning. God is too far away from us. But Saint Paul reminds us again today to keep faith in God. God never leave you. He loves you so much and His love for you never change. That is what Saint Paul is telling us today.

So in the Gospel today, the parable of the ten women, ten virgins or ten bridesmaids. So five is wise, five is foolish. So the five that is wise whom they have been keeping their chastity, they have purity of heart, they always guard their purity and faith, always keep the lamp of faith burning for the love of God. 

How do we keep our lamp burning?

We are not only to love God but to love one another. And how do we love one another? Of course we have to show it by our example, by serving in the church, by serving in our community, by doing charity. And that is how we keep our lamp burning, our faith, our charity.

And the five foolish virgin, they do not ask for wisdom. They do not use their wisdom, their knowledge, their understanding. They do not keep their purity, they do not keep their hearts burning for the love of God. They do not keep their lamp burning. That is why they lose and their lamp is dying. They are leaving their lamp, falling asleep.

So what is the virtue that we can learn from these ten women, five wise and five foolish? What is the things that we can learn from them?

The five wise virgins, they brought their extra oil together because they are waiting for the bridegroom and the bridegroom came late, at midnight. But they know, they prepared themselves. They brought extra oil in case that the bridegroom might come late. And true enough, the bridegroom came late.

And the five foolish, they did not bring extra oil. So they ran out. Midnight they are falling asleep but the bridegroom comes. And then the foolish said to the five wise virgins: Give us some oil. Our lamp is dying. But they said: No we cannot give you because it might not be enough for us. It might not be enough for us.

My dear sisters and brothers. Is not each one of us have been given the space, the time? Each one of us, how did we use our time? How did we use our freedom? How did we use our opportunity? We might think that the five wise virgin, they are so stingy, they are so selfish. Why do not they have pity to the five foolish? At least give them some oil. But remember, they said: It might not be enough for us. Because they also have to prepare.

And each one of us has been given the time. What do we do to keep our lamp alive? Our faith, do we take it for granted?

The five foolish virgins also reminding us that we cannot keep asking from other people. There are times that we have to get it by ourselves. There are times that we have to find it by ourselves and we have to work on it.

Going to church. We can listen to the Word of God, we can receive the body of Christ. We cannot ask people to go to the church and listen to the Word of God, receive the body of Christ for us. Cannot. We have to go to the church by ourselves.

Going to the confession, to go for confession. We cannot ask other people to go for confession for our sins, for our repentance, for our conversion. Cannot. We have to go to the priest by ourselves and confess for our sins for forgiveness.

There are many times that we cannot always ask other people. We have to work on our own faith. We cannot always depend: Please pray for me. Please pray for me. Please pray for me. We always ask other people to pray but how about ourselves? Do we make an effort?

The same like the five foolish virgins: Can you give us some oil? No! It might not be enough for us. The same thing. If we are truly pure, want to build a good relationship with God, we will look for God by ourselves. We will work on it. We will come to church every Sunday or whenever there is an opportunity to attend Mass or a gathering or whatever church activity.

So sometimes in our lives, we take things for granted like we have a good job, we have a good salary. We have a high pay but with that high pay, sometimes we are very stingy. Do we give some money for the church or do we help others or a charity? We are very stingy and then we spend lavishly. We think that: Oh I have money, I can spend. Then we spend, spend until our money finishes and then we borrow again. Can we do that all the time? If I ran out of money, I can borrow from my friend. My friend is very generous. He can always lend me some money. Cannot right? We have to keep some for ourselves in case of emergency. The same thing in our faith. We have to work on our faith on our own. We cannot always depend on other people for our salvation.

And apart from working on our faith, we also pray for others. Doing charity for others.

My dear sisters and brothers, we never know the time, we never know the day when Christ is coming again. None of us know the time, none of us know the day. And all of us are pilgrims. We are on a pilgrimage. We are heading to the promised land. And on our journey, we have to keep our lamp burning. The lamp, the love of God. We have to keep our love of God burning, burning for God and for one another. That is why along the way on our journey, we need that light.

So let us continue to ask the Holy Spirit to give us the strength, to give us the wisdom that we may be able to continue to keep our lamp burning, the love for God and for one another keep burning that one day when we meet Jesus face to face, He will greet us.

And it is so scary right? The end of the reading of the Gospel today: Jesus said: “When we say: Lord, Lord please open the door. Then Jesus said: Who are you? I don’t know you?” Who are you? It is so scary.

So let us ask ourselves, let us continue to reflect, let us continue to ask the Holy Spirit to give us wisdom that we may be able to have the courage and strength to keep our lamp burning.

Amen.

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