Wis. 6:12-16; Ps 63:2-8; 1 Thes. 4:13-18; Mt. 25:1-13
Stay awake and keep vigil for the Lord for he comes as wisdom “seeking those worthy…and graciously appears to them” when we thirst for the Lord and for his wisdom. Who and what do we thirst for? Do we thirst for the riches of the world or the riches of the spirit? At night do we ponder how we will succeed in all our desires of life or how we will be ready to receive the Lord this night? This is what separates the foolish from the wise.
We just celebrated All Souls Day on November 2nd and I was asked to do a prayer service at Heavenly Grace funeral home. Before starting I walked among the people and one elderly lady said to me “that as soon as she walked into the funeral home, she felt nervous, not ready”. We don’t like thinking of our mortality. We go about our life as if that day will never come. We become the foolish virgins living our life hoping that at the end we will still get into the wedding banquet of heaven.
You may recall the story of the king who knew his hour of dying was approaching and so he got on his horse and rode all night long to escape the angel of death. When he finally stopped to rest out in the wilderness the angel of death appeared to him saying “I was told to wait here for you. Why would you pick this spot to come and die?” Why do we do some of the crazy things that steal away our days and choose to live as if we can escape the consequences of our actions?
When we choose to live to eat rather than eat to live; when a celebration of life becomes an excuse to abuse alcohol; when work is no longer to support our life but our reason to live; when the bond of our children is stronger with their friends than with their parents because that is who they see more of; we become the foolish virgins of the parable asleep to the things that matter most and get us to heaven. Do we stay awake to what we were created for or have we lost our focus?
There is a lifestyle exercise done in three steps. The first step is to list everything that is important in your lifestyle. Most people will write down family, friends, faith, work, sleep, social life, etc. Step two is then to prioritize what is most important first, and on down the list. This is the difficult part to acknowledge where God or faith is in our priority. Family is generally first or second in priority. The third step however is the most revealing. Now in a 24-hour day where does our waking time go? What time do we give our Lord in prayer, contemplation, and reflection on his Word each day? We believe family is very important but is our home a central station where everyone stops to eat and sleep before going on with their life? Is leisure time an opportunity to bond with those we love or time to escape into the world of social media, television, or gaming. The reality of the foolish and the wise is soon revealed.
We read today, “taking thought of wisdom is the perfection of prudence.” Prudence is making right judgment. Right judgment comes from an informed conscience. Many may say, “I follow my conscience” but an ill-informed conscience is the wisdom of the foolish virgins. The world is full of people who follow their conscience but there is no unity in the world. Each mind desires to create their own truth and the result is chaos. True wisdom comes from above, from the light of the Spirit of truth to enlighten the soul. There is but one truth and it does not come from the mind itself but from the mind that seeks God. If we thirst for truth then we thirst for God. Stay awake to the voice of truth which is the source of all wisdom.
“My soul is thirsting for you, O Lord my God.”, says the psalm. To thirst implies a longing, a sense of need, an awareness that only God can satisfy us. The one who thirsts seeks, remains vigilant awaiting the arrival of our God. He comes in the silence of our prayer, he comes as a word of knowledge that speaks to our heart, he comes as a spirit of love to comfort a suffering soul, he comes as a neighbor who appears at our door just at the right moment when we needed God most.
The Lord does not delay for he is the God of the present closer to us than we can imagine. The Lord desires to remain with us and in us but our souls must be as the wise virgins, free of sin, having the light of the spirit, ready to receive him in body, blood, soul, and divinity. This is our call. For this he came into the world and for this we were created as a vessel of grace for the kingdom of God. Stay awake and don’t miss the coming of the Lord.
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