32nd Sunday in Ordinary Time

Fr Dominic’s Homily

Today is the parable that compares entering the kingdom of heaven with ten bridesmaids and their lamps who went out to meet the bridegroom.

Today when a wedding is organised the invites go out in advance giving clear details about the date, venue and where the reception will be. Even what presents to buy!

But back then in Palestine for 1st century Jews weddings would go on for 7 days. Invites would go out but with no dates or times given until everything is prepared then the word would go out. The bridesmaids would wait with the bride for the groom and, upon his appearance, would accompany him in procession to the celebrations.

The trouble is that the bridesmaids did not know quite when the groom would appear. Those who were invited would wait with lamps. The nights were very dark in Israel at that time so lamps were needed.

We hear that five bridesmaids are wise, they have oil in their lamps and so are ready for the groom. The rest are foolish. They are not well prepared and so have no oil. And there is a long wait for the groom to return so their flames slowly die out.

As with all parables and stories told by Jesus there are a couple of strange twists. The first being that the five wise bridesmaids refused to give any of their oil to the others. That’s a little weird. Why not? Otherwise where are they going to buy any for themselves at that time of night?

The second strange twist is that when the foolish bridesmaids manage to eventually get some oil and reach the reception the groom says to them that he doesn’t know them and closes the door on them!

Surely in reality the groom would say “At last! Here you are. Well done for making it. Come on in!” So this of course indicates to us that this is no ordinary wedding and this is no ordinary bridegroom.

Jesus gives a brief description of what is meant in this parable as he says “So stay awake as you do not know either the day or the hour”

In other words this is all about the final judgement and the return of Christ into the world. And none of us know when this will be.

In the Greek the word is “Be attentive” Rather than simply stay awake.

Be attentive to what God is saying to me in the here and now. Don’t leave spiritual matters to another time.

We heard all about Wisdom in the first reading. We must pray for this gift every day. Worldly wisdom is ultimately useless whereas spiritual wisdom has infinite value.

And here is one of the hardest truths of this parable: the divine life cannot simply be shared with another person at the last minute.

The wise bridesmaids are not being difficult and selfish when they tell their friends that they can't help them.

A devout Christian can't simply infuse his relationship with Christ into another; it just doesn't work that way. Holiness takes time and patience. It’s something we can only do for ourselves.

The foolish bridesmaids allow their true relationship with Jesus to gradually ebb and die.

Jesus tells us that people will say to me “Lord, Lord Open the door” And he will say “But I do not know you.”

We must have an authentic and personal relationship with Christ. He has to know us. Otherwise how can he let us in when we come knocking at the door?

Are we actually doing what the Lord wants of us or are we following our own woke version of what we want our faith to be?

We must be ready when the groom appears. We must not let the divine light go out in us.

We might be extremely happy with the way we follow our faith and then shocked when we meet Jesus and he says he doesn’t know who we are. Because we haven’t been listening.

How seriously do we take our faith? Do we love and will the good of the other? Are we teaching our children in the faith? Are we praying in our families? Are we coming to regular Mass? Has it been longer than 3 months since our last confession? Are we living in a state of grace?

How are we waiting for the bridegroom to return– foolishly or wisely?