Homily for the Thirty-Second Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year A

The Wise And Foolish Virgins

Rev. Marcel Divine Emeka Okwara, CSsR

Homily for the Thirty-Second Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year A

Church of St. Bridget of Minneapolis, MN

Sunday, November 12, 2023

Towards the end of his public life, just before the Passion, Jesus narrates the Parable of the Ten Virgins. Speaking to his disciples, Jesus says, “The kingdom of heaven will be like ten virgins who took their lamps and went out to meet the bridegroom.” By the way, this image is borrowed from the practices and customs of Jesus’ time. At that time, weddings were extravagantly celebrated. It was a special event that brought relatives, friends and an entire community together to share in the joys of the bride and the bridegroom. The highlight of the wedding happened at night when the bridegroom, in the company of his guests, leaves his parents’ house, goes over to the bride’s parents’ house, and takes her to their new home. Since this happened at night, at a time when there was no electricity, bridesmaids would hold their oil lambs and accompany them. This is the image that Jesus used in the Parable of the Ten Virgins. In the story, we are told that five of the virgins are foolish, and five are wise. The wise ones have plenty of oil in their lambs. The five foolish ones are not well prepared. After a long wait, the bridesmaid fell asleep. Suddenly the bridegroom arrived and they had to wake up to attend to him. The five wise virgins with sufficient oil were ready to go, but the other five with no oil, could not light their lambs. They are not ready. Who is admitted into the wedding party? The wise ones who are well stocked and ready! Who does not get in? The foolish ones! They are not prepared and not well stocked. 

Like the bridesmaids, we are all waiting. We know the Bridegroom is coming. Jesus is the Bridegroom, and the Church is the Bride. We know the marriage of the Lamb has come and his Bride, the Church must be ready. We know he is coming to consummate this relationship with us. We are waiting for it,  but in joyful hope. But how do we wait? From the Parable of the Ten Virgins we know that some are waiting wisely and others unwisely. Some have their lamps stocked with oil, while others don’t. What does this oil stand for? It stands for that divine life that was given to us in baptism that we are meant to keep alive as we wait. More precisely, it stands for prayer, sacraments, Eucharist, curiosity to know and share our faith. It stands for good works, life of love, the corporal and spiritual works of mercy. Who are the wise virgins, wise bridesmaid and wise waiters? Those who practice these things, who keep the light of faith burning brightly in them. Who are the foolish ones? Those of us who allow that light to dim and die. Although they are in attendance for the wedding or in our own case, they attend Mass, nevertheless, they don’t produce the fruits of Christianity. To keep the light of faith burning brightly, we must pray every day and consciously too. We must be hearers and doers of the word, and users of the sacraments. The sacraments are extraordinary and tangible ways we are meant to encounter Jesus. In the sacrament of the Eucharist, the Lord feeds us; in the sacrament of confession, we sinners are forgiven etc. How often do we use these sacraments? Have we swallowed hook, line and sinker the secularist ideology of “I’m okay and you’re okay?” and “I am beautiful in every single way?” 

Look at the sacrament of confession this way: in our ordinary life, if you commit a crime and you are caught, you would be arrested, tried in court, and jailed. If it is a state crime you committed, the governor of the State can pardon you, and if it is a federal offense, the president can pardon you if you show enough remorse. In a similar fashion, if we commit sin, we need someone else to pronounce us forgiven. Just as you cannot pronounce yourself pardoned if you break state or federal law, so also you cannot pronounce yourself forgiven if you break God’s law. In the Catholic Church, God’s forgiveness is obtained in the sacrament of confession. That the number of Catholics who use this sacrament has fallen is something that continues to baffle me. The Parable of the Ten Virgins is meant to challenge us to stock up on things that matters to God, not to stock up on our sins and iniquities. It is meant to wake us up from spiritual indifference and staleness and sterile Christianity. How strong is your faith? Authentic faith always seeks understanding, so said St. Anselm. If your faith does not seek understanding, how would you be “ready to give an explanation to anyone who asks you for a reason for your hope?” (1 Peter 3:15) Do we love everyday in a concrete way? In the words of Dorothy Day, “Everything a baptized person does every day should be directly or indirectly related to the Corporal and Spiritual Works of Mercy.” Doing these is the way to keep oil stocked in the land. It is the way to prevent the divine life given to us in baptism from fading and dying. The divine life can go out if we don’t attend to it. And if we continuously attend to it, we will be ready when the Bridegroom, Jesus the Lord comes. 

One more point, were the five wise virgins mean and unkind for not sharing their oil with the five foolish virgins? Not at all! In the spiritual level, there are some thing we cannot borrow. If you spend your entire life not cultivating and practicing the corporal and spiritual works of mercy, not living a life of love, not praying, and not using the sacraments continuously etc. you cannot reasonably expect someone at the last minute to give you fruits of their cultivation. It just doesn’t work that way. We can borrow material things from our neighbors, relatives or friends, but cannot possibly borrow relationships with God. No one can borrow good character; we just have to cultivate it.  You cannot make heaven simply by knowing someone in heaven. You have to work out your own salvation with fear and trembling (Philippians 2:12b).