“‘Stay awake, for you know neither the day nor the hour’ (Mt 25:13)”
Once upon a time, there was a football team which was expecting to have a friendly match with one of the weakest teams which was around the village that those people were living in. But by knowing that the opponent team was weak they kept relaxed and undermined it. They did not even have a kind of practice. However, for their surprise, the opponent team was stronger than them, that they could not even win the match. Therefore, lack of training and preparation made them to lose the match!
The story above gives us an insight into what today’s readings are all about. The three readings of today have the
common denominator, that is the “Preparation, readiness, and awareness”. As in
the Second Reading in particular, St. Paul advices the Thessalonian Christian
Community not to be asleep neither unaware. And strengthen their faith that, if
Jesus Christ died for them and rose again so they too God will rise them in the
life day, (1Thes 4:13). In one way or another, my dear brothers and sisters,
St. Paul is speaking to us as well. We too need to change our ways. Our bad
behaviors which leads us astray from the way of the Lord.
Likewise, in today’s Holy Gospel, we hear
the same message. For example, the Parable given in the same Gospel brings an
eschatological and apocalyptic message, because it enlightens us on the
judgment of God with humanity, through the Parable that Jesus tells his
disciples. Furthermore, it looks at what is to come when the King of kings
returns. Hence, to gain that just judgment of the Lord, we need to collaborate
with the grace of God in our daily life. The “Parable of Ten Virgins” who took
their lamps to meet the bridegroom (Mt 25:1), brings us to awareness, that
everything in life requires or entails a good preparation. Beloved brothers and
sisters, all of us we are call to be awake and to get prepared, because we
don’t know the time neither the day (Mt 25:13), therefore, for that purpose we
need a constant and daily preparation, a daily encounter with Jesus.
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Our preparation needs wisdom from God and
experience of Jesus Christ in our life. We, as Christians, we should learn from
the image of these other five virgins presented in the Gospel, who came
prepared to meet their bridegroom who brought enough oil. We need to retrospect
our life, to in our inmost being, to see where we have wronged the Lord and our
brothers and sisters. And any retrospection, however, leads us to a metanoia,
that is to a complete change, living in moral virtues and evangelical virtues.
We are called to be true disciples of Jesus, but for that, we need to leave
behind everything that blocks our ways to encounter the Lord, and this, is
called “preparation”. Each one therefore, as responsibility of asking
him/herself: “How enough am I prepared? How is my relationship with God? Do I
aware others who are far from God, or do I bring people closer to God?” It rest
upon us the responsibility of being a true disciple of Christ.
Antonio Nungulu Lohoca
III Year Theology
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