Friday, November 10, 2017

Start your training now

32nd Sunday of OT year A:
In today’s gospel we hear another parable.  This time it is the wise women vs. the foolish women.  I remember the first time I heard this parable as a child I thought it should have been a parable about sharing.  I’m the oldest of 11 kids.  So, sharing has always been one of the most important family virtues that can keep peace in the home: we would yell, mom, Nick is eating my candy: make sure you boys share… 
But, I don’t think this parable is about sharing, obviously.  I think the parable tells us everything we need to know at the beginning.  Five were foolish, five were wise.  This parable is about what it takes to be wise.  We all know the bridegroom is coming.  We say every week when we pray our creed that we are awaiting the return of our Savior.  Therefore, we want to be the wise ones ready to welcome him when he returns.
So, how to be wise?  We need to be prepared.  Jesus will come back at some day, at some hour, none of us knows.  Further, none of us knows the day when we will die.  Rather, we should be prepared to meet Christ at every moment, during every day.  Not to be morbid, rather we should be excited to meet our savior when he returns.  But, we want to be wise, not foolish.
So, the difference between the wise and the foolish was that the wise had oil.  I think that is pretty interesting.  I know that in ancient times, oil was considered a source of strength.  Wrestlers would put oil on their bodies before matches.  When people were sick, they would rub oil on their wounds.  Also, oil is used in the bible to be a sign of God’s favor and blessing.  Oil was poured on the altar and in the temple.  Oil was poured on Aaron and the priests.  Oil as produce was a sign of God’s favor, because olive trees took a long time to produce oil. 
I find this fascinating.  Strength and blessing.  What does it mean to be wise, to be prepared?  It means to be strong and to be living with God’s blessing.  So, if we want to be the wise ones who are ready for the Lord’s coming we need to be strong, we need to live with God’s blessing.
I don’t know about you, but this seems like a pretty good description of the spiritual life.  To grow strong by prayer, to know God’s blessings by living in gratitude.  If we want to be wise in the Lord and ready to great him, it’s vital to grow in our spiritual life.
But, we should all remember that this is not easy or automatic.  There are no shortcuts in the spiritual life.  I’m sure when we all read this parable we certainly want to be the wise ones.  We don’t want to be locked out of the kingdom of heaven.  But, growing in strength and in God’s blessings is a daily process.  Being wise is about growing in faith and in prayer.
We should start thinking about it in terms of training.  Think about it like exercise.  If I want my muscles to be strong, if I want to lift 200 pounds, I can’t do it all at once.  But, if I start small, and I make gains over time, eventually there’s almost no limit to how strong my muscles can get.  The same is true about our spiritual life.  We want to be strong, we want to be wise, we want to be saints.  But, we cannot do it all at once.  It takes constantly daily commitment.  It takes commitment to prayer, commitment to the bible, commitment to service and for living in gratitude. 

My friends, none of us knows the day or the hour.  Rather, than just hoping we will have the oil we need to welcome Christ, we should see today’s gospel as an inspiring challenge.  Are you ready to welcome Christ right now?  If not, no better time than now to start your spiritual training.

Thursday, November 9, 2017

Vocations Sunday

31st Sunday of OT:
I laughed to myself this week when I was reading this gospel.  Jesus says call no one on earth your father.  I found this ironic, because this is national vocation awareness week and I wanted to talk about vocations to the priesthood.  So the day we hear: call no one father, I wanted to talk about becoming a priest, where everyone calls me father.  God has a great sense of humor.
I think it is pretty clear from the whole passage that Jesus is not so much saying that we should have or use titles.  Rather, we shouldn’t seek titles because we are looking for honor and privilege.  If a young man wanted to become a priest because he was seeking honor, attention, and titles, he would certainly be violating our Lord’s direction to humble service.  But, calling priests “father” has more to do with the mission of the priesthood, which is to bring God’s love to his people. 
God is our Father in Heaven.  My job as a priest is to make help people our Father’s love here on earth.  So, calling me father reminds me of that mission.  And it’s a wonderful vocation.  To be a priest is more amazing than I can describe.  Helping people grow closer to God is truly an honor and a joy.  I’m thankful every day for God’s calling to the priesthood.
So, this is a week for the whole church to pray for vocations to the priesthood and to the religious life.  But, every religious vocation has its roots in the vocation that every one of us received at our baptism, that is the universal call to holiness.
I am a firm believer that the key to a resurgence in priestly vocations across the world is the commitment to holiness.  Every one of us is called to be saints, we are called to be holy.  But, we are called to live out that holiness in a unique way.  Lots of people are called to holiness through the vocation of marriage.  Some are called to be holy as religious sisters, brothers, or priests.  But, we are all called to be holy.

If you are a parent or grandparent, try to have a conversation with your children/grandchildren this week.  Encourage them to live out their vocation to holiness.  Holiness is a great adventure, because it means living in communion with God and following his voice.  Literally nothing is better than living a life with God.  As the church, we all need to encourage our young people simply to follow Christ, to grow in holiness, to listen to God’s voice.  If they do that, we will have amazing priests, sisters, brothers, but also amazing married couples and amazing people living out their call to holiness.

Called to be Holy

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