Today's Song of Praise is taken from Psalm 63 (Ps 63:2, 3-4,
5-6, 7-8):
R. My soul is thirsting for you, O Lord my God.
O God, you are my God whom I seek;
for you my flesh pines and my soul thirsts
like the earth, parched, lifeless and without water.
R. My soul is thirsting for you, O Lord my God.
Thus have I gazed toward you in the sanctuary
to see your power and your glory,
for your kindness is a greater good than life;
my lips shall glorify you.
R. My soul is thirsting for you, O Lord my God.
Thus will I bless you while I live;
lifting up my hands, I will call upon your name.
As with the riches of a banquet shall my soul be satisfied,
and with exultant lips my mouth shall praise you.
R. My soul is thirsting for you, O Lord my God.
I will remember you upon my couch,
and through the night-watches I will meditate on you:
You are my help,
and in the shadow of your wings I shout for joy.
R. My soul is thirsting for you, O Lord my God.
Today's Epistle is from the First Letter of Paul to the Thessalonians, beginning at the 4th Chapter, and the 13th Verse (1 Thes 4:13-18)
But we would not have you ignorant,
brethren, concerning those who are asleep, that you may not grieve as others
do who have no hope. For since we believe that Jesus died and rose again,
even so, through Jesus, God will bring with him those who have fallen asleep.
For this we declare to you by the word of the Lord, that we who
are alive, who are left until the coming of the Lord, shall not precede
those who have fallen asleep. For the Lord himself will descend from
heaven with a cry of command, with the archangel's call, and with the sound
of the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first; then
we who are alive, who are left, shall be caught up together with them in
the clouds to meet the Lord in the air; and so we shall always be with
the Lord. Therefore comfort one another with these words.
A Reading from the Gospel of Matthew, beginning at the 25th Chapter,and the 1st Verse (Mt 25:1-13):
"Then the kingdom of heaven shall
be compared to ten maidens who took their lamps and went to meet the
bridegroom. Five of them were foolish, and five were wise.
For when the foolish took their lamps, they took no oil with them; but
the wise took flasks of oil with their lamps. As the bridegroom
was delayed, they all slumbered and slept. But at midnight there
was a cry, `Behold, the bridegroom! Come out to meet him.' Then
all those maidens rose and trimmed their lamps. And the foolish
said to the wise, `Give us some of your oil, for our lamps are going out.'
But the wise replied, `Perhaps there will not be enough for us and
for you; go rather to the dealers and buy for yourselves.' And while
they went to buy, the bridegroom came, and those who were ready went in
with him to the marriage feast; and the door was shut. Afterward the other
maidens came also, saying, `Lord, lord, open to us.' But he replied,
`Truly, I say to you, I do not know you.' Watch therefore, for you
know neither the day nor the hour.
As often happens in the Lectionary,
today's First Reading and Gospel present one theme: Wisdom -- while
the Epistle presents another -- the promise of Resurrection. I will
treat both.
The Hebrew word for "wisdom" -- Chabas
-- has overtones of both judgment and skill -- corresponding to the Greek
words "sophos" and "technos". Judaism is both intensely devotional and
intensely practical. Solomon, who is the embodiment of wisdom in the
Old Testament, both knew the secrets of all things and ordered his kingdom
with great practical skill.
So the writer of the today's First
Reading is not only talking about supernatural knowledge when he extolls Wisdom,
but about the practical business of everyday life. In Jewish thought,
the spiritual and the material -- the religious and the practical -- are
not divorced from one another -- they are all God's handiwork.
The message here, too is "God helps
them that helps themselves". "She goes forth to them that covet her.."
Wisdom is not something hidden away, that only certain exalted masters
can obtain -- but is available to everyone who seeks. This is another
way of saying: "Pay attention, kids!"
The wise person, the skillful person,
learns wisdom by paying attention to the world, to other people, and by studying
all of God's creation. Seeking things of the spirit is important, and
part of Wisdom, but the other part is knowing the world and getting a sound
education.
Jesus makes this point, too in His
parable about the wise and foolish young women in today's Gospel. The
wise ones are very shrewd about what will be needed to watch in the night
-- they take extra oil. When the foolish ones are running around, they
give very concrete and practical advice: "Well, go and buy some more oil."
The impractical ones go rushing off,
and miss the bridegroom. They then cry out "Lord, Lord...", but the
bridegroom says: "Who are you?" The message about impractical
ninnies is pretty clear.
As usual, of course, He adds
a moral: "Watch therefore, for you know neither the day nor the hour.
" There are two levels of meaning to the parable -- the practical one
of the surface, and a more subtle one about being prepared for the second
coming. The practical wisdom of the wise ones can be interpreted as
"saving up treasures in heaven" -- being and doing that which pleases the
Lord.
Christian teaching also contains
a lot of Greek thought and "sophos" -- with sometimes an over-valuation of
the logical and theoretical. The other night, I was talking on the Net
to a very conservative young man from South America, who was having a great
deal of difficulty understanding my attitudes about marriage and sex.
Having been brought up in a very
strictly traditional Roman Catholic venue, he could not seem to let go of
the idea that sex either had to be strictly regulated, or would explode into
any sort of license. Very theoretical, black-and-white thinking. A
credit to Aristotle, Aquinas, and the Scholastics.
I had a great deal of difficulty
trying to get across to him the idea that the object of the exercise of forming
Christians is to create strong, healthy adults, who can make a positive mark
on the world (and incidentally on their offspring), rather than strictly-disciplined,
obedient children. The proper place for sex is in marriage, of course,
and marriages should be for life.
In very practical terms, marriages
die. People find themselves in unhealthy, destructive relationships,
that they should get out of. To bind them, under pain of sin, to a destructive
relationship is sinful itself. Practical wisdom sees wonderful relationships,
and true growth in holiness in second marriages often enough to allow one
to think they might be a good idea occasionally. The Orthodox look
on any more than 3, however, as "serial polygamy", and I rather agree.
The point here is that wisdom allows
one to look at the practical -- the shades of grey between the absolutes of
black and white, and choose the better . Voltaire's dictum: "The best
is enemy of the good" is apropos here. By ignoring the world (which
is God's handiwork, too), in favor of some impossible ideal of perfection,
one breaks the spirit and the faith of entirely too many people.
As Catholics, we need to maintain
traditional values, but we also need to keep our eye on the object of those
values -- the Spirit, as well as the Letter of the Law. We need to build
strong Christians, with well-formed consciences, who can be depended on to
do the right -- and the wise -- thing. I preach freedom and responsibility,
not exacting obedience to often arbitrary rules. I have no desire whatever
to rule the people entrusted to my care -- guiding (and occasionally
entertaining) them is quite enough for one lifetime.
Paul uses the phrase: "asleep in
the Lord" to talk about those who have died in the flesh. Many non-Catholic
interpret this to mean that after physical death, we are not conscious or
aware. This is emphatically not the teaching of the Church from Apostolic
times to the present.
What Paul is saying in today's Gospel
is that those who appear to us to have fallen asleep will be raised from the
dead -- resurrected in new bodies -- when Our Lord returns in glory at the
end of the world. At the Transfiguration, the Apostles see Moses and
Elijah, who are certainly dead and gone to the world, alive and talking with
the Lord.
John 6:54 says: "...he who
eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him
up at the last day" -- Jesus promises eternal life, and that promise is
immediate, as well as eventual. He says to the "good" thief: "This
day thou shalt be with me in Paradise." right now, notice -- not bye-and-bye.
At the Ascension, Jesus goes away,
not only from the physical land of Palestine, but away from ordinary time
into Eternity. The Father sees all times and places simultaneously
-- in Eternity, all of space and time are one point. The Church then
interprets "asleep in the Lord" as having entered into Eternity, being with
the Lord, where and when He is -- which is everywhere and everywhen.
The experience of the Church is
that we are separated from the honored dead by a veil, but one that lets
them see and hear us -- and occasionally help us. We talk to them,
we ask them to ask God (whom they see directly) to do things for us, and
as often as not, it happens. Miracles are very real.
We are the "Church Militant" --
still struggling through life. They are the "Church Triumphant" --
with the Lord, beyond the veil of death. We are all one Church -- the
Communion of Saints extends beyond the grave, since Jesus came into the world
in the Incarnation, went out in death like any man, rose again according
to the Scriptures, and Ascended into heaven, taking us with Him.
We will all fall asleep -- go beyond
that veil -- and all rise on that Last Day, having triumphed already in the
Lord.
Let us pray, then, for the wisdom
to do the right thing, and to enter speedily with the heavenly Bridegroom
when he invites us . . .
Amen.