32nd Sunday Ordinary Time, Year A

"...keep your eyes open, for you know not the day or the hour."

Lectionary Readings for 32nd Sunday Ordinary Time, Year A
http://www.pcentral-online.net/catholic/lectionary/32nd-sunday-a.html

As the liturgical year is to end, we are told that the gospels will speak mainly and mostly of the end times - about the day of the coming of the Son of Man or the day of the Lord. Jesus often speaks about the realities of the kingdom of God and of judgment in terms also of parables. This Sunday, He speaks about the 10 virgins who were to attend the wedding feast: 5 were foolish and 5 were wise. The wise virgins thought about the future and did something in order to prepare for it while the five foolish ones did not think of the future. And so, when the time came for the wedding feast to begin, the foolish virgins realized that their not preparing for the unexpected and for the sudden coming of the bridegroom was not wise.

This parable Jesus teaches to his disciples also speaks to us about preparing for the end times and for our own personal end. Although Jesus really meant the end times in which everything will be gone and His kingdom will be at hand and there will be judgment of the good and the righteous together with the bad and the evil, we can also reflect about our own personal ends. What are we doing now that will prepare for our own end in this world? And what am I doing to help others also prepare for their own finitude and end? As we carefully examine our life and how we are in relationship with God, with others, with nature and all of God's creation, we need to learn if we are indeed ready to "face God" and receive our judgment.

As we reflect our personal end, we can also reflect on the end of the world and of all time. This will surely come to pass since it was revealed to us in the Scriptures. However, Scripture tells us that even if the world and all in it shall end, the Word of God shall remain steadfast forever. And the person and reality of Christ our Lord shall always be the same yesterday, today and forever. Let us not be anxious if we sometimes feel that the world is to end because of the signs we are seeing now in our times: conflicts, wars, disasters, moral degeneration, and a general decline in many of our established and traditional values and norms. The best thing to do is to always be prepared: to be always vigilant and putting ourselves in the hands of God. A spiritual life of continuous reflection, prayer and meditation will give us the gift of wisdom to see that if we have faith in God, hope in His mercy and salvation and be repentant of our sinfulness, and be more of service to others and charitable in our ways, then when judgment day comes, we will be like the five wise virgins who prepared for our future before the Lord.

31st Sunday Ordinary Time, Year A

"The greatest among you will be the one who serves the rest."

Lectionary Readings for 31st Sunday Ordinary Time, Year A
http://catholic.pcentral-online.net/lectionary/31st-sunday-a.html

Jesus our Lord made this statement in the context of how he viewed the leadership of the religious leaders of His time: the Pharisees and the teachers of the Law. He wanted to teach the people that leadership consists in service and that humility must reign over pride when leaders exercise their authority over others. This Jesus did not see in the Pharisees and the teachers of the Law in His time. And so He wanted to teach the people to listen only to what these religious leaders teach and not follow their example: for they do not do what they preach and teach.

Jesus was a very credible and authentic leader. When He taught this to the people of His time - especially to His apostles and disciples, He proved this teaching when the time came for giving His life to the Father. On the night before He was to die, He gathered the apostles together in a meal and celebrated the Last Supper. This Last Supper account was portrayed in the same manner in the gospel of Mark, Luke and Matthew. But in the gospel of John, there is a unique way of portraying the Last Supper: with a special focus on the washing of the feet [not present in the three other gospels]. Here, we can truly see that Jesus lived what He taught and did what He preached. He is God, but He became man just like us and took the form of a slave. He was the Master and Teacher for His apostles, but He took a towel and a basin and washed His apostles feet. This was to truly teach and lead by example that servant-leadership was what Jesus stood for.

Though we may not be in high positions of leadership, we exercise leadership nonetheless in our own ways. When we exercise leadership, let us not be tempted like the Pharisees and always look to ourselves as the authority and the source of strength. Rather, let us follow the humble example of our Lord, who took it upon Himself to be a servant to all that He may teach with impact and credibility what is really essential in Christian leadership: service, humility and leading by example.

30th Sunday Ordinary Time, Year A

"On these two commandments the whole law is based and the prophets as well."

Lectionary Readings for 30th Sunday Ordinary Time, Year A
http://catholic.pcentral-online.net/lectionary/30th-sunday-a.html

A lawyer from the group of Pharisees and Sadducees wanted to test and trip Jesus in His speech. He asked Jesus, "Teacher, which commandment of the law is the greatest?" And Jesus answered, "You shall love the Lord your God
with your whole heart,
with your whole soul,
and with all your mind.'
This is the greatest and the first commandment.
The second is like it:
'You shall love your neighbor as yourself.'

Love is a mystery. And it is a mystery rooted in God and His love for all of us. God Himself initiated that love for us by creating us and giving us the gift of life - His Holy Spirit - which we receive when we were baptized and incorporated into His family. What He then enjoins on us is to love Him in return. Jesus summarizes this commandment of the Lord in two statements: that we love God with our whole being and that we love our neighbor as ourself.

Our love of God depends on how the intensity and degree of which we give ourselves to Him. The more we give ourself to Him, the greater is our love. And this love for Him flows over in how we treat others and ourself: in kindness, in generosity, in justice, in truth, in charity and in service.

This is not always the case. Oftentimes, it is repentance He asks of us. When we have misused our freedom to do evil and commit sin: breaking our loving relationship with Him and causing others to sin in our break of relationship with them. Therefore, all that is ask of us in times when we fail to love God as we should is to repent and seek conversion from our sinful ways. The more we move out of the darkness of sin and evil and into the light of Christ, the more we enter into a deep and loving relationship with Him as He is given to us in the Blessed Sacrament together with our brothers and sisters in the faith.

Now that we are celebrating World Mission Sunday, let us do our part as lay faithful to receive the light of Christ's love in our lives and to bring that light and love to others as well. We can do this in many ways depending on our particular situation of life, our state of life and our personal vocations. Mission and holiness is not only the responsibility of clergy and religious. Everyone who is baptized in the name of the Father, and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, are commissioned to proclaim the gospel to all peoples, regardless of color or creed.

Lord, we pray for our missionaries, that they may be guided by Your Most Holy Spirit. Infuse in them the gifts of the Spirit that they may have the fortitude and the wisdom to discern how to bring the gospel to the people they serve. Grant also to us, your servants in the world, to bring the light of the gospel in places where it is needed most: in the family, in the business world, in all cultural forms - like the Internet, and in the political life of our communities. Amen.