Sunday Mass for the 32nd Sunday in Ordinary Time 2020 - Year A
Channel: Jesuit Institute South Africa
Date: 2020-11-08

Join the Jesuit Institute South Africa as they celebrate the 32nd Sunday in Ordinary Time.

This morning's Mass is celebrated by Fr Russell Pollitt SJ.

Owing to COVID-19 and the suspensions of Mass in various parts of the country, we invite everyone to make a 'Spiritual Communion' with us during this Mass. More resources are available at https://www.jesuitinstitute.org.za/covid-19-resources/.

You might want to light a candle, or do something to make this a prayerful time for you all. Our readings for this Mass are:

              First Reading                  Wisdom of Solomon 6:12–16
              Response                        Psalm 63:2b
              Psalm                              Psalm 63:2–8
              Second Reading            1 Thessalonians 4:13–18
              Gospel Acclamation     Matthew 24:42a, 44
              Gospel                            Matthew 25:1–13

Homily (begins at 10:44)

What is the quality of your life? It seems to me that that is the real question asked in today’s Gospel. It’s about the quality of our living here and now. As our liturgical year fast draws to a close, Matthew’s Gospel asks us to consider the quality of our lives here and now.

I want to suggest three things for our reflection today: the first is, before we simply just dismiss the foolish in the parable, let’s think about that again. The two extremes in the parable are to make a point, but if we are honest about it, none of us are completely foolish, and none of us are completely wise. Each of us has aspects of both the foolish and the wise within us.

You know, there’s always something that we want to change in our lives. We want to change something in our lifestyle. We often intend to do many good things, many noble things, but simply just don’t do them. Maybe we owe somebody an apology. Maybe there is someone that we intended to contact or to visit. Maybe we’ve been putting something off? And the parable reminds us that it is either now, or perhaps never. All of us, like the foolish in the parable, delay doing things, things that are important for us and for others.

On the other hand, each of us also has something of the wise within us. We have been trying to illuminate the world by the way that we live God’s Word and try to put it into practice. That’s why we are here, because we listen to the Word so that we can go and put it into practice. And so I think this parable invites us to celebrate our wisdom, but yet to recognise our foolishness, or the foolishness within us that still needs to be transformed.

We are both wise, and foolish. It’s our ability to see and to know that within us, that somehow affects the depth with which we live. The person who lives a deep quality of life, can identify the foolish and the wise within themselves.

The second reflection is: how do we live in the present? How do we live in watchfulness? Because it’s quite clear that those in the parable were not watchful. It’s because half of the women in the Gospel did not live in the present, that they missed out on the coming of the bridegroom. I’m not suggesting that we do not need to prepare for the future. But it means, that we live in the present with depth. That we are aware of the here and the now. That we live in the present moment with gratitude for all that this unrepeatable moment has to offer.

That we do what we need to do here and now because there is no time better than the here and the now, than the present, for what we need to do.

And so a watchfulness – or the watchfulness that we hear about in this Gospel, the quality or the disposition of the heart. It is our ability to live consciously in the now. Perhaps the oil that we need to keep our lamps burning brightly, to live in the here and the now, in the present, is often little drops of kindness or love or patience or joy or selflessness. These are the things that we should never delay. These are the things that indicate we are living watchfully.

The third and final reflection is about the oil provider: it seems to me that we need to also reflect on the oil provider in this parable. Because if the oil represents the good works inspired by a living relationship with God, the oil provider is the dispenser of those gifts and those good works. To be prepared in one’s heart and mind to welcome the Lord, is a quality or a state of being that is discerned, that is learned, that is refined and lived over time. It is due to a relationship with the oil provider. So we work on this continually through a life-long journey that will hopefully lead us to the eternal marriage banquet, to use the imagery of the Gospel.

You can listen to this homily at
https://www.jesuitinstitute.org.za/sunday-reflections/listen-reflection-for-the-32nd-sunday-in-ordinary-time-year-a/

or download it to read here,
https://www.jesuitinstitute.org.za/wp-content/uploads/2020/11/32nd-Sunday-Homily.pdf