Thirty-Second Sunday in Ordinary Time
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Today's Readings
Wis 6:12-16; Ps 63:2, 3-4, 5-6, 7-8; 1 Thes 4:13-18; Mt 25:1-13
Read today's readings at USCCBReflection
Ten women wait for a bridegroom, all carrying lamps, but only five thought to bring extra oil. When he is delayed past midnight, the five without oil go to buy more, and by the time they return, the door is already shut. Not locked in spite. Simply shut, because the moment for entering had already passed and they were not standing in it.
You do not need anyone to tell you what it feels like to have missed a moment that will not come again. A long life accumulates a few of those, alongside all the moments that were caught in time. Wisdom's first reading names what the wise ones actually had that the foolish ones lacked - not more devotion in the crucial hour, but foresight built up over years of ordinary nights.
Paul's second reading gives the reason none of this has to end in grief without hope: we do not grieve like those who have no hope, because God will bring with him those who have fallen asleep. The waiting the parable describes is real. So is what it is waiting for, and you are closer to seeing it than the five who ran out of oil ever imagined they would be. That nearness is not something to fear. It is the reward for every ordinary night of oil bought ahead of time.
Prayer of the Faithful
- For the grace of readiness built over years, not scrambled together at the last hour, we pray to the Lord.
- For everyone waiting for someone or something right now, we pray to the Lord.
- For all who have died, especially those who taught us readiness by how carefully they lived, we pray to the Lord.
Something to Do
Check one thing tonight - a will, a wish, a word left unsaid to someone - that you have been meaning to attend to and keep putting off. Attend to it this week.
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