Thirty-Second SUNDAY of ORDINARY TIME -- Year A

First: Ws 6:12-16; Second: 1 Th 4:13-18; Gospel: Mt 25:1-13

THEME of the READINGS

The texts of the liturgy urge us to have an attitude of watchfulness in the world so as to be happy once we reach the eternity of God: "So stay awake because you do not know either the day or the hour" (Gospel). This is the attitude proper to the wise man, because "Meditating on her is understanding in its perfect form, and anyone keeping awake for her will soon be free from care" (First Reading). Thus we can end our life in peace, and always be with the Lord (Second Reading).

DOCTrinal MESSAGE

Watchfulness is the virtue of those who wait. It is proper to human hope to be awake, to look to the horizon of the future, but it is even more proper to Christian hope. Christian hope is achieved both within history and beyond it. Within history, we find the hope in grace and in the mercy of God, the hope for spiritual progress, the hope for a continuous and growing conversion until the end of one's life, the hope in the fidelity and holiness of the Church that will never fail ... Beyond history we have the hope in the possession of God, which we longed for so greatly in our earthly life, and finally achieved. It is the hope of the communion of saints, completely fulfilling the universal longing for fraternal love, which now extends to all time and space. It is the hope in the definitive and glorious consummation of the history of salvation, traced by God from eternity and finally achieved.

Christian hope is closely related to other virtues. First of all, it is related to love, because one waits for what one loves and for what one wishes to possess completely and definitively in love. It is closely related to prayer, according to the very teaching of Jesus: "Stay awake, and pray not to be put to the test" (Mt 26:41), especially in the extreme temptation of apostasy and loss of faith. It is also related to the virtue of prudence, especially before temptation. Temptation is part of human nature, but it needs to be dealt with in a very prudent way. If Adam and Eve in paradise, if David from the terrace of his home, if Peter in the palace of Annas had truly "been awake", would they have fallen into temptation? Finally, being awake implies the virtue of fortitude to fulfill effectively what love, prayer, and prudence require of us in keeping with God's will.

Christian watchfulness rewarded. The closeness with God lived here on earth and taken to its apex in heaven is the banquet with Christ: "Those who were ready went in with him to the wedding hall" (Gospel). There will be the participation in the "triumph" of Christ, who will enter the celestial Jerusalem like the king of kings and the lord of lords. We are called to share in the power and the glory of Christ, the Lord of history and of the universe. We are called to an indescribable and unimaginable joy which surpasses all worldly capacity, before which any joy in this world pales before the jubilation of celestial glory. In all this we wait, and we keep awake in order that we may achieve it. We all endeavor to achieve it, individually and in communion with the Church, on the way towards our goal and as a reward for our waiting.

PASTORal SUGGESTIONS

Is hope typical of the Christian faithful today, and is it necessary? Surely, we must answer this question by saying it is very necessary. It is necessary in the face of the inner world of our passions, which try to overlap and take over without any control or discipline. It is also necessary in the face of the ideology and mentality of our time, which are not always favorable to virtue, values, or Christian life. We must be very watchful over the mass media, both old and new, to put them at the service of the information and education of the human person and of the Christian, rather than at the service of disinformation and immorality. Parents must also be watchful over the friends and school environment of their children, for a bad friend is fatal for a child. Finally, we must be watchful over the working environment in which we spend long hours of the day, and that in certain cases may negatively influence our values and moral decisions.

Why must we be watchful? What is it that calls Christians to watchfulness? First of all, we need a simple awareness of the attraction exercised by evil over all people, including Christians. In addition to this, we need to be able to discern and to separate good from evil, straw from wheat, wheat from weeds, so that we can choose the good and avoid evil in all circumstances.

Watchfulness in hope. I am especially referring to hope in the hereafter, in other words, in heaven and in everything that heaven means, according to the teaching of the Catechism. In our preaching, or as guides of souls, do we speak about the mysterious and yet true reality of heaven? With our preaching, do we make desirable to Christians the kingdom of heaven? Or are we responsible for their considering it unreal or the culmination of boredom? Throughout the year the liturgy of the Church provides us with several occasions to speak about heaven: the Feast of All Saints, All Souls' Day, the Ascension of the Lord and the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary, some Sundays of Ordinary Time, Mass for some deceased member of the Christian community... Does my own Christian witness raise the gaze of Christians to the hope and certainty of heaven?

Source: http://www.clerus.org/clerus/dati/2004-05/21-13/CICLOA.html by P. ANTONIO IZQUIERDO L.C. (1948-2013)

[참고: 이 파일은 저서명 "가톨릭 교회의 말씀 전례에 따른 성경공부 해설서"(엮은이: 소순태, 출판사: 가톨릭출판사)의 각주의 연장으로 마련되었습니다].