The 32nd Sunday of the Year Wis 6:12-16; 1 Thess 4:13-18; Mt 25:1-13 (Year A)
“O God, you are my God, for you I long; for you my soul is thirsting. My body pines for you like a dry, weary land without water.” The psalmist’s prayer springs from a longing at the heart of humanity. There is, within us all, a loneliness that remains unsatisfied until it has surrendered itself to the love of another. It is as fundamental as the dry land that cries out for water.
The psalm prompts us to consider the many longings in our lives. Some are superficial, even sinful. They can never satisfy our longing to love and be loved, to understand and be understood.
God’s call to Israel reached out to this longing. He had called a people to himself, not because they were the greatest of nations, but because he had heard their cry, responding with love and compassion. He had called them to find themselves in him. He would be their God, they would be his people.
The starting point of our own relationship with the Father is the same. We live in his love, not from any merit of our own but because, before the foundation of the world, he has called us in Christ to live through love in his presence.
Today’s passage from the Book of Wisdom is a beautiful meditation on this longing that finds its rest in God: “Wisdom is bright, and does not grow dim. By those who love her, she is readily seen, and found by those who love her. Quick to anticipate those who desire her, she makes herself known to them.”
There is a beautiful strand running through the wisdom literature of the Old Testament that describes our longing for God with all the intensity of a courtship. Such longing is hidden in our hearts. In patient prayer we allow this longing to lead us to the God who comes to meet us. “She herself walks about looking for those who are worthy of her, and graciously reveals herself to them as they go, in every thought of theirs coming to meet them.”
It is in this light that we should understand the Parable of the Ten Bridesmaids. In prayer we discover our longing for God, and that longing will not be satisfied until it has found itself in him. The bridesmaids needed oil for their lamps. We need longing in our hearts. Then we shall be ready to greet the groom at his coming.
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