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.