Friday Mass readings (we must be holy / the 5 foolish virgins who miss Heaven)

[distracted]

**August 28, 2009

Reading 1
1 Thes 4:1-8**

Brothers and sisters,
we earnestly ask and exhort you in the Lord Jesus that,
as you received from us
how you should conduct yourselves to please God–
and as you are conducting yourselves–
you do so even more.
For you know what ***instructions we gave you through the Lord Jesus. ***

This is the will of God, your holiness:
that you refrain from immorality,
that each of you know how to acquire a wife for himself
in holiness and honor, not in lustful passion
as do the Gentiles who do not know God;
not to take advantage of or exploit a brother or sister in this matter,
for the Lord is an avenger in all these things,
as we told you before and solemnly affirmed.
For God did not call us to impurity but to holiness.
Therefore, whoever disregards this,
disregards not a human being but God,
who also gives his Holy Spirit to you.

**
Responsorial Psalm
Ps 97:1 and 2b, 5-6, 10, 11-12**

R. (12a) Rejoice in the Lord, you just!
The LORD is king; let the earth rejoice;
let the many isles be glad.
Justice and judgment are the foundation of his throne.
R. Rejoice in the Lord, you just!
The mountains melt like wax before the LORD,
before the LORD of all the earth.
The heavens proclaim his justice,
and all peoples see his glory.
R. Rejoice in the Lord, you just!
The LORD loves those who hate evil;
he guards the lives of his faithful ones;
from the hand of the wicked he delivers them.
R. Rejoice in the Lord, you just!
Light dawns for the just;
and gladness, for the upright of heart.
Be glad in the LORD, you just,
and give thanks to his holy name.
R. Rejoice in the Lord, you just!

Gospel
Mt 25:1-13

Jesus told his disciples this parable:
“The Kingdom of Heaven will be like ten virgins
who took their lamps and went out to meet the bridegroom.
***Five of them were foolish and five were wise. ***
The foolish ones, when taking their lamps,
brought no oil with them,
but the wise brought flasks of oil with their lamps.
Since the bridegroom was long delayed,
they all became drowsy and fell asleep.
At midnight, there was a cry,
‘Behold, the bridegroom! Come out to meet him!’
Then all those virgins got up and trimmed their lamps.
The foolish ones said to the wise,
***‘Give us some of your oil,
for our lamps are going out.’ ***
But the wise ones replied,
‘No, for there may not be enough for us and you.
Go instead to the merchants and buy some for yourselves.’
While they went off to buy it,
the bridegroom came
and those who were ready went into the wedding feast with him.
Then the door was locked.
Afterwards the other virgins came and said,
***‘Lord, Lord, open the door for us!’
But he said in reply,
‘Amen, I say to you, I do not know you.’
Therefore, stay awake,
for you know neither the day nor the hour.” ***

*The first reading speaks of finding a wife (spouse) who is holy, not one we are only physically attracted to (my interpretation)… a marriage based on godliness and not lust.

This is the will of God… holiness.

When the door is locked, others want in, but Jesus says “I do not know you.” To a non-Christian who doesn’t understand, this may sound like cruelty on Jesus’ part… but it is not. Those who miss the boat have only themselves to blame, not Jesus. God gives people chance after chance to accept Him and to live by His commanmdnets… All throughout life we are given these chances… But some choose to love the things of this world over Jesus… so why would it be a surprise when they are not, as Jesus said (elsewhere in the Bible) “Strong enough” ? If a person spends his life pursuing impure and unholy, ungodly activities, of course he is not going to be strong enough to stand in the absolute holiness of God… and he will then pitch himself into either Purgatory (if he is truly repentant) or Hell… It will not be God’s doing. As it says here, it was the foolish virgins themselves who messed up, who*** didn’t keep oil in their lamps***… *

 

[cheeto1]

"For God did not call us to impurity but to holiness.
Therefore, whoever disregards this,
disregards not a human being but God"

– So what if you don’t think the cool tv show is cool? Does it glorify what God is
against? What if the coolest music makes you squirm? What if everyone says
God doesn’t mind if people swear? Relationships are all it, there are no limits,and
if you don’t like it, you are “narrowminded”.
Guess What ?
you “cool” people are all wrong!
That’s right, He WANTS us to be holy. And He wanted it all along…
Everyone’s going to find out, and then you cool people will just have to
“get with the program”

"The LORD loves those who hate evil"
– See? Even in the psalm.

“He guards the lives of his faithful ones;
from the hand of the wicked He delivers them”
– Are the faithful trapped by the wicked, that they need to be delivered?

–What is the lamps and the oil?
“But the wise ones replied,
‘No, for there may not be enough for us and you”
– Here the wise ones were not the ones who shared. What if one had shared,
and they both ran out of oil? Would the sharing one be locked out too?

Today is the day of St. Augustine

"God gives people chance after chance "
– I know, but what if you died before you accepted the one that “clicked”?

• Just the very reason of my being given so many chances, makes me want*
• to give others another chance, when it is in my power…*

 

[distracted]

"–What is the lamps and the oil?
“But the wise ones replied,
‘No, for there may not be enough for us and you”
– Here the wise ones were not the ones who shared. What if one had shared,
and they both ran out of oil? Would the sharing one be locked out too?

i used to wonder about the parable also… about how sharing doesn’t seem to be advocated in this one… (not very PC of Jesus, huh??? )

but to me the lamps are our salvation, or… our intimacy w/ Christ. Now that i think about it, sometimes i’ve had the feeling that when i share Christ with others, i am, afterwards, rather drained… (?) Wonder if this is what Jesus meant?? Wow, this is interesting to thiink about… because i have had it happen that i wanted to tell this or that person or group about Jesus and felt that that was what God wanted but then when i did it over and over and… well, long story but after awhile, i just go this feeling that these endeavors were not, shall we say, exactly contributing to my spiritual uplifting… growth or what have you… so i stopped or backed off a little… (its a little more complicated than what i am able to say…). Anyway…

i think the oil is Whatever It Takes to Stay Intimate w/ Jesus…

How can you give that to someone (someone who probably doesn’t really want it anyway… )???

the 5 wise ones didn’t say No just to be mean… maybe they said it because they knew they couldn’t give away something they didn’t have?? (extra oil) we must save ourselves… the only person we CAN save… and help others along the way but not to our own soul’s detriment…

thanks for making me think of these things…