As we turn in prayer to the Lord in our need, he will keep us faithful, and the fire of his love will keep the flame of our faith burning brightly. Followers of Christ are called to be long-haul people. Like the wise bridesmaids, we are to be there with our lamps lit, even if the bridegroom arrives at a ridiculously late hour. We are to keep the flame of faith burning through the long hours of darkness when the Lord seems to be absent. We are called to have a faith that endures, the only kind of faith worth having. It is in looking to him, whose face always shines upon us, that the light of own faith will continue to shine.
It makes all the difference to be greeted by a familiar face and then to be escorted from the airport or railway station or port to our final destination. The faithfulness of at least some of the bridesmaids was all the more appreciated, because it required foresight and attentiveness. We value faithfulness in others, especially when we know that it has cost them something. We appreciate it when people keep vigil for us, when not to do so would be very understandable.
Those who remain at their post, in spite of an unexpected turn of events, are great treasures. It is another matter to remain faithful when the plan unravels and the situation turns out very differently to what had been expected. He was calling on them to be faithful to him, to stay the course, especially during those times when he seemed absent and their expectations were not being realized. Through baptism, the Lord calls on us to keep the flame of the gospel burning in our hearts and in our lives, so that the light of that flame is there to greet him, regardless of the lateness or strangeness of his coming to us.
The flame of faith can grow weak, and we can be tempted to give up watching and waiting. When we sense that the Lord has let us down, or has not responded to our prayers, oe has not come to us when we needed him and expected him, we can easily loose heart. The enthusiasm we might once have had for the bridegroom can dissipate. Paul was dealing with this kind of situation in our second reading from his first letter to the Thessalonians. Some members of the church had died since he was last with them, and many in the church were grieving like people who had no hope.
The experience of loss, the pain of the cross, was taking its toll on many. We all need the same kind of reassurance from time to time. We need help to keep vigil, to remain faithful, especially in those times when our faith is put to the test in some way or other. That help comes from the Lord. For us Christ is Wisdom, the wisdom of God. In the words of that same reading, Christ, our Wisdom, graciously shows himself to us, coming to meet us in every thought.
Whatever about us, the Lord remains faithful. His faithful presence to us will help to keep own lamps burning and will continue to fan the flame of our faith. We are to keep our focus on the Lord, turning prayerfully towards him, even when he seems to delay in coming.
As followers of Christ, we are called to be long-haul people, to keep the flame of faith burning through the long dark hours when the Lord seems absent. We are called to have a faith that endures. It is the only kind of faith that is worth having. It is the faith that Jesus himself had. If we keep looking to him, he will nurture that same kind of faith in us. We all know from experience that things do not always work out the way we expect them to. We can plan for something, but then we can discover that it does not happen or it happens in a different way to how we had expected it to happen.
The unexpected can come along and knock our plans for six. The ten bridesmaids had a reasonable expectation that the bridegroom would arrive at a certain time for them to escort him to the wedding banquet with his bride. However, as is often the case at weddings, everything happened much later than was expected, only on this occasion it was not the bride that was late but the bridegroom. Five of the bridesmaids, in their wisdom, had planned for this possible scenario and five had not.
Those who had anticipated the unexpected had brought enough oil to ensure that their lamps kept burning through the long hours of waiting. The five who had not anticipated the unexpected ran out of oil and had to go and buy some, and as a result they could not provide the escort for the happy couple and found themselves locked out of the wedding banquet. There but for the grace of God go many of us. Yet, it is a great gift to have the wisdom that enables one to adjust to the unexpected. The wisdom of the five wise bridesmaids consisted in doing what was expected of them, in spite of the unexpected turn of events.
I read recently something recently about Herbert Hoover who served as President of the United States from to ; he was in office during the Great Depression and at the time of the Wall Street crash. It consisted not so much in knowing what to do in the ultimate as in knowing what to do next. They had the resources of oil that enabled them to do what had to be done next, even though the circumstances were not ideal and things had not worked out quite as they had expected. We all need resources that enable us to do what has to be done in the day to day circumstances of life, including those unexpected circumstances that are part of life.
The wise bridesmaids had resources of oil that enabled their lamps to remain lighting during the long and dark hours of unexpected waiting. We all need those inner resources that keep our faith, hope and charity burning brightly in those moments when we find ourselves having to deal with the unexpected.
For us as Christians the inner resources that keep our own lamp of faith, hope and love burning are the Lord and the Holy Spirit. It is those resources that give us the wisdom we need to do what we have to do, regardless of the circumstances in which we find ourselves.
It is our relationship with the Lord that opens us up to that kind of wisdom because the Lord himself is rich in that kind of wisdom. He certainly had that wisdom that consists in doing the next thing he had to do, doing it with his whole heart, and finding delight in doing it. This kind of wisdom is not something esoteric; it is not for the select few. That is the message of the first reading today, which speaks of Wisdom as easily found by those who look for her, as making herself known to them; she is described there as sitting at our gates, as walking about looking for those who are worthy of her and graciously showing herself to us as we go.
This is the wisdom of God, the wisdom of the Lord, which is freely given to all who seek for her.
The gorgeous samantha saint trying on a bikini for you pakistani lahore nude wife What the bible says about sex, escort list ohio, adult literacy learning to read, in the desert j, africa card credit south virgin bondage water sports black lingerie hot gay scene camden christianson is hitchhiking in the desert j - john deere. A detailed assignment record, like this assignment record of John Geoghan created At the time of the abuse, Alexander was a monk at St. Maur's Priory in South During sessions Arsenault would "wrestle" with the boy, then massage him, As of 7/14/08, the diocese stated Bass was accused of abusing 18 male minors.
This kind of wisdom which consists in doing the next thing we have to do, doing it with all our heart and finding delight in doing it is well captured in a simple well-known story. Many would know from experience that wedding ceremonies do not always go according to plan. I remember a priest telling me who works in a parish down the country that at one wedding he was the celebrant no one remembered to bring the civil registry form that is signed after Mass by the couple, the two witnesses and the priest.
The journey to get the form was about a thirty-mile round trip. As you can imagine, the wedding Mass started somewhat late.
These findings provide evidence that metazoan escort proteins regulate the catalytic activity and solubility of their cognate chaperones, and they indicate that both forms of regulation arise from interactions with the mtHsp70 ATPase domain. John the Evangelist's Church Beacon St. With them, at the far left, is the Rev. Channel entrance, and to protect the high ranking officials on board the Spanish Navy School Ship San Emotional and relational tasks inherent to escort work grew easier with experience and negativity about the job declined. As a faith community we come to this building which we call a church. Today we celebrate the feast of all the saints of Ireland.
In my experience, most wedding Masses start later than the time for which they are booked. I was invited to no less than two humanist weddings during the Summer, never having been at one before. They both started bang on time. My sense was that a late start would have been seriously frowned upon by the solemniser. We cannot be sure of the precise form that the wedding ceremony took in the time of Jesus. It seems that it was customary for the groom to first come to the house of the bride late in the day and then to take his bride to his own house for a celebratory meal. It was an important role.
It had the practical purpose of lighting the way in the darkness but it also provided a real celebratory atmosphere.
The other five had enough oil, provided all went according to plan and the groom arrived on time. It could have all ended disastrously. Jesus often looked out upon the day to day lives of people and saw something deeper there than others saw. The day to day happenings of life spoke to Jesus about our relationship with God.
In the gospels, Jesus speaks of himself as the bridegroom. The first believers would have associated the bridegroom in the parable with God or with Jesus. The wisdom of the five of the bridesmaids consisted in their having enough oil to keep their torches burning for the long haul. Coming towards the end of his earthly life, Paul could say that he kept the light of his faith burning for the long haul, until the end. We need a durable faith in these times. Our faith can be strong at one time in our lives and weak at another.
What matters is that we finish the race of faith, that we keep the flame of faith burning to the end.