Stay Awake

Friday of the Twenty-first Week in Ordinary Time C-2

Entrance Antiphon Cf. Ps 86 (85):1-3 Turn your ear, O Lord, and answer me; save the servant who trusts in you, my God. Have mercy on me, O Lord, for I cry to you all the day long.

Collect O God, who cause the minds of the faithful to unite in a single purpose, grant your people to love what you command and to desire what you promise, that, amid the uncertainties of this world, our hearts may be fixed on that place where true gladness is found. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever.

Scripture today: 1 Corinthians 1:17-25; Psalm 32; Matthew 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.” (Matthew 25:1-13)

Stay Awake John Henry Newman was nineteenth century England’s foremost apologist of the religion of revealed dogma. He was a master of English prose, and his writings spanned various genres — sermons, theological and philosophical investigation, history, educational theory, autobiography, poetry and novels, and an abundance of correspondence. He wrote two novels, and each is concerned with religious belief. The second of the two, Callista, was published in 1855. It has for its heroine the young woman Callista, a pagan and quintessential Greek. In her encounter with St Cyprian (ch.19), she objects to the Christian dogma of Hell. The maxims of Christianity are beautiful, indeed too beautiful to be believed, she said to him. But “its dogmas are too dismal, too shocking, too odious to be believed. They revolt me.” “Such as what?” asked St Cyprian (Caecilius). “Such as this,” answered Callista. “Nothing will ever make me believe that all my people have gone and will go to an eternal Tartarus.” (The classical “Tartarus” was something vaguely like Hell.) Cyprian (Caecilius) proceeded to demonstrate the rationality of an eternal Tartarus — without specifying any particular persons, such as her own people, who would go there. At the end of his account, Callista said, “I cannot answer you, sir, but I do not believe the dogma on that account a whit the more. My mind revolts from the notion. There must be some way out of it.” This imagined dialogue between the educated and persecuted Bishop of Carthage and a pagan Greek woman (who later becomes a Christian and dies a martyr), indicates the natural human presentiment that there is a good God who loves, a God who has instituted a just order of things. Such an intimation revolts at the thought of an eternal Hell. Such is the expectation of fallen nature which profoundly underestimates the enormity of sin and separation from God. The pagan Callista revolted from the “dogma” of Hell, but forgot that this “dismal” dogma was answered by other dogmas of great joy, those of the Incarnation and the Redemption.

This tension between the almighty and saving love of God and the stern fact of a judgment appears often in our Lord’s teaching, and our Gospel today (Matthew 25:1-13) is one such instance. The kingdom of heaven — God’s rule and lordship — is likened to a wedding banquet, and the bridegroom is coming. God’s rule is, then, a wondrous relationship of spousal love between the Lord and his own people. He is the Bridegroom who is coming, and all must be vigilant for his arrival. This image of the divine Bridegroom is deeply etched in the writings of the prophets, and I suspect it is an overtone of the very name of “Yahweh.” Yahweh is the one who is, and who will be with his people. As who I am, I shall be with you. It is not a long step from this to the prophetic image of the Bridegroom. But all through the Scriptures there is the threat of the people being cast out if they are incorrigibly unfaithful. Even so, God will be faithful. So at the outset, while the joy of the wedding is constantly before us, there is the terrible possibility of being excluded. God is the Bridegroom, and he is present in the person of Jesus Christ. There is so much to anticipate with joy, and this is captured in the image of the ten virgins who took their lamps and went to meet the Bridegroom. But this is not mere magic. It is a moral matter involving a personal responsibility to take great care to be ready for the Bridegroom’s arrival. So it is that among the ten virgins there were several who took no care. They were unprepared, presumably because they dissipated their time and thoughts on other things of their preference. They did not keep their thoughts on the Bridegroom, his interests and his arrival. They knew his arrival could be at any point, but basically they did not care. So they were caught unprepared, and returned with the gates now locked. The terrible fact is that once the gates are locked they will not be opened again. As we read, “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.”

No other prophet before Jesus Christ spoke so much of the Last Things: the possibility of a sudden end, the divine judgment, and then either Heaven or Hell. God is love, as St John writes in his inspired Letter. He is the Bridegroom of the Church, and the Bridegroom of our souls. At the same time he is our Judge. These things the heart of man intimates, but revelation shows the greatness of the divine love and the enormity of sin. Let us then take our stand with Jesus Christ; guarding against all the enemies that can suddenly fall upon us and take us captive.

(E.J.Tyler)

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A Second Reflection (1 Corinthians 1:17-25)

Christ Crucified, the Wisdom of God There have been various schemes developed by great minds — philosophers, architects, governors — for the improvement of mankind. How many, though, have identified the fundamental problem in human society and in man? God has revealed it as being sin, both the original sin and the ongoing sins of mankind. Apart from identifying the problem, how many have come up with a solution? God has not only revealed what the problem is. He has solved the problem, providing us with the solution that each person is free to make his own, and apply to his life. The solution was the crucifixion of his son, Jesus Christ. That would sound madness to a pagan and foolish to the religious. But this is, as St Paul says, “the power and the wisdom of God.”

We make this solution our own by following in the footsteps of Christ crucified, turning our sufferings into a means of redemption and sanctification, by accepting them in obedience to the will of God.

(E.J.Tyler)

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