Homily 6th November, 2011 32nd Sunday of Ordinary Time. A
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The only thing that seems excessive in this story is ……-okay--….. so they weren't prepared for the arrival of the bridegroom!!... They messed up!! So?........... Surely it is a happy occasion when everyone is celebrating and in a good mood?......The bridegroom is a nice guy..... Why lock out the bridesmaids because they were a bit scatty and unprepared????
But firstly…. Their whole purpose is to await the bride and groom and they missed it due to carelessness and foolishness.... They didn't care enough about the Bride and Groom to do their job properly and have let the whole show down. ... Plus... Once the party was started…….. it was too big and noisy to hear those calling out in the dark outside...
And also…. On a wider level….. the parable has at least two universal warnings.
(i) It warns us that there are certain things which cannot be obtained at the last minute. It is far too late for a student to be preparing when the day of the examination has come. It is too late for a person to acquire a skill, or a personal quality or character, if they do not already possess it, when some task offers itself to them. Similarly, it is easy to leave things so late that we can no longer prepare ourselves to respond. And likewise, one can leave things too late to prepare to meet with God. When Mary of Orange was dying, her chaplain sought to tell her of the way of salvation. Her answer was: "I have not left this matter to this hour." Well said! To be too late is always tragedy. And if it is too late, it does not reflect on the goodness of the one who shuts the door.
(ii) It warns us that there are certain things which cannot be borrowed. The foolish bridesmaids found it impossible to borrow oil, when they discovered they needed it. A person cannot borrow a relationship with God; They must possess it for themselves. A person cannot borrow a character; they must be clothed with it. We cannot always be living on the spiritual capital which others have amassed. There are certain things we must gain or acquire for ourselves, for we cannot borrow them from others.
Tennyson took this parable and turned it into verse in the song the little novice sang to Guinevere the queen, when Guinevere had too late discovered the cost of sin:
"Late, late so late! and dark the night and chill!
Late, late so late! but we can enter still.
Too late, too late! ye cannot enter now.
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Have we not heard the bridegroom is so sweet?
O let us in, tho' late, to kiss his feet!
No, no, too late! ye cannot enter now."
There is no too so laden with regret as the sound of the words “too late!”
It takes a lifetime to foster and develop and allow God to transform our attitudes and characters into those consistent with the Gospel of Jesus. It requires constant openness and willingness to change and be transformed by God. It requires an openness and a transformation that simply must not be left to the eleventh hour!.
REFERENCES:
FR. PAUL W. KELLY
THE DAILY STUDY BIBLE. GOSPEL OF Matthew (REVISED EDITION). BY WILLIAM BARCLAY.
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