Dear Friends, these final weeks of the Church Year and the coming three Sundays of Advent in the new year invite us to ponder the mystery of time.

We are encouraged to reflect on time coming to an end in today’s gospel about the ten virgins as well in next weeks’ passage on the men receiving the talents. After the concluding feast of Christ the King, the first three Sundays of Advent offer another view of time, time as a beginning. Both approaches to time, as an ending and as a beginning, challenge us to embrace the gospel message for the gift of wisdom of how to use our time.

The story of the ten virgins and next week’s gospel about the talents call us to responsibility for our life. The message is simple and clear. Be prepared and be responsible.

Jesus does not really give a clear explanation of what it means to be foolish in the parable. He did so, however, earlier in the gospel. “Everyone who listens to these words of mine and acts on them will be like a wise man who built his house on rock. But everyone who listens but does not act on them will be like the fool who built his house on sand.” (Mt 7:24-26)

Acting of God’s Word makes our time consequential. And allows us to recognize the limits of time. “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.” (Mt 25:13) The difference between foolishness and wisdom is that the wise hear the word and put into practice.

Today’s parable tells us that time has limits for us. All this year’s selections from the Gospel of Matthew have laid out a clear path and plan of how we can be responsible in the footsteps of Jesus. This is the absolute best use of our time.

In the flow of the Church’s teachings in the Sunday liturgies, there is a deep connection between the end of one year to the beginning of the next. After the feast of Christ the King, the Gospel of Mark awaits. The first three Sundays of the coming Advent take up the mystery of time with a different approach. They lay out a plan of time centered on the coming of Jesus. The message is: Maranatha! Come, Lord Jesus!

We are invited into a new reality, a new time. Jesus lets us know time is pregnant with new possibilities. It is not slipping away but a gift wrapped in the love of a gracious and saving God. Time is an offering filled with hope and an invitation into new life. Time holds the legacy for which our heart has been yearning. Time is not a threat but a gift.

In this end-time of closing this year and the upcoming journey with the Gospel of Mark, we are confronted with a paradox. Time is going away and coming anew! Of course, this is an arrangement to help us understand that each day of our lives holds this mystery of time that is coming and going. Each day is a gift filled with the opportunity of new life and new love. Each day is one day closer to our death that opens to our true destiny, to be one with God in eternal life!

In the funeral Mass of the Resurrection, we have even deeper insight into this paradox of time. The Preface of the Mass proclaims, “In Him, who rose from the dead, our hope of the resurrection dawned. The sadness gives way to the bright promise of immortality. Lord, for your faithful people life is changed, not ended.”

In this paradox of time ending and beginning, we are called to face up to death as a dominant aspect of our reality. Yet, in Jesus, our Risen Savior, we share in the victory over death.

Today’s story of the ten virgins summons us into the mystery of time. It calls us to live today to its fullness, to live today filled with joy and hope. The one absolute about time is we only have now and we need to cherish it as the most important moment we will ever have. When we walk with Jesus, we are ready for the reality of today whether it be the devastations of climate change, Covid 19, falling love or whatever joy or torment life brings.

It is true wisdom, not a morose and gloomy anxiety, that helps us realize that today brings us one day closer to our death. This simply means that today is even more a more beautiful and gifted call to be prepared. So, we can truly say. “This is the day the Lord has made, let us be glad and rejoice in it.” (Ps. 118:24)