topleft05.jpg (18208 bytes)HOMILY
Thirty-Second Sunday in Ordinary Time (A)
06 November 11
 


 

Given the state of today’s world, there seems to be an awful lot to be anxious and to worry about.  Consider the testimony of John Mauldin, an investment advisor and entrepreneur.  I subscribe to his weekly newsletter and in yesterday’s edition, Mauldin wrote:

With seven kids, jobs have been on my mind of late.  It has not been easy for some of them.  It helps me to remember what it was like to be in my 20’s in the ‘70s and to really struggle to pay the rent and put food on the table for a family.  Savings?  Hah!  And while I have been able to help the kids here and there, back then there was no one to help me.  More than a few nights, I woke up with a knot in my stomach, wondering whether to pay rent or make payroll.  College did not prepare me for the “joys” of being an entrepreneur.
 

None of us today has to be a financial advisor or entrepreneur to be able to identify with the anxiety and worry John Mauldin relates about the years when he was a young husband and father.  What’s going on economically, socially, and most important, morally, in today’s world is enough to cause even the most Stoic among us to wake up in the middle of the night and, unable to fall back asleep, to spend the next couple of hours trying to figure out what we need to do.

The Lunestra people get it.  That’s why they advertise during the sleeping hours when people aren’t sleeping?  They want the unsuspecting to drug themselves into not having to deal with the reasons for all of that insomnia!

Today’s scripture readings focus upon a spiritual remedy that is better than a drug, the word “preparation,” in the sense that each of us needs to be ready for what’s going to unfold.  But, it’s important to note, this sense of being “prepared” isn’t by having pills available so that we can sleep ourselves through the muddle we find ourselves in.  Nor is it the sense of the Boy Scouts’ motto “Be Prepared” which means “always being in a state of readiness in mind and body to do one’s duty.”  In specific:

·     “Be Prepared in Mind” means having disciplined oneself to be obedient to every order, and also by having thought out beforehand any accident or situation that might occur, so that one knows the right thing to do at the right moment, and is willing to do it.

·     “Be Prepared in Body” means making oneself strong and active and able to do the right thing at the right moment, and then to do it.
 

In contrast to the Boy Scouts’ meaning of the term “be prepared,” which stresses mental preparation, today’s scripture describes the term “be prepared” as being “wise”—not doing things right but doing right things—because, as the Book of Wisdom taught:

…taking thought of wisdom is the perfection of prudence, and whoever for her sake keeps vigil shall quickly be free from care.
 

Taking a cue from the spiritual meaning of being prepared, those of us who are anxious and worried about so many things demonstrate that we are not prepared and, thus, oftentimes end up not just being surprised when adversity strikes or, worse yet, imprudent.  That is, all of the fretting—the anxiety and worry—reveals souls riddled with fear, not souls that meditate on God’s wisdom and have learned to trust in it, come what may.

It’s very difficult and challenging to live this way, trying to discern what God is teaching us in the “middle of the muddle” and, then, to do what’s prudent, as God defines that, especially as we grow older and our need for sustained sleep dissipates.  But, the opposite—to be filled with worry and anxiety—is no way to live.

Jesus describes this spiritual meaning of the word preparation in his parable that pits the five “wise” virgins against the five “foolish” virgins.  The parable’s moral isn’t about “stocking up for a rainy day” as if oil for lamps and evening weddings is what’s really important in life.  That’s the type of preparation required of Boy Scouts to earn merit badges.  Instead, this parable’s moral is about being prepared for what’s most important in life, the advent of God—God’s breaking into our daily lives—and having the eyes to see and the ears to hear what’s really going.  And, if not simply to see and to hear, at least to catch a glimpse into what’s really going on so that we will act prudently.  That is wisdom.

I think this an important spiritual lesson because it’s so easy for any of us to act imprudently.  When we hear stories propounded in the media which make us feel as if the “end time” is near, we can allow those stories to cause so much anxiety and worry that we think that it’s normal to spend our time living with those feelings.  The cause may not be, as scripture attests, “rumors or war and the end times.”  But, in my unscientific “phone-a-friend” survey yesterday, it seems that:

·     Many parents today are anxious and worried about what their children may and may not be learning in school.  They lie awake at night wondering, “How are my children going to turn out after graduation?”

·     Spouses are anxious and worried about how today’s adverse economy may negatively impact them, not only today, but also in those hoped-for “Golden Years.”  Many spouses lie awake at night wondering, “Will there even be those Golden Years”?  And, for many in those Golden Years, they wonder if there’s going to be enough cash saved to make it to the end of those years!

·     One thing unites citizens on both sides of the political aisle today: The direction the nation is taking.  The specter of terrorism, global economic problems, and yes, believe it or not, personal obsolescence—being viewed as “useless” as society and life “progress”—cause many citizens on both sides of the political aisle to lie awake in the middle of the night feeling anxious and worrying about what the future portends.  Could it possibly be true that too many human beings have lived beyond their “shelf life”?
 

How is it possible to “prepare” for all of these things?

Let’s consider first what being “unprepared” might look like:

·     Parents spend so much time working to have a comfortable life and to enjoy all of the goodies—the “fruits of their labors”—that they are too tired to spend much, if any time with their children while they are growing up.

·     The wretched economy causes the loss of a job, a significant decrease to cash flow that makes it impossible to make the monthly mortgage payment, or even more threatening, the loss of healthcare insurance.  Spouses have no bank savings but only a mountain of credit card debt.  Little wonder they lie awake during the night wondering: “What am I going to do to pay the bills?”

·     Terrorists strike the nation again, the Euro zone collapses and the stock market collapses, or we find ourselves unemployed and in need of a job.  That’s enough to scare the bejeezes out of any responsible adult!
 

Many people in these circumstances find themselves saying “I should have been prepared.”  To be sure, it’s quite likely we would also end up saying the same should we end up having to deal with situations like these.

But, how should we prepare for them?

The scriptural meaning of “to prepare,” as that term is used in today’s readings, is “to make ready in advance.”  It’s exactly what St. John the Baptist said when he announced, “Prepare the way of the Lord.  Make straight his paths.”

“To prepare” requires that we learn how God relates to human beings by developing “ears to hear” and “eyes to see” what God is trying to teach us.  Believe it or not, God is present in all of those events that are causing so much anxiety and worry.  Those who are prepared are attentive to, hear and see, and accept God’s lesson. That is wisdom!  In contrast, those who are not prepared are not attentive to, do not hear or see, and reject God’s lesson.

The challenge for us, then, is “to watch therefore, for you know neither the day nor the hour” when God will break into our lives.

In this sense, being prepared has to do with today—God’s presence in our lives, our homes, our marriages—not some unknown end time when the stars fall from the skies and the like.  It means not being anxious and worried but, in the midst of all of those things that could make us very anxious and extremely worried and to act imprudently, continuing to focus upon loving God and neighbor as we love ourselves.

Practically speaking, this means parents who continue to love and care for their children, even should they go astray.  Who else is going to get them back on the narrow path?  It also means spouses who are more than ever willing to work together to resolve their financial challenges rather than to allow those challenges to drive them apart and into divorce court.  Haven’t we seen enough of this in the past few years?  Lastly, it means realizing that our value as human beings is not found in a job, but when we are without a job, seeing how God continues to be present in our lives, perhaps in those generous souls who come to our assistance and ask for nothing in return.

It’s so easy to lie awake in the middle of the night and to be anxious and to worry about what tomorrow is going to bring, isn’t it?  But, when we are prepared—as scripture defines that term—we possess “the oil” of good works and deeds that provide the fuel out of all that anxiety and worry, all of that feeling sorry for ourselves, and all of the accompanying narcissism.

Describing this wisdom, Mother Teresa of Calcutta wrote:

What are the oil lamps in our lives?

They are the little everyday things:
faithfulness, punctuality, kind words,
thoughtfulness of another person,
the way we are silent at times,
the way we look at things,
the way we speak, the way we act.

Those are the little drops of love
which make it possible for our life of faith to shine brightly.

 

“To be prepared” is to allow “our life of faith to shine brightly” by seeing and hearing God when He breaks into our lives, especially in those places where we believe God is least present.  This preparation is the quality or state of soul wherein we do not lie awake in the middle of the night full of anxiety and worry or, like the five foolish virgins, “shopping until we drop.”  No, spiritual preparation builds that quality of state of soul wherein we continuously learn, perfect, and struggle to remain stay awake and vigilant so that when God makes Himself present to us in the middle of the muddle, we possess the “eyes that see” and the “ears that hear” exactly what God is teaching us.

 

 

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