32nd Sunday in Ordinary Time: Living Life Wisely
Our readings for today’s 32nd Sunday in ordinary time talks about wisdom. Wisdom is not so much about having higher learning, earning academic degrees or knowledge of everything inasmuch as living our daily life worthily.
How does one live wisely? How does one lead a wise life? The readings and liturgy enlighten us that to live a wise life is to have a sense of purpose higher than ourselves and to have a profound sense of our ultimate end. Living life wisely is to live the present always according to our ultimate end.
In his highly popular book, The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, Dr. Stephen R. Covey presents the second habit of highly effective people as: “Begin with the end in mind.” Covey says that to “begin with the end in mind” means to begin each day, task, or project with a clear vision of your desired direction and destination, and then continue by flexing your proactive muscles to make things happen.
As Christians, we believe that our “end in mind” is the coming of God’s kingdom which is “already here but not yet.” We need to always begin our day and frame our lives according to this direction and destination. Jesus tells us, in the gospel today, to always stay awake, vigilant, and alert to this end in mind and deeper reality of our lives. Unfortunately, many of us even Catholics, rarely, if ever, view our daily Christian living in the light of the final coming of Christ. Yet, his final coming is the promise that gives ultimate meaning to our daily activities and our ongoing hope.
This implies that our lives is a perpetual waiting for the coming of God’s kingdom. It is a waiting that is active not passive. It does not imply laziness, complacency or non-activity. On the contrary, it entails being perpetually busy—doing God’s work and participating in God’s abundant grace of building God’s kingdom.
The first reading suggests that what we are awaiting is the arrival of wisdom: “he who watches for her at dawn shall not be disappointed.” It reminds us peacefully and beautifully to watch for God at dawn; to keep vigil because Wisdom (the Holy Spirit of God) is searching for those who are waiting. God’s wisdom “meets them with all solicitude.”
The Responsorial Psalm boldly expresses our waiting as craving for God. The antiphon acclaims, “My soul is thirsting for you, O Lord my God.”
In the Gospel, Jesus tells us a parable. There are ten women waiting for the Lord. But when the Lord comes, half of these women are rejected. As the parable explains it, the problem is that five of the women are off shopping for oil when the Lord comes, and so they’re left out. They are the foolish ones. The other five women are the wise ones, welcomed by the Lord. The moral lesson, Jesus tells us, is to stay awake! Make preparations. Do not be foolish. Do not forget to be ready.
In this parable, Jesus shows us that the here-and-now is the fundamental venue for readying for his second coming. We cannot afford to sleep it away! We need to live our lives in view of the final coming of Christ and to be ready for that moment of joy (to be wise), or deserve judgment (to be foolish).
We don’t have to calculate the actual date for the return of Jesus as other people are accustomed to do. We are already in the end times. According to the New Testament writers the end-times commenced with the advent of Jesus, especially after his death and resurrection. So we have been in the end-times for nearly two thousand years. Eternity is now. God is with us. All that we need is to be alert.
Our readings today simply puts wisdom as a life full of energy and vitality. In Matthew’s gospel, to live a wise life is to hear the word of Jesus and doing it. Foolishness is simply failing to do so. The wise person lives a robust life feeding the hungry, quenching the thirsty, receiving the stranger, clothing the naked, visiting the sick and imprisoned.
Lord, help us to live wisely. Make us always ready. Make us always alert and attentive to your perpetual coming every day!
I am passionate about the intersection between new media and technology. I continue to research and apply new media in theology and vice-versa. I am also a fan of Our Mother of Perpetual Help and her continuing relevance in today’s digital world.
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