The Word God Spells

Matthew 25: 1-13
1 Thes 4:1-8/Ps 97/Mt 25:1-13

…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.
(Mt. 25:1-2)

Keep watch, we do not know the hour
The Bridegroom comes, and lamps grow dim;
He comes in majesty and pow’r,
Have we prepared ourselves for Him?

“The foolish ones took their lamps but did not take any oil with them. The wise, however, took oil in jars along with their lamps. The bridegroom was a long time in coming, and they all became drowsy and fell asleep. At midnight the cry rang out: ‘Here’s the bridegroom! Come out to meet him!’ Then all the virgins woke up and trimmed their lamps. The foolish ones said to the wise, ‘Give us some of your oil; our lamps are going out.’ ‘No,’ they replied, ‘there may not be enough for both us and you. Instead, go to those who sell oil and buy some for yourselves.’ But while they were on their way to buy the oil, the bridegroom arrived. The virgins who were ready went in with him to the wedding banquet. And the door was shut. Later the others also came. ‘Sir! Sir!’ they said. ‘Open the door for us!’ But he replied, ‘I tell you the truth, I don’t know you.’ “Therefore keep watch, for you do not know the day or the hour.” (Matthew 25:3-13)

Reflection

The Parable of the Ten Virgins can be interpreted in many ways, and the length of messages and lessons that we can glean from it might be many times longer than the story. First of all, our Lord uses a wedding scene to emphasize the permanence of marriage. Then, unlike previous parables which showed the dichotomy of good and evil, this one presents a distinction between the wise and the foolish, where the foolish share the same fate as the damned. Third, the process of salvation entails a long wait and only those who are patient, vigilant and well-prepared will be rewarded. Finally, it is only by being filled with the Holy Spirit that our faith can be sustained.

God is love, and what better way to present the loving relationship of God with His people than a wedding parable, symbolizing the perpetual covenant of God with His bride, the Church. But our Lord also uses this parable to warn the complacent that simply being members of the church does not guarantee our personal salvation. All the ten virgins shared the same beliefs, symbolized by the lamps they all carried. But five of them were foolish, lacking a sufficient indwelling of the Holy Spirit (the oil). Only those who are wise know that a continuous supply of God’s Spirit is necessary to keep the flame of faith burning, especially in times of turbulence and darkness.

Life beyond middle age can be a punishing struggle against many kinds of disease. That is, unless one prepared well for this eventuality during his younger years by a regular cardio-vascular exercise like jogging, avoiding harmful substances such as alcoholic beverages and tobacco, and keeping a healthy, balanced diet. If vigilance and preparedness then is so important for one’s retirement age (20 to 30 years?), shouldn’t life eternal be far more worth preparing for even in one’s whole lifetime? Jesus said, “The one who hears my words and does not put them into practice is like a man who built a house on the ground without a foundation. When the river burst against that house, it collapsed at once and was completely destroyed.” (Lk.6:49) If we failed to prepare the foundation for a healthy life in our younger years, it is not yet too late to build a better foundation for the life eternal. No one else can build it for us. Salvation is non-transferable. When death comes, there is no second chance.

For God did not call us to impurity but to holiness. Whoever disregards this, disregards not a human being but God, Who also gives His Holy Spirit to you. (1Thess.4:7-8) Come, Holy Spirit, fill me with Your grace. Amen.

Matthew 24: 42-51
1 Thes 3:7-13/Ps 90:3-4,12-14,17

Therefore, stay awake! For you do not know on which day your Lord will come.
(Matthew 24:42)

Be vigilant in all your ways,
Evil lurks Like a hungry lion;
A man who goes off ill-prepared
Invites disaster to be preyed on.

Jesus said, “Be sure of this: if the master of the house had known the hour of night when the thief was coming, he would have stayed awake and not let his house be broken into. So too, you also must be prepared, for at an hour you do not expect, the Son of Man will come. Who, then, is the faithful and prudent servant, whom the master has put in charge of his household to distribute to them their food at the proper time? Blessed is that servant whom his master on his arrival finds doing so. Amen, I say to you, he will put him in charge of all his property. But if that wicked servant says to himself, ‘My master is long delayed,’ and begins to beat his fellow servants, and eat and drink with drunkards, the servant’s master will come on an unexpected day and at an unkown hour and will punish him severely and assign him a place with the hypocrites, where there will be wailing and grinding of teeth.”

Reflection

The lesson in today’s Gospel is about being prepared and alert. Prudence dictates that we must always be security-conscious against the threat of thieves and robbers. But there are also times when the threat to one’s home may not come from the outside but from within. As in the case of a fire caused by faulty wiring or a leaking gas cannister. Or even water from the bathroom flooding the whole house.

We had stayed at my brother-in-law’s apartment in Laguna to attend the wake of a close relative, and condole with her bereaved husband and four young children. Rene’ lived alone, and was happy that he could host us for several days during the vigil. In this small town of Rizal, the piped-in water would lose pressure and stop flowing by nine o’clock in the morning. The water would be back in service again in the afternoon. It happened that one of us forgot to close the tap in the bathroom after taking a bath and filling the big plastic container that blocked the floor drain. It was already evening when we arrived home from the vigil to a watery welcome. For lack of vigilance, our vigil was extended, as we had to remove the floor matting and spread old newspapers all over his house to soak up the water and dry the floor.

We must be alert and watchful at all times, not only to withstand the trials and temptations of this world, but also to acquire the discipline and formation necessary to be worthy of God’s kingdom. What athlete who has not given his best in discipline and training for an Olympic competition would dare believe he stands to win the prize reserved only for champions? What soul, knowing he only gave a token of his time and talent to serve God’s kingdom on earth, and was never really vigilant in his Christian responsibilities could boldly claim the greatest prize in all eternity?

Teach us, o Lord, to make each day count that we may gain wisdom of heart. (Psalm 90:12) Make us always aware of our weaknesses, and be alert to the proddings of Your Holy Spirit, so that we may grow and be worthy of Your love. Amen.

Mark 6: 17-29
Jer 1:17-19/Ps 71:1-6,15,17

Ask of me whatever you wish and I will grant it to you.
(Mark 6:22)

St. John the Baptist is our model,
His life for Truth he sacrificed;
Let his courage be our example,
To be a herald for Jesus Christ.

Herod had given orders to have John arrested, and he had him bound and put in prison. He did this on account of Herodias, his brother Philip’s wife, whom he had married. For John had been saying to Herod, “It is not lawful for you to have your brother’s wife.” So Herodias nursed a grudge against John and wanted to kill him. But she was not able to, because Herod feared John and protected him, knowing him to be a righteous and holy man. When Herod heard John, he was greatly puzzled; yet he liked to listen to him. Finally the opportune time came. On his birthday Herod gave a banquet for his high officials and military commanders and the leading men of Galilee. When the daughter of Herodias came in and danced, she pleased Herod and his dinner guests. The king said to the girl, “Ask me for anything you want, and I’ll give it to you.” And he promised her with an oath, “Whatever you ask I will give you, even half my kingdom.” She went out and said to her mother, “What shall I ask for?”
“The head of John the Baptist,” she answered. At once the girl hurried in to the king with the request: “I want you to give me right now the head of John the Baptist on a platter.” The king was greatly distressed, but because of his oaths and his dinner guests, he did not want to refuse her. So he immediately sent an executioner with orders to bring John’s head. The man went, beheaded John in prison, and brought back his head on a platter. He presented it to the girl, and she gave it to her mother. On hearing of this, John’s disciples came and took his body and laid it in a tomb.

Reflection

King Herod, drunk with wine and power, was so pleased with the dance performance of Salome, Herodias’ daughter, during his birthday banquet that in front of his guests he made this oath that he would forever regret to his dying day. Herodias, his evil mistress, was quick to seize on the occasion, and instructed her daughter to ask for the head of her archenemy, John the Baptist.

There is only one exception to breaking one’s word of honor — when the consequence of keeping it is malicious or immoral. King Herod never had any discernment of this because he valued his face more than his heart or soul. He was more concerned about his prestige rather than with his conscience. He would rather murder an innocent man — in fact, a holy man — than retract his pledge to a mere dancing girl, the offspring of his whore. As frequently happens to fools who fall, it is because of their fear to incur the reproach of men that they “justify themselves in the sight of others, but God knows their hearts; for what is of human esteem is an abomination in the sight of God.” (Lk.16:15) John the Baptist lost his head, but gained God’s kingdom. Herod should have offered his whole kingdom instead of losing his soul.

God’s justice caught up with Herod, Herodias and Salome in their lifetimes. Salome fell through the ice of a frozen river. While her body floated in the water, her head stayed above the ice, until the sharp ice severed her neck. Her headless body was never found; her severed head was brought to Herod and Herodias just as the head of John the Baptist had been brought to them at an earlier time. The Arabian king, Aretas, Herod’s father-in-law, attacked Herod to avenge the shame of his discarded daughter. With his defeat, Herod fell from the good graces of Emperor Caligula and was exiled with Herodias to Spain, where they met their untimely death.

We commemorate the martyrdom of St. John the Baptist as a reminder of the kind of hardship God’s followers will undergo, but for which they will also be greatly blessed. It also warns us to avoid the excesses of pelf and power, which constantly lead to such terrible sins. Our Church teaches us that St. John, the Forerunner of the Messiah, is the greatest of all saints after the Blessed Mother. Jesus said, “Among those born of women, there is no greater prophet than John the Baptist” (Lk.7:28).

Lord God, as we commemorate the martyrdom of St. John the Baptist today, we pray for his intercession, that You may grant us the spirit of boldness, to stand up for the truth, and to condemn what is wrong wherever we find the occasion. Amen.

Matthew 23: 23-26
1 Thes 2:1-8/Ps 139:1-6

You pay tithes of mint and dill and cummin, but have neglected the weightier things of the law: judgment and mercy and fidelity.
(Matthew 23:23)

What lies within is what is real,
And no amount of scheme or stealth
Can hide that time will not reveal,
Lord, give our souls clean bill of health.

“Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, you hypocrites. You pay tithes of mint and dill and cummin, but have neglected the weightier things of the law: judgment and mercy and fidelity. These things you ought to have done without neglectig the others. Blind guides, who strain out the gnat and swallow the camel! Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, you hypocrites. You cleanse the outside of cup and dish, but inside they are full of plunder and self-indulgence. You blind Pharisee, first clean the inside of the cup and of the dish, that the outside may also be clean.” (Matthew 23:23-26)

Reflection

Many Christians find it hard to show their true nature by their natural appearance, and resort to hiding behind façades of virtues that often do not match the person within. That’s because it is easier to manage our externals than it is in dealing with our perceived flaws that we would rather prefer hidden.

It is hard to believe that even Mother Teresa, who was recently featured in Time magazine, kept a deep secret of spiritual dryness and psychological pain during most of her lifetime when her accomplishments appeared to be clear manifestations of her closeness to God. For almost 50 years, according to her letters to various confessors, she was “living out a very different spiritual reality privately, an arid landscape from which (God) had disappeared.” In a new book entitled Mother Teresa: Come Be My Light, her letters revealed that for the last almost half-century of her life, God was “neither in her heart nor in the Eucharist.” At one time, the “dryness,” “darkness,” and “torture” she was undergoing almost drove her to doubt the existence of heaven and even of God. Being acutely aware of this discrepancy between her inner state and her public demeanor, she wrote that her smile was just “a mask” or “a cloak that covers everything,” and as she told an adviser, “If you were (there), you would have said, ‘What hypocrisy.’” (Time Magazine, August 24, 2007)

And yet, what made Mother Teresa truly a great saint was that despite her spiritual torments, she never neglected the weightier things of the law, judging herself severely, lest she fell into self-righteousness, continuously practicing works of mercy for the poor and the dying, and being faithful to God and her vocation even in her “darkest night of the soul.” She remained clean inside and outside the cup and dish.

Mother Teresa has shown us that human as we are, there will always be doubts, just as there will always be flaws in our character. But as long as we judge our own behaviour (not other people), show mercy to others, and be faithful to Christ come what may, then our outer physical appearance will be as clean as our soul within.

Lord, You have probed me, You know me: You know when I sit and when I stand; You understand my thoughts from afar (Psa.139:1-2), far better than I know myself. Deal with me then as You will, so that my cup and dish will always be clean. Amen.

Matthew 23:13-22
1 Thes 1:2-5.8-10/Ps 149

Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, you hypocrites!
(Matthew 23:13)

No oaths can bind lies and deceits,
As made by ‘scribes and Pharisees’;
When remedied by hypocrites,
The cure is worse than the disease;

“Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You lock the kingdom of heaven before men; you do not enter yourselves, nor allow those who would enter to go in” … “Woe to you, blind guides, who say, ‘If any one swears by the temple, it is nothing; but if any one swears by the gold of the temple, he is bound by his oath.’ You blind fools! For which is greater, the gold or the temple that has made the gold sacred?” … “So he who swears by the altar, swears by it and by everything on it; and he who swears by the temple, swears by it and by Him who dwells in it; and he who swears by heaven, swears by the throne of God and by Him who sits upon it.” (Mt. 23:13,16-17,20-22)

Reflection

Hypocrisy is the act of putting up a front of being morally better than what we really are. It is also about condemning another person for an act of which the critic is also guilty of. The word ‘hypocrisy’ comes from the Greek word hypokrisis, which means “play-acting” or “feigning”. It applied to all kinds of public performances (including the art of oratory). Hypokrites (stage actors) were not considered suitable for public office. (Hmm, sounds familiar.) In the 4th Century BC, the great Greek orator, Demosthenes ridiculed his rival Aeschines, who was a successful actor before going into politics, as a hypokrites whose skill at impersonation (acting) made him an untrustworthy politician. In effect, Demosthenes demonstrated his own hypocrisy.

All of us are guilty of being hypocritical in different measures at one time or another. We wear different masks to manage our image in various occasions or circumstances. How often do we realize the difference in persona that we play when we are entertaining important guests or clients and the way we treat our employees or househelp? Or our attitude towards beggars outside the church who beg for a few Pesos (after we have put a hundred Pesos in the offertory collection)?

The antidote for hypocrisy are two words that also begin with the letter h. They are honesty and humility. Jesus condemned the Pharisees because of their propensity for making oaths. A person who has to resort to oath-taking instead of a simple yes or no cannot be counted on to speak honestly under normal circumstances. Jesus does not prohibit taking formal vows and oaths. It is how we casually substitute vows and oaths for honest speech that He tells us to guard against. For it is when we break a vow or oath (wittingly or unwittingly) that we ourselves become vulnerable to the the prince of lies, who is quick to take advantage of the weakened human condition.

Hypocrisy is an offspring of pride, and the other antidote against it is humility. This is the nobility of character wherein one refuses to accept that he is better or more righteous than others. Jesus said, “Whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and whoever humbles himself will be exalted.” (Mt.23:12) In today’s mass, the homily of the priest finally enlightened me about what our Lord meant when He said, “Strive to enter through the narrow gate” (Mt.7:13). It is by making ourselves ‘small’ that we can easily pass through the narrow gate. Those puffed up with hypocrisy and pride will never be able to do so.

Lord, help us to be honest and humble in all our ways, so that we may never have need for masks or be chained by oaths we have to keep. We are all sinners, and have no cause to be proud; mere stewards who must be upright in all our pledges. Amen.

The greatest among you will be your servant. For whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and whoever humbles himself will be exalted.
(Matthew 23:12)

Let me not seek fortune or fame,
Or even the world’s highest prize;
A simple request, let me claim
Discipleship of Jesus Christ.

Jesus said to the crowds and to his disciples: “The teachers of the law and the Pharisees sit in Moses’ seat. So you must obey them and do everything they tell you. But do not do what they do, for they do not practice what they preach. They tie up heavy loads and put them on men’s shoulders, but they themselves are not willing to lift a finger to move them. Everything they do is done for men to see: They make their phylacteries wide and the tassels on their garments long; they love the place of honor at banquets and the most important seats in the synagogues; they love to be greeted in the marketplaces and to have men call them ‘Rabbi.’ But you are not to be called ‘Rabbi,’ for you have only one Master and you are all brothers. And do not call anyone on earth ‘father,’ for you have one Father, and he is in heaven. Nor are you to be called ‘teacher,’ for you have one Teacher, the Christ. The greatest among you will be your servant. For whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and whoever humbles himself will be exalted.” (Matthew 23: 1-12)

Reflection

Our Lord’s message in today’s Gospel passage of Matthew concerns how discipleship must be regarded by all His followers. He exposed the hypocrisy of the scribes and Pharisees who employed Mosaic authority to put the Jews under submission to their preposterous codes which they themselves cleverly avoided. And yet Jesus urged them to “obey them and do evertyhing they tell you” — if only to practice the virtues of obedience and humility — but not to imitate them, “for they do not practice what they preach.”

Jesus set the standard for all His true disciples to follow. He walked His talk, and practiced what He preached. As He was faithful and obedient to the Father’s plan, so must His disciples follow His example of servant leadership, the antithesis of all that the scribes and Pharisees stood for. They were to be humble as the Pharisees were proud; to be obedient to God’s Word, unlike the scribes who circumvented the Mosaic laws according to their interests; and seek to be servants, rather than strive for places of honor or high positions that the scribes and Pharisees desired.

Today’s Gospel message also seems to convey that we must guard against becoming ‘disciples of men’ rather than disciples of Jesus Christ. Due to ignorance of Scripture, many have been led astray by self-styled evangelists and cult leaders who profess ‘divine appointment’ or even anointing by the Father. One even claims that he is the ‘Son’ of the Father, and has attracted hundreds of thousands to his ‘church’. You can see him in his own television network basking in the adulation of his ‘disciples’. The rise of these ‘anti-Christs’ is the result of many deluded Christians who have not exerted serious personal study of Christ’s teachings, thus failing to understand the real essence of discipleship.

Lord, may we never consider Your discipleship as a stepping stone to “high places” of authority, but rather as an opportunity to serve You and Your other disciples. Amen.