Memorial for St Teresa Benedicta of the Cross

Matthew 25 1:13

'Then the kingdom of Heaven will be like this: Ten wedding attendants took their lamps and went to meet the bridegroom. Five of them were foolish and five were sensible: the foolish ones, though they took their lamps, took no oil with them, whereas the sensible ones took flasks of oil as well as their lamps. The bridegroom was late, and they all grew drowsy and fell asleep. But at midnight there was a cry, "Look! The bridegroom! Go out and meet him." Then all those wedding attendants woke up and trimmed their lamps, and the foolish ones said to the sensible ones, "Give us some of your oil: our lamps are going out." But they replied, "There may not be enough for us and for you; you had better go to those who sell it and buy some for yourselves." They had gone off to buy it when the bridegroom arrived. Those who were ready went in with him to the wedding hall and the door was closed.The other attendants arrived later. "Lord, Lord," they said, "open the door for us." But he replied, "In truth I tell you, I do not know you." So stay awake, because you do not know either the day or the hour.

This is a parable about personal responsibility. Much as we might want to be helped or to help others enter the kingdom of God in the end we are each responsible for own actions not those of others.

We can love other people, but we cannot love for other people. We can respond to God and try to give an example of what it means to be a Christian, but we cannot save people by our own wishes, or be saved by others.

In the end it is how we respond to God’s love that will determine our salvation.

We cannot now when we will face that judgement, so we should live our lives as if it could happen at any moment.

Our God is a God of mercy and love. We do not need to earn his forgiveness our love, but we do need to respond to it or we risk locking ourselves out of the heavenly banquet.

Let’s keep our lamps full of oil and our hearts full of love, ready for whenever the bridegroom may arrive, doing our best to always live in communion with God

For the Ferria

Matthew 16:24-28

Then Jesus said to his disciples, 'If anyone wants to be a follower of mine, let him renounce himself and take up his cross and follow me. Anyone who wants to save his life will lose it; but anyone who loses his life for my sake will find it. What, then, will anyone gain by winning the whole world and forfeiting his life? Or what can anyone offer in exchange for his life?

'For the Son of man is going to come in the glory of his Father with his angels, and then he will reward each one according to his behaviour. In truth I tell you, there are some standing here who will not taste death before they see the Son of man coming with his kingdom.'

This is the paradox at the heart of our faith. To truly gain our lives we need to give them up, give them to God.

In doing so we receive, even now, a much better life than we can build by ourselves and a promise of eternal life at the end of our earthly life.

For myself, I know how much better my life is living it knowing that God loves me. Renouncing my own sinful tendencies is not always easy, but the reward for doing it is great.

I still stumble and need forgiveness for the times I fail to live as God wants me to. Thankfully God is always willing to forgive and give me another chance.