Are You Prepared?

“ Therefore, stay awake, for you know neither the day nor the hour. ”

First Reading: Wisdom 6:12-16

Resplendent and unfading is Wisdom, and she is readily perceived by those who love her, and found by those who seek her. She hastens to make herself known in anticipation of men's desire; he who watches for her at dawn shall not be disappointed, for he shall find her sitting by his gate. For taking thought of her is the perfection of prudence, and he who for her sake keeps vigil shall quickly be free from care; Because she makes her own rounds, seeking those worthy of her, and graciously appears to them in the ways, and meets them with all solicitude.

Responsorial Psalm: Psalms 6:2, 3-4, 5-6, 7-8

Second Reading: 1Thess. 14:13-17

We do not want you to be unaware, brothers, about those who have fallen asleep, so that you may not grieve like the rest, who have no hope. For if we believe that Jesus died and rose, so too will God, through Jesus, bring with him those who have fallen asleep. Indeed, we tell you this, on the word of the Lord, that we who are alive, who are left until the coming of the Lord, will surely not precede those who have fallen asleep. For the Lord Himself, with a word of command, with the voice of an archangel and with the trumpet of God, will come down from heaven, and the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive, who are left, will be caught up together ² with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. Thus we shall always be with the Lord.

Gospel : Matthew 25:1-13

" Then  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. The foolish ones, when taking their lamps, brought no oil with them, but the wise brought flasks of oil with their lamps. Since the bridegroom was long delayed, they all became drowsy and fell asleep. At midnight, there was a cry, 'Behold, the bridegroom! Come out to meet him!'

Then all those virgins got up and trimmed their lamps. The foolish ones said to the wise, 'Give us some of your oil, for our lamps are going out.' But the wise ones replied, 'No, for there may not be enough for us and you. Go instead to the merchants and buy some for yourselves. 'While they went off to buy it, the bridegroom came and those who were ready went into the wedding feast with him. Then the door was locked. 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.

Reflection

By Elizabeth Eguia

It was a Wednesday afternoon. I received an email from my boss informing me that I need to conduct a demo presentation the following day to a prospective client. At that same moment, I was completely pre-occupied with some other tasks which I need to finish on the same week. At first, I thought I will completely panic because I don’t like to be given work when I am not prepared. Fortunately, I didn’t. Now I am aware of the time I need for preparation, the training environment, software system access, room availability, people I need to get liaise with to make this presentation possible. And the effort I have given here is lesser compared to the past presentations I did.

You see, previously I made mistakes. My presentations went haywire. Some of the slides were not working and the software system got problems during the time of the presentation itself. I somehow panicked but retained my composure but at the back of my mind, I was like telling myself "Oh what a mess this time!"

The feeling of not being ready when you are there at that precise moment is quite disturbing. You try to question yourself "Why didn't I do what should be done earlier so I would not face all these things now?"  We only learn our mistakes at the last minute.

The very same story happened to the 10 maidens in the Gospel today. Five of them were wise and have prepared extra oil while the other five were not. The end result, those who did not have more oil had to go out and buy and when they came back they were not allowed to come inside the party while the five prepared maidens are now enjoying inside the banquet.

All these things are the stories of our lives. Daily, we are given the chance to live to the fullest. To give the best in what we do. We are given the opportunity to be prepared always materially, physically, mentally, emotionally, morally, and spiritually. And the only requirement is for us to respond and to act. Yes dear brothers and sisters, it is not yet too late. God has given us time to act now otherwise we will end up like the unprepared five maidens. Do you want to be like them?

Thank you God for Your love, for constantly reminding us of the important things that we have to decide on and prepare for in our lives. May we follow Your will always in our everyday living. This we ask in Jesus name Amen.