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32nd Sunday in Ordinary Time

Added Nov 13, 2017 •

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Fr. Chad VanHoose, Associate Pastor November 12, 2017

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during the month of November the church turns her attention toward death as the liturgical year comes to a close and even in our area of the world the pattern of nature follow suit as the days get shorter and shorter with less and less light you probably remember last week father Wilson red than prology that listing of names of our parishioners from All Saints who have died within the last year and this Focus can make us remember our Memento Mori as they would say in Latin and the readings today follow suit you have this heightened awareness of longing and waiting and keeping vigilance this parable of the ten virgins and the bridegroom is unique to Matthew's gospel and it comes toward the end of a long discourse given by Jesus leading into his own passion so in a very real way these are the words of a man preparing for his own death and this image of the bride groom and the bride this wedding nuptial language is very familiar to us in Sacred Scriptures often times God is depicted as this bridegroom coming after his people Israel the bride but there's something peculiar in this parable Matthew leaves out a bride wengie tells the parable there's no bride there's only the bridegroom so this might pique our interest how can you have a wedding without a bride coming down The Isle you do have these ten virgins though these attendance who are waiting for the bridegroom are they have their lamps and their oil and they're waiting deeper level these ten virgins can also be seen as potential Brides they're waiting for the bridegroom with that expectation that maybe they will be chosen as the bride so in a certain way they represent us the church the bride of Christ waiting for our bridegroom the early church fathers in the first few centuries what do you interpret this Parable like this the lamps that the virgins hold are their faith and the oil is works all of the virgins had faith Savannah had the works the oil that would last them through the night wasn't just enough for the foolish virgins to desire the bridegroom the one that relationship with him they lacked something in not having the oil that fruit of the olive that when they all of his Crush as a sign of their sacrifice for the bride grown and their love this is what they locked but the wise virgins had they were committed they had that oil that would stay them throughout the night there's a particular thing at the end of the parable isn't there they couldn't share it they couldn't share the good works the oil that they had supplied for themselves in the in the same way father Wilson couldn't share his good works with me it wouldn't work for me to lie in bed all day and thought it will send to do two hours of adoration one for me and one for him twice the charitable Works twice the fast stain twice the tithing 10% of his check for me 10% of his check for him I wish this would work just falls short brothers and sisters we each need those works that commitment to our Lord that we would be ready for him but there is something that we can offer to one another especially I want to speak about what we can offer to our loved ones who are approaching death those in our lives were getting older who is healthy maybe taking a turn for the worse there is something that we can offer to them and it's this call the priest call the priest Windsor ill and especially when Death is certain most of us in the parish here aren't thinking about death this is pretty much a younger congregation we don't have a whole lot of girls so you may not be worried about death but every week in the petitions we List family members of prisoners and prisoners themselves who have died in the last week and this week there are 7 7 of our brothers and sisters have gone to be with the Lord in the recent weeks and so this is somewhat of a wake up call what can we do when our loved ones are approaching death are getting ill and their health is starting to fail the best thing that we can do for them is to call the church to ask for a priest even before Death is certain so that the priest can visit and prepare the person while they still have their faculties while they still have their wits about them and then to call again when death is eminent this is why we have an emergency line at the parish that you could call the priest When Death is certain for your loved one so that we could come and visit in those Final hours there's a great privilege of priests is given and I'm not everyone is aware of it it's called The Apostolic Pardon and it comes directly from the Pope that every priest when visiting a person in their hour of death can give them this blessing that removes all the Punishment Due to sin who wouldn't want this at the end of their life but I think we're just not aware of it but there's nothing more important for father Wilson or I to do then to go and prepare a person at the end of their life or death I can't I had that opportunity on Thursday I was able to go and visit a woman from our Parish in her final hours to give her this blessing and then father will send just the next day was able to visit another parishioner and give her the blessing and in both cases our beloved sisters past with only a few hours but we wouldn't have known to go had the family not called the priest so we want to encourage you call us when your family members are close to death and even before that time comes and if you're getting older yourself let your children know that your family members know to call the church call the priest when your health takes a turn for the worse we want to be there we want to offer this great support any end we'll each have to give an account at the end of our Lives I can't believe for you I can't do works Noor you for me but we'll each have to ask this question will I have enough oil to last through the night the most tragic words in Alaska sure come to that man or woman who runs out of oil amen I say to you I do not know you may we all commit in this Mass to be ready to be Vin rent whenever the bridegroom comes

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32nd Sunday in Ordinary Time

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