Homily for 32d Sunday of Ordinary Time

Homily for the
32d Sunday of Ordinary Time

Nov. 8, 2026
Matt 25: 1-13
Scout Trek-o-ree, Putnam Valley
St. Francis Xavier, Bronx

We’re approaching the end of the church year, and in ch. 25 of St. Matthew’s Gospel we’re nearing the end of Jesus’ public ministry and his teaching.  Today and the next 2 Sundays, the last 3 of the church year, he’ll tell us 3 parables that advise us to get ready for the end—not the end of the year but the end of time, his own 2d Coming and the Last Judgment of every man and woman who ever lived, the judgment that will decide how we’ll spend eternity.  “Stay awake, for you know neither the day nor the hour” (Matt 25:13).

I camp in Harriman State Park a few times a year, and I’m pretty good at planning what food, water, and gear I need.  Four years ago I started to prepare supper and realized I’d forgotten my knife, fork, and spoon.  After saying something I can’t repeat here, I realized I was going to have to eat my ramen noodles with chop sticks—I carry some with me as fire tinder.  But a nearby camper came to my site, just being friendly, and learning of my predicament, provided an extra set of utensils.[1]

My camping predicament and my salvation, as it were—the spare utensils—was quite different from the situation of the 10 young women in Jesus’ parable today.  I don’t habitually forget my utensils, which are one part of a lot of gear.  But these 10 women have just one task—to be ready to light the way for the bridegroom when he arrives.  One task!

You’ve all known people who can’t be depended on, people who depend on you to bail them out of their own irresponsibility.  It happens in school, at work, and in social circles:  “Give us some of your oil, for our lamps are going out” (25:8).

The 5 wise virgins respond sensibly that there’s not enuf oil for all 10 of them.  The bridegroom’s procession home with his new bride will be spoiled if all 10 of the women have their lamps go dark.

The parable isn’t about just any wedding party.  The bridegroom is an image of Christ; we, the Church, are his bride.  The wedding feast is the banquet of eternal life:  “Blessed are those called to the supper of the Lamb,” the Lamb’s wedding feast, as we acclaim before Holy Communion, the sacrament of that eternal banquet.

By Frans Francken the Younger

In the parable, “those who were ready went into the wedding feast” with the groom.  “Then the door was locked” (25:10).

When St. Paul was writing his letters to the Thessalonians, Christians were expecting the Lord to return at any time.  The faithful in Thessalonica had asked Paul, with concern, about those who died before he returned.  Would they be saved?  That’s what Paul was answering in our 2d reading (I, 4:13-18).

By the time St. Matthew was writing his Gospel, 30 or 40 years later, Christians were facing up to Christ’s delay.  “The bridegroom was long delayed” (25:5).

The problem for the 10 young women with their lamps isn’t that “they all became drowsy and fell asleep” (25:5).  It’s that 5 of them weren’t prepared when the bridegroom finally showed up.

When the Lord returns, or when we’re summoned in death to appear before him for judgment, there won’t be any borrowing of oil nor any time to “go to the merchants and buy some” (25:9).  The lit lamps we’ll be carrying for the Bridegroom, for Christ our judge, will be the light of the Christian faith we’ve lived.  When we were baptized, the priest or deacon presented us—to our parents on our behalf—a candle lit from the Easter candle, and he commanded us, “You have been enlightened by Christ. Walk always as a child of the light and  keep the flame of faith alive in your heart. When the Lord comes, may you go out to meet him with all the saints in the heavenly kingdom.”

No one else can hand off to us the faith we will have lived, the virtue we will have practiced.  If we’ve been faithful disciples of Christ, we’ll go into the wedding feast with him.  If we show up empty handed, with useless, dead lamps, with no good deeds done in imitation of Christ, we’ll be locked out, and no amount of knocking on heaven’s door will help:  “Lord, Lord, open the door for us!  But he said in reply, ‘Amen I say to you, I don’t know you.’” (25:10-12)

Jesus concludes the parable, “Stay awake, for you know neither the day nor the hour” when the Bridegroom, Christ our Lord, will return, or when you (or I) will be called from earth to divine judgment.  “Stay awake” really means, “Be ready.”  Live every moment with Jesus at your side, in your heart, in your speech, in your manner of life.

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[1] This tale amused the Scouts at their Mass on Saturday evening.