Thirty-second Sunday of Ordinary Time
Wisdom 6:12-16 | 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18 | Matthew 25:1-13
Are we sleeping? Where is our hope? What does it mean to be wise?
These are some of the many questions posed by this week’s readings.
We might be perplexed by the story of the waiting virgins and their oil pots. Why shouldn’t we help others? Putting ourselves first seems to contrast with other universal virtues. This can be an obstacle to the message actually underlined at the end of the parable: stay awake.
The current science on health and well-being puts adequate sleep on the high-priority list of what is good for us. And we aren’t necessarily losing sleep over things that matter — some among us probably suffer from “needless anxiety.”
Are we awake about what matters — alert to the signs of the times? Ready to respond effectively and appropriately to the challenges our lives will bring each day?
To the cry of the poor, the cry of the earth, the call to do what we can to alleviate suffering and fight for justice?
With all the best of intentions, it is easy to be discouraged and overwhelmed by the news of the day and some of the signs of our times. As temperatures rise and communities seem more divided, it can be challenging to find the signs of hope that help us to forge ahead in community to make a difference. The late Kenyan environmental activist Wangari Maathai told the story of the hummingbird who kept bringing drops of water to a forest fire, even when belittled by other creatures of the forest: “I will do the best I can,” said the little one.
There is hope when each of us does what we can. There is hope in each new big or little effort: planting a tree, reducing our carbon footprint, supporting a local food pantry, writing to a Congressperson, voting … each drop adds to the ocean that can create change. And when we do it with others, we multiply both the actions and the encouragement to each other.
It is also in community that we can build our wisdom, create and reinforce strategies, and find new insights. And not just human community. As we expand our understanding of integral ecology, we have so much to keep learning and implementing. Environmental science is teaching us to be more mindful of the wisdom contained in the interdependence of all species on our planet Earth. Humans have long found remedies in plants, and now technologies benefit from imitating other natural phenomena through biomimicry. An understanding of sentience and sapience shifts as we understand that trees are communicating with each other, that subatomic particles are forever “entangled,” and that there is wisdom in the ways our bioregions evolve.
The “Serenity Prayer” seems to summarize so much of this:
“God, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, the courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to know the difference.”
Let us then stay awake, be watchful, and keep vigil for wisdom and hope that we may always be present and ready as co-creators with each other, with our amazing planet, and with the Creator in whom all is One.
Maryknoll Sister Anastasia Lott served in Kenya, working with both nomadic and resettled communities on an irrigation project. In 1997, she moved to Namibia, where she joined the Christian Development Education Program. She served on the Congregational Leadership Team of the Maryknoll Sisters from 2015 to 2021.
To read other Scripture reflections published by the Maryknoll Office for Global Concerns, click here.
Featured image: Wheat is seen in this illustration photo taken in autumn light. St. Peter calls us to be attentive to God’s word “as to a lamp shining in a dark place, until day dawns and the morning star rises in (our) hearts” (2 Pt 1:19). (CNS/Alexey Malgavko, Reuters)
