Friday, November 25, 2011
Weekly HOMILY for November 27, 2011: Father Nicholas was at St. John's Hydes and didn't preach this weekend.
Father Nicholas was at St. John's Hydes and didn't preach this weekend.
Monday, November 21, 2011
Weekly HOMILY for Thanksgiving Day November 24, 2011: Thinking, Thanking and Believing
Thanksgiving Day, Cycle A
November 24, 2011
Terranuova Hermitage
Thinking, Thanking and Believing
By (Rev. Msgr.) Nicholas P. Amato
"THANK YOU"
I suppose that every language has a word for expressing gratitude.
These are simple, basic words, like: “Thank you; Merci; Grazie; Gratias; Danke” – on and on we could go. Saying “thank you” is something that our parents taught us from the time we were little children.
If I just think about it, how many hundreds of times my parents told me, “Now remember to say thank you.” And yet, for many of us this does not become a habit.
The famous General George Patton of World War II comments on this in his memoirs. He recalls one time when he sent a soldier to a rest camp after a prolonged period of active service.
When the soldier returned, he wrote a letter to General Patton thanking him for the fine care. Patton wrote back and told the young man that for thirty-five years he had always tried to provide well for his soldiers, but this was the first letter of thanks he had ever received.
THINKING LEADS TO THANKING
So, maybe a good question for today is: how can we become more grateful and more expressive of our gratitude?
There is a popular book entitled Don’t Sweat the Small Stuff, and the author Richard Carlson proposes a solution. Carlson says: “Spend a moment every day thinking of someone to thank.”
Carlson says this is the key. Thinking people will become thanking people.
Carlson says that this may sound like an awfully simple solution, but it works. He also recommends that it is helpful to make a habit of beginning each day thinking of someone to thank.
It can be your spouse, best friend, mother or father, son or daughter, brother or sister, someone at work, a teacher, a coach, a doctor, whomever. So, begin each day thinking of someone to thank and then thank that person at least in our own mind and heart.
This practice can lift much of the negativity and darkness that can cloud our lives and make us much more positive persons. It will also let others know how much they are valued and appreciated.
THANKING LEADS TO BELIEVING
Then, as a next step, our thanking also leads to believing.
Thanking is not just good manners. It enriches and strengthens our relationships with one another.
And, on a spiritual level, thanking also leads us to God. It awakens and enhances our relationship with God and that of course is the core of faith and believing.
In today’s gospel, the one leper realizes that he has been healed. He then returns to Jesus to give thanks and, as he does that, he comes to faith.
He recognizes the divine power at work in Jesus. Jesus in turn praises him not just for coming back to say “Thank you,” but also for his faith.
Jesus even says, “Your faith has been your salvation.” So, thinking leads to thanking and thanking leads to believing.
EUCHARIST
This morning, as we celebrate the Eucharist, we participate in this movement.
First, we think. In the Word of God that we heard and in the Eucharistic Prayer that we will offer in just a few minutes, we think and remember the great saving deeds that God has done throughout history.
As we recall God’s great deeds, our thinking leads to thanking. In fact, the word Eucharist is the Greek word for thanks.
And then, we receive the Eucharist and this communion unites us with Jesus. It nourishes our relationship with God.
It enlivens our faith. So again, thinking leads to thanking and thanking leads to believing.
This is what lies underneath our Thanksgiving Day. And this is why it is so appropriate for us to be here in worship this morning.
November 24, 2011
Terranuova Hermitage
Thinking, Thanking and Believing
By (Rev. Msgr.) Nicholas P. Amato
"THANK YOU"
I suppose that every language has a word for expressing gratitude.
These are simple, basic words, like: “Thank you; Merci; Grazie; Gratias; Danke” – on and on we could go. Saying “thank you” is something that our parents taught us from the time we were little children.
If I just think about it, how many hundreds of times my parents told me, “Now remember to say thank you.” And yet, for many of us this does not become a habit.
The famous General George Patton of World War II comments on this in his memoirs. He recalls one time when he sent a soldier to a rest camp after a prolonged period of active service.
When the soldier returned, he wrote a letter to General Patton thanking him for the fine care. Patton wrote back and told the young man that for thirty-five years he had always tried to provide well for his soldiers, but this was the first letter of thanks he had ever received.
THINKING LEADS TO THANKING
So, maybe a good question for today is: how can we become more grateful and more expressive of our gratitude?
There is a popular book entitled Don’t Sweat the Small Stuff, and the author Richard Carlson proposes a solution. Carlson says: “Spend a moment every day thinking of someone to thank.”
Carlson says this is the key. Thinking people will become thanking people.
Carlson says that this may sound like an awfully simple solution, but it works. He also recommends that it is helpful to make a habit of beginning each day thinking of someone to thank.
It can be your spouse, best friend, mother or father, son or daughter, brother or sister, someone at work, a teacher, a coach, a doctor, whomever. So, begin each day thinking of someone to thank and then thank that person at least in our own mind and heart.
This practice can lift much of the negativity and darkness that can cloud our lives and make us much more positive persons. It will also let others know how much they are valued and appreciated.
THANKING LEADS TO BELIEVING
Then, as a next step, our thanking also leads to believing.
Thanking is not just good manners. It enriches and strengthens our relationships with one another.
And, on a spiritual level, thanking also leads us to God. It awakens and enhances our relationship with God and that of course is the core of faith and believing.
In today’s gospel, the one leper realizes that he has been healed. He then returns to Jesus to give thanks and, as he does that, he comes to faith.
He recognizes the divine power at work in Jesus. Jesus in turn praises him not just for coming back to say “Thank you,” but also for his faith.
Jesus even says, “Your faith has been your salvation.” So, thinking leads to thanking and thanking leads to believing.
EUCHARIST
This morning, as we celebrate the Eucharist, we participate in this movement.
First, we think. In the Word of God that we heard and in the Eucharistic Prayer that we will offer in just a few minutes, we think and remember the great saving deeds that God has done throughout history.
As we recall God’s great deeds, our thinking leads to thanking. In fact, the word Eucharist is the Greek word for thanks.
And then, we receive the Eucharist and this communion unites us with Jesus. It nourishes our relationship with God.
It enlivens our faith. So again, thinking leads to thanking and thanking leads to believing.
This is what lies underneath our Thanksgiving Day. And this is why it is so appropriate for us to be here in worship this morning.
Wednesday, November 16, 2011
Weekly HOMILY for November 20, 2011: There Will Be an Ultimate Audit
The Feast of Christ the King, Cycle A
St. Margaret Church, Bel Air
November 20, 2011
There Will Be an Ultimate Audit
By (Rev. Msgr.) Nicholas P. Amato
THE ULTIMATE AUDIT
I have never been audited by the IRS. Actually, the very idea strikes fear in me. Why?
Perhaps I wonder if my deductions were correct; if my income amounts were accurate; if I filled out the tax forms properly.
This is the last Sunday of the liturgical year. Next Sunday we begin a new Liturgical year with the 1st Sunday of Advent. The readings give the same feel of being told that you’re going to be audited by the IRS.
Jesus instructs us that upon his return, each of us will be called to “render an accounting of ourselves” as to how well or how poorly we have made use of our gifts.
Yes, we shall all one day be faced with life’s “ultimate audit.”
TRANSITION
I would like to suggest that we face that possibility today with a sense of calm and see how things stack up “for” or “against” us.
Last week’s gospel about the three servants and how each of them used his gifts is helpful as a frame of reference for appreciating this week’s “audit” of our lives, which gets into how, what we have received, is used in the service of others.
Each of the three servants last week received a gift and each was responsible for making the best use of that gift for his master.
I would like to suggest an image to better understand what I mean by making the best use of the gift we’ve been given.
A BAR OF IRON
Take a long 1-inch bar of iron worth about $5. (Demonstrate with hands)
This very same bar of iron, in the hands of one person could be used to make $50 worth of horseshoes. In the hands of another, $500 worth of sewing machine needles, and in the hands of a third person, $5,000 worth of watch springs.
Yes, one bar of iron in the hands of three different people, doing different things to it, could create different products and different profits.
God has blessed each of us with a share of this world’s goods. So also, each of us has been challenged to make the best use of these goods by furthering the interests of our master.
From our Master we learn that what we do with our bar of iron isn’t to be based on making the most money from it but on what is needed.
We need to acknowledge 1st that we each have our bar of iron and 2nd that our life has called us into relationships with others in our family, workplace, school, and church where there are real needs to be satisfied.
Those needs must be served best with a bar of iron God has given me.
And, yes, those relationships might include, as Jesus says in today’s gospel, feeding the hungry, clothing the naked, giving drink to the thirsty, sheltering the homeless.
The two factors – namely, my bar of iron and the needs in my relationships – are the criteria that will determine how well I will fare at my ultimate audit before God.
REACHING OUT
I downloaded last week’s bulletin just to see how my bar of iron might get shaped to serve my relationship to this parish where I help out from time-to-time.
So what did I find? For starters, Pat Stasiak who heads up “Thoughtful Wishes” our
Card Ministry that sends monthly cards to folks in area nursing homes is in need of volunteers to help write 25 cards a month to the shut-in and homebound.
What might I do with my gift as I become aware of this need? Make horseshoes, needles, or watch springs? It doesn’t matter. What does matter is that the sick are getting cared for!
Then I read that Janet Gentry needs volunteers tomorrow to deliver Thanksgiving basket to needy families.
What might I do with my gift as I become aware of this need? Make horseshoes, needles, or watch springs? It doesn’t matter. What does matter is that a hungry family is fed!
Finally I read that St. Margaret’s Ministry of Consolation held its last drop-in Bereavement Group session this past week until January. Are there people in my life who have suffered the loss of a loved one and who are not being compassionately supported in their need to mourn?
What might I do with my gift as I become aware of this need? Make horseshoes, needles, or watch springs? Yes, by now you know, it doesn’t matter. What does matter is that those who mourn are being consoled!
CONCLUSION
In the new Roman Missal that we will begin using next Sunday, there are new words for the consecration of the wine. They speak of Jesus’ blood being shed “for many” instead of “for all” as the present translation says.
This does not mean that Jesus did not die for everyone. The new translation points to the reality that we need to welcome and accept the gifts God has given us and to use them as God has asked us to, for the needs of all.
On that – accepting the gifts given and how the gifts were used – will rest our final audit. Are you ready?
St. Margaret Church, Bel Air
November 20, 2011
There Will Be an Ultimate Audit
By (Rev. Msgr.) Nicholas P. Amato
THE ULTIMATE AUDIT
I have never been audited by the IRS. Actually, the very idea strikes fear in me. Why?
Perhaps I wonder if my deductions were correct; if my income amounts were accurate; if I filled out the tax forms properly.
This is the last Sunday of the liturgical year. Next Sunday we begin a new Liturgical year with the 1st Sunday of Advent. The readings give the same feel of being told that you’re going to be audited by the IRS.
Jesus instructs us that upon his return, each of us will be called to “render an accounting of ourselves” as to how well or how poorly we have made use of our gifts.
Yes, we shall all one day be faced with life’s “ultimate audit.”
TRANSITION
I would like to suggest that we face that possibility today with a sense of calm and see how things stack up “for” or “against” us.
Last week’s gospel about the three servants and how each of them used his gifts is helpful as a frame of reference for appreciating this week’s “audit” of our lives, which gets into how, what we have received, is used in the service of others.
Each of the three servants last week received a gift and each was responsible for making the best use of that gift for his master.
I would like to suggest an image to better understand what I mean by making the best use of the gift we’ve been given.
A BAR OF IRON
Take a long 1-inch bar of iron worth about $5. (Demonstrate with hands)
This very same bar of iron, in the hands of one person could be used to make $50 worth of horseshoes. In the hands of another, $500 worth of sewing machine needles, and in the hands of a third person, $5,000 worth of watch springs.
Yes, one bar of iron in the hands of three different people, doing different things to it, could create different products and different profits.
God has blessed each of us with a share of this world’s goods. So also, each of us has been challenged to make the best use of these goods by furthering the interests of our master.
From our Master we learn that what we do with our bar of iron isn’t to be based on making the most money from it but on what is needed.
We need to acknowledge 1st that we each have our bar of iron and 2nd that our life has called us into relationships with others in our family, workplace, school, and church where there are real needs to be satisfied.
Those needs must be served best with a bar of iron God has given me.
And, yes, those relationships might include, as Jesus says in today’s gospel, feeding the hungry, clothing the naked, giving drink to the thirsty, sheltering the homeless.
The two factors – namely, my bar of iron and the needs in my relationships – are the criteria that will determine how well I will fare at my ultimate audit before God.
REACHING OUT
I downloaded last week’s bulletin just to see how my bar of iron might get shaped to serve my relationship to this parish where I help out from time-to-time.
So what did I find? For starters, Pat Stasiak who heads up “Thoughtful Wishes” our
Card Ministry that sends monthly cards to folks in area nursing homes is in need of volunteers to help write 25 cards a month to the shut-in and homebound.
What might I do with my gift as I become aware of this need? Make horseshoes, needles, or watch springs? It doesn’t matter. What does matter is that the sick are getting cared for!
Then I read that Janet Gentry needs volunteers tomorrow to deliver Thanksgiving basket to needy families.
What might I do with my gift as I become aware of this need? Make horseshoes, needles, or watch springs? It doesn’t matter. What does matter is that a hungry family is fed!
Finally I read that St. Margaret’s Ministry of Consolation held its last drop-in Bereavement Group session this past week until January. Are there people in my life who have suffered the loss of a loved one and who are not being compassionately supported in their need to mourn?
What might I do with my gift as I become aware of this need? Make horseshoes, needles, or watch springs? Yes, by now you know, it doesn’t matter. What does matter is that those who mourn are being consoled!
CONCLUSION
In the new Roman Missal that we will begin using next Sunday, there are new words for the consecration of the wine. They speak of Jesus’ blood being shed “for many” instead of “for all” as the present translation says.
This does not mean that Jesus did not die for everyone. The new translation points to the reality that we need to welcome and accept the gifts God has given us and to use them as God has asked us to, for the needs of all.
On that – accepting the gifts given and how the gifts were used – will rest our final audit. Are you ready?
Thursday, November 10, 2011
Weekly HOMILY for November 13, 2011: Knowing and Using Our Gifts
33rd Sunday in Ordinary Time, Cycle A
November 13, 2011
Saint Margaret Parish, Bel Air & St. Mark Parish, Fallston
Knowing and Using Our Gifts
By (Rev. Msgr.) Nicholas P. Amato
THE GIFTEDNESS OF CHILDREN
There is a young adult named Brian who provides a good lesson for us. Brian has always loved to tinker with mechanical devices.
As a 6-year old, he took apart an alarm clock. At age 9, Brian helped his dad fix the lawn mower. In high school, he spent hours tearing apart and rebuilding computer equipment.
And now, as a young adult, Brian is a sound technician for a theatre company. His parents have steadily encouraged him from a very young age.
But, Brian was never labeled as “gifted.” The definition of the “gifted child” has traditionally been limited to the top 5 to 10% of children who achieve high test scores and who excel in school.
No question, these children are gifted, but, there may be hundreds of other ways for children to be gifted. Today, educators and psychologists tell us that nearly all children have special gifts.
Children may display their giftedness through body movement, music, athletics, technical skills, social interaction, intuitive insight, perseverance, creativity, a quick wit and on it goes.
Many professionals now say that all children are gifted and they just show it in different ways.
OUR GIFTS AND THE GOSPEL
I first came across these insights in an article that is entitled Fifty Ways to Bring Out Your Child’s Best by Thomas Armstrong.
Today’s gospel parable about the servants and their talents is really being about what we can do and how we can assist one another in using our gifts.
After all, isn’t that the key to responding to Jesus’ lesson to us? We can indeed assist one another in identifying and using our gifts.
As the title says, the article that I read gives 50 ways to bring out the best, to bring out the gifts in our children. This morning I want to share just 5 of these ways with you.
FIVE WAYS TO BRING OUT THE GIFTS
FIRST, PAY ATTENTION to what really interests and captivates your child. Be attentive to what your children really feel drawn to do and what they spend their time doing.
Theses interests and activities will say a great deal about where their gifts are. By doing this, you are in effect letting your child discover his or her own giftedness.
In the gospel parable, with the number of talents given as 5, 2 or 1 does not so much mean having more or less talent than others. Instead, they simply represent different gifts and our task is to help our children – and even other adults – identify their own unique gifts.
SECOND, ENCOURAGE YOUR CHILD, but do not push or pressure him too much. If we do that, he may become too stressed to learn anything or develop his gifts.
Notice that the master in today’s parable does not pressure. He simply gives his servants the gifts and the opportunities to use them.
THIRD, GIVE YOUR CHILDREN PERMISSION TO MAKE MISTAKES. If they have to do things perfectly, they may never take the risks necessary to discover and develop their gifts.
It is good to assist a child in realizing they’ve made a mistake and in learning from it. But, allow some safe freedom to make mistakes and grow from them.
AND THE FOURTH RULE IS connected with this: DON’T CRITICIZE OR JUDGE YOUR CHILDREN. They may just give up, if they feel evaluated all the time.
These two rules – allowing your children to make mistakes and not criticizing or judging them – are borne out in the third servant in the parable. The servant feels afraid and intimidated and the result is that he does not use and develop his gifts.
AND THE FIFTH RULE: ACCEPT YOUR CHILD AS HE OR SHE IS.
Maybe your son is musically inclined and does not have the athletic ability you want him to have. Or maybe your daughter is more into computers than dance.
The important thing is to take our children as they are, because that will be the best environment for using the gifts they have been given and for them to become the persons God intended them to be.
CONCLUSION
So, these simple, but important rules, will help us to assist one another, especially children but maybe even other adults, in identifying and using their gifts.
November 13, 2011
Saint Margaret Parish, Bel Air & St. Mark Parish, Fallston
Knowing and Using Our Gifts
By (Rev. Msgr.) Nicholas P. Amato
THE GIFTEDNESS OF CHILDREN
There is a young adult named Brian who provides a good lesson for us. Brian has always loved to tinker with mechanical devices.
As a 6-year old, he took apart an alarm clock. At age 9, Brian helped his dad fix the lawn mower. In high school, he spent hours tearing apart and rebuilding computer equipment.
And now, as a young adult, Brian is a sound technician for a theatre company. His parents have steadily encouraged him from a very young age.
But, Brian was never labeled as “gifted.” The definition of the “gifted child” has traditionally been limited to the top 5 to 10% of children who achieve high test scores and who excel in school.
No question, these children are gifted, but, there may be hundreds of other ways for children to be gifted. Today, educators and psychologists tell us that nearly all children have special gifts.
Children may display their giftedness through body movement, music, athletics, technical skills, social interaction, intuitive insight, perseverance, creativity, a quick wit and on it goes.
Many professionals now say that all children are gifted and they just show it in different ways.
OUR GIFTS AND THE GOSPEL
I first came across these insights in an article that is entitled Fifty Ways to Bring Out Your Child’s Best by Thomas Armstrong.
Today’s gospel parable about the servants and their talents is really being about what we can do and how we can assist one another in using our gifts.
After all, isn’t that the key to responding to Jesus’ lesson to us? We can indeed assist one another in identifying and using our gifts.
As the title says, the article that I read gives 50 ways to bring out the best, to bring out the gifts in our children. This morning I want to share just 5 of these ways with you.
FIVE WAYS TO BRING OUT THE GIFTS
FIRST, PAY ATTENTION to what really interests and captivates your child. Be attentive to what your children really feel drawn to do and what they spend their time doing.
Theses interests and activities will say a great deal about where their gifts are. By doing this, you are in effect letting your child discover his or her own giftedness.
In the gospel parable, with the number of talents given as 5, 2 or 1 does not so much mean having more or less talent than others. Instead, they simply represent different gifts and our task is to help our children – and even other adults – identify their own unique gifts.
SECOND, ENCOURAGE YOUR CHILD, but do not push or pressure him too much. If we do that, he may become too stressed to learn anything or develop his gifts.
Notice that the master in today’s parable does not pressure. He simply gives his servants the gifts and the opportunities to use them.
THIRD, GIVE YOUR CHILDREN PERMISSION TO MAKE MISTAKES. If they have to do things perfectly, they may never take the risks necessary to discover and develop their gifts.
It is good to assist a child in realizing they’ve made a mistake and in learning from it. But, allow some safe freedom to make mistakes and grow from them.
AND THE FOURTH RULE IS connected with this: DON’T CRITICIZE OR JUDGE YOUR CHILDREN. They may just give up, if they feel evaluated all the time.
These two rules – allowing your children to make mistakes and not criticizing or judging them – are borne out in the third servant in the parable. The servant feels afraid and intimidated and the result is that he does not use and develop his gifts.
AND THE FIFTH RULE: ACCEPT YOUR CHILD AS HE OR SHE IS.
Maybe your son is musically inclined and does not have the athletic ability you want him to have. Or maybe your daughter is more into computers than dance.
The important thing is to take our children as they are, because that will be the best environment for using the gifts they have been given and for them to become the persons God intended them to be.
CONCLUSION
So, these simple, but important rules, will help us to assist one another, especially children but maybe even other adults, in identifying and using their gifts.
Thursday, November 03, 2011
Weekly HOMILY for November 6, 2011: Carpem Diem
32nd Sunday in Ordinary Time, Cycle A
Bon Secours Spiritual Center
November 6, 2011
Carpe Diem
By (Rev. Msgr.) Nicholas P. Amato
SAND IN AN HOURGLASS
There is a story about a little girl who lived near the beach. This little girl had a grandfather whom she loved very much.
Her grandfather had a collection of hourglasses and she liked to turn them upside down and watch the sand steadily sift through to the bottom.
Her grandfather once told her that the hourglasses reminded him that time was so very precious. Well, this particular year, Christmas was coming.
With difficulty, this little girl’s mother told her that her Grandpa was in the hospital and was very sick. He might even die.
The little girl asked what that meant. And her mother explained that life was like one of Grandpa’s hourglasses and that Grandpa had very little time left.
Her mother suggested that she make a special Christmas gift that they could take to Grandpa. So the little girl excitedly went to work on her gift.
When they got to the hospital, the little girl gave her Grandpa a beautifully wrapped box. He slowly unwrapped it and looked inside and when he saw its contents he just smiled, with a face full of love.
He immediately understood. His granddaughter had filled the box with sand.
The Story of the Bridesmaids
Well, if it were only that easy!
If only we could extend our days by adding more sand to our hourglasses or more pages to our calendars! But, of course, we cannot!
Today’s parable of the bridesmaids addresses this very issue. There are three important reminders or lessons that I see here.
1. PREPARE
First, each of us must prepare and be ready for the moment when we will meet God face to face.
We must do this for ourselves. No one can do it for us.
We see this in the parable in the refusal of the five wise bridesmaids to share their oil with the others. This is not an issue of sharing.
Instead, it is about being prepared. These bridesmaids did not share their oil because they could not share this kind of oil.
This is the oil of personal preparation, the oil of who we have become as persons in the course of our lives. We can motivate and encourage one another, but ultimately each one of us must do this kind of preparation for ourselves.
2. WATCH THE TIME
The second lesson is that our time is limited.
There are a limited number of grains of sand in the hourglass. We see this in the parable in the inability of the five foolish bridesmaids to go and buy oil for themselves.
Obviously, it was midnight and the stores were closed. And that is exactly the point: it was too late!
The moment had come, the groom and bride were arriving and there was no more time to prepare. This will be true for each one of us at some moment.
So, we need to prepare today and be ready today. We need to live as if this were our day to meet the Lord face to face.
3. KEEP OUR LAMPS LIGHTED
And then the third lesson is that we must be about light.
Psalm 36 in the Old Testament praises God by saying: “In your light we see light.” The idea is that we need to be drawn into and enlightened by the light of God.
And then, with this light, we can see light in the world and bring light to one another. “In your light, we see light.”
We see this in the parable in the oil lamps that the bridesmaids are to keep burning brightly. We are to be and to bring light in darkness.
I think this is a helpful way for understanding our role in promoting respect for human life. We can lift up the wonder of an infant, or tend the man or woman who is homeless, or provide all possible comfort to a person who is dying.
Theses are actions of light – of keeping our lamps burning brightly. They will accomplish much more for respect for human life than just cursing the darkness in a certain person or action.
CONCLUSION
So, the sands in the hourglass are a good reminder for us.
(1) We are to be prepared and ready today.
(2) Our time is limited.
(3) And we are to be a light for the world around us.
That is the way to prepare and to use our limited time.
Bon Secours Spiritual Center
November 6, 2011
Carpe Diem
By (Rev. Msgr.) Nicholas P. Amato
SAND IN AN HOURGLASS
There is a story about a little girl who lived near the beach. This little girl had a grandfather whom she loved very much.
Her grandfather had a collection of hourglasses and she liked to turn them upside down and watch the sand steadily sift through to the bottom.
Her grandfather once told her that the hourglasses reminded him that time was so very precious. Well, this particular year, Christmas was coming.
With difficulty, this little girl’s mother told her that her Grandpa was in the hospital and was very sick. He might even die.
The little girl asked what that meant. And her mother explained that life was like one of Grandpa’s hourglasses and that Grandpa had very little time left.
Her mother suggested that she make a special Christmas gift that they could take to Grandpa. So the little girl excitedly went to work on her gift.
When they got to the hospital, the little girl gave her Grandpa a beautifully wrapped box. He slowly unwrapped it and looked inside and when he saw its contents he just smiled, with a face full of love.
He immediately understood. His granddaughter had filled the box with sand.
The Story of the Bridesmaids
Well, if it were only that easy!
If only we could extend our days by adding more sand to our hourglasses or more pages to our calendars! But, of course, we cannot!
Today’s parable of the bridesmaids addresses this very issue. There are three important reminders or lessons that I see here.
1. PREPARE
First, each of us must prepare and be ready for the moment when we will meet God face to face.
We must do this for ourselves. No one can do it for us.
We see this in the parable in the refusal of the five wise bridesmaids to share their oil with the others. This is not an issue of sharing.
Instead, it is about being prepared. These bridesmaids did not share their oil because they could not share this kind of oil.
This is the oil of personal preparation, the oil of who we have become as persons in the course of our lives. We can motivate and encourage one another, but ultimately each one of us must do this kind of preparation for ourselves.
2. WATCH THE TIME
The second lesson is that our time is limited.
There are a limited number of grains of sand in the hourglass. We see this in the parable in the inability of the five foolish bridesmaids to go and buy oil for themselves.
Obviously, it was midnight and the stores were closed. And that is exactly the point: it was too late!
The moment had come, the groom and bride were arriving and there was no more time to prepare. This will be true for each one of us at some moment.
So, we need to prepare today and be ready today. We need to live as if this were our day to meet the Lord face to face.
3. KEEP OUR LAMPS LIGHTED
And then the third lesson is that we must be about light.
Psalm 36 in the Old Testament praises God by saying: “In your light we see light.” The idea is that we need to be drawn into and enlightened by the light of God.
And then, with this light, we can see light in the world and bring light to one another. “In your light, we see light.”
We see this in the parable in the oil lamps that the bridesmaids are to keep burning brightly. We are to be and to bring light in darkness.
I think this is a helpful way for understanding our role in promoting respect for human life. We can lift up the wonder of an infant, or tend the man or woman who is homeless, or provide all possible comfort to a person who is dying.
Theses are actions of light – of keeping our lamps burning brightly. They will accomplish much more for respect for human life than just cursing the darkness in a certain person or action.
CONCLUSION
So, the sands in the hourglass are a good reminder for us.
(1) We are to be prepared and ready today.
(2) Our time is limited.
(3) And we are to be a light for the world around us.
That is the way to prepare and to use our limited time.
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