First Reading:  Wisdom 6:12-16
Second Reading: 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18
Gospel: Matthew 25:1-13

Wisdom is a great gift.  It is something that is attractive and a quality that can be used powerfully for our benefit and for the benefit of others.  The wisdom that I am talking about has nothing to do with "street wisdom", that is a wisdom that is used to advantage me at the expense of others.  The wisdom of today's readings refer to a Christian wisdom, to the wisdom of a believer in Jesus Christ.  What is the meaning of this wisdom?  It is the ability to see things from God's point of view; the ability to see as God sees; the gift of understanding things the way that God understands them.  No wonder wisdom is such a great quality and something that we long to embrace.

How does God see things?  Let me give you just one example.  In today's second reading from the first letter of St Paul to the people of Thessalonika in Greece, he talks about death and grieving.  However, he talks about these vital topics as a believer in Jesus Christ.  "We want you to be quite certain brothers about those who have died, to make sure that you do not grieve about them, like the other people who have no hope." (1 Thess 2:13)  Paul is not saying that as believers in Jesus Christ we should not grieve at the loss of someone dear to us.  After all we are human beings.  Yet he stresses that when we grieve, we do it with hope because Jesus Christ is present in every situation.

When I was a priest in the Archdiocese of Melbourne, I initiated a School of Evangelisation.  The purpose of the School was to form and equip ordinary Catholic people how to share their faith with others.  We used to run courses every year and it was such a joy to see so many people wanting to learn more about our faith in order to share it with others.  It was not always easy work, because one of the courses entailed people having to go knocking on people's doors and sharing their faith with them.  Many close friendships were developed over the years and people started to feel bonded together.  We all were enthused with great energy and passion for the Lord.

However one year something happened that stopped me short in my tracks.  Within the space of a year or two, at least five people who were closely connected with the School died unexpectedly.  They were all relatively young in age.  I was the celebrant of all these funerals and I have to admit at one stage I started to wonder what was going on.  I was really getting annoyed at God for letting this situation occur when these vibrant, beautiful and passionate people who were so moved to talk about Jesus to others, died so young.

I remember it was during the funeral Mass of Cyril, a young people in his twenties that something special happened to me.

Cyril was an intelligent person, doing well in his studies.  He had big dreams and hopes for his future.  He was working hard to achieve his goals.  He was also a young man on fire for God.  He was part of a team that travelled interstate with me to speak about Jesus to other young people.  He was diagnosed with cancer and died very shortly after his diagnosis.  I remember that during the readings at his funeral Mass I was saying to myself, "Lord I am so sad at this moment.  What can I say to his parents, to his friends and to all the people who are gathered here.  I do not want to rattle a few platitudes and empty words of consolation.  Lord give me your wisdom, speak through me now."

As these thoughts were racing in my mind, I got hit by a phrase from the first reading that the family had chosen for the funeral Mass.  It was from the book of Ecclesiation and said, "Success is not measured by the length of one's life, but by the quality of life, lived with the Lord": What wisdom!  Of course we need to grieve , of course it is vitally important to cry and feel sad and lost for words when confronted with such a situation.  At the same time, God takes this situation a bit further and deeper giving it an incredible meaning.  Cyril will continue to live every time I speak about him, every time his friends present him as an example of faith when talking to other people about our faith.  He may be dead in his bodily form.  I wish he was still alive.  Nevertheless he is still continuing the mission that God gave him because God assures us that death is not the end of our story.  "We believe that Jesus died and rose again, and that it will be the same for those who have died in Jesus : God will bring them with Him."  This is how God sees this situation and I am invited and challenged as a believer to see with similar eyes and understanding.

In today's gospel Jesus narrates a story about the wise and foolish virgins.  The wise virgins planned well to have enough oil for their lamps while the foolish ones did not.  The five virgins were wise because they did not take anything for granted.  Their attitude was, we want to meet the bridegroom and therefore we apply ourselves seriously to make sure that this happens, even if it is going to cost us a bit.  Athletes make a lot of sacrifices to be the best in their sport.  Soldiers train hard to be ready at all times for any instructions.  We need to seek or even deepen our relationship with our God, so that in every situation that we might find ourselves in, we think like Jesus, we feel, we understand, we talk and act like Jesus Christ.  In short we acquire the wisdom of God.

God bless.

Bishop Joe Grech