Lectionary # 429. Scripture reflection for Friday of 21st week. Aug.29,2008

Scripture: Friday of 21st week. I Cor.1:17-25. Psalm 33:1-2.4-5.10.11.
Matthew 25:1-13. Lectionary # 429:

Today's Scriptures center on the wisdom of the heart--God's wisdom
for God is love! This spiritual wisdom seems foolish to those who are
unable to surrender to God as a Person who loves them and created them. It
was no different in Paul's time as we learn from today's selection. God's
mind and its wisdom cannot be fathomed by our limited human minds, but we
can experience it through our hearts and our love. Many spiritual
realities are beyond the grasp of the human intellect. A saint like
Therese of Liseux was able to discover it because she became love after
meditating upon I Cor. 13 of Paul's famous Portrait of Jesus( I
Cor.13:4-8).
St. Thomas Aquinas, one of the greatest thinkers and minds of all
time (he would certainly make the top ten list) tells us we humans are used
to regarding as foolishness whatever surpasses our understanding. Paul is
addressing us by what he says about the foolishnes of the Cross both for
those who are Gentile and those who are Jews. The Gentiles of his time
were proud of their philosophers and considered the Cross of Jesus as sheer
foolishness. Paul had to face this rowdy group of Corinthians who were
mostly a seaport community with all of the diversity found in such trade
town as Corinth.He confronts them with the wisdom of God and that of Jesus.
Jesus is not a philosopher but a teacher who uses the parable of the
ten virgins, five of whom are wise, and five are foolish. It is unique as
a parable and only appears in Matthew's Gospel. The parable is meant to
teach us wisdom of the heart such as the five maidens possessed. They were
focused on the bridegroom and his bride not on their own partying and
losing sight of what it takes to be prepared when the actual wedding takes
place. The wise would not be locked out and would then enjoy the beauty of
the bride and the sumptuous dining and wine of the wedding banquet at the
groom's home. They would be safe there. Jesus uses this parable to teach
us about the kingdom and how to enter it through wise preparation and focus
on the person who is to be honored. The five bridesmaids do offer
practical advice to the five foolish ones, but it is really too late to
change their foolishness. They will miss the best part of the wedding, the
feast itself. We too can share in the wisdom of the heart by preparing
ourselves for God's word which will be a foretaste of the heavenly banquet
in the presence of Wisdom itself. Amen.