 Fr.
Tom's Tomes November 6, 2005
As we enter November the readings at weekend Masses will challenge us to look at our mortality and readiness to go home to be with God forever. Sunday, November 20, 2005 we will celebrate the Feast of Christ the King which is the last Sunday of the Church’s liturgical year. Up until that time the readings will focus upon our readiness for death and meeting Jesus Christ.
In this weekend’s Gospel we hear the story of the 10 virgins waiting for the wedding feast. The wedding feast is heaven. In the Gospel passage, five were wise and five were unprepared to enter the wedding feast. In focusing upon the five who were ready to enter into the wedding feast it is important to look at our own lives and see how prepared we are to die.
We begin to assess our preparedness by looking at our prayer life. Do we make prayer an important part of our lives? We participate in both individual and communal prayer. It is important to take time each and every day to pray. Prayer brings us into a communication with God so we are able to understand God’s plan for us. Each person develops an individual prayer style we need to have. Have you taken time to discover and enrich your personal prayer with God? In personal prayer we need to leave time for God to work in our hearts and minds and to allow God the opportunity to be open to God’s plan. Individual prayer should go beyond just asking God for things to allowing God to work in our lives.
Communal prayer is another form of prayer in our lives. Communal prayer such as the celebration of the sacraments and especially coming to Mass allows us to gather with others to share the working of God in our lives. Communal prayer invites us to come together in the presence of God and others to open our souls to God’s love. In communal prayer we need to be present as it begins and to stay until it concludes. Since being here at St. Columban’s I have noticed the large numbers of individuals who come late for Mass and leave early. At times I can understand there may be a critical necessity to do so. Most often though I believe people can get to Mass on time with a little more planning and to stay until the last song has been sung is important. Walking to the back of the Church at times there are 6 or more pews almost totally empty at the end of Mass. Please stay until the song is over. Giving God a little more time in our lives will not harm us. Arriving before Mass begins and waiting until the last song is over gives us a little more time for God to work in our hearts.
Besides prayer our response to God’s challenge is to live as Christ taught us by loving our neighbor. Our response to our prayer is how we live. To love is to follow Christ. Loving may mean being kind and compassionate to people around us. Loving may mean standing up for what we believe when it is hard to be honest and not to follow the crowd. Loving may mean giving time to others either by listening or helping others to do something. Prayer does not leave us unchanged. When we pray God is at work in us. It may take a while for us to know exactly what God is challenging us to do but in time we will know.
As we prepare for the time we meet Jesus face to face let us grow in our prayer lives and let our response to God come through the way we choose to love one another.
God be with you this week.
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