32nd Sunday in Ordinary Time (Cycle A) November 12, 2017 Barron

32ND SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME

MATTHEW 25:1-13

Friends, our Gospel is the parable that compares the kingdom of heaven with “ten virgins who with their lamps went out to meet the bridegroom.” This is an image borrowed from the customs of the time. The bridesmaids would wait for the groom and, upon his appearance, would accompany him.  Well, this is the Christian community, waiting for Christ the groom to arrive. Did Jesus tell this parable because he knew that his Church would be in for a long period of waiting?  We are wise in our waiting if we pray on a regular basis, if we educate ourselves in the faith, if we participate in the sacraments, especially the Eucharist, if we perform the corporal and spiritual works of mercy, if we become people of love. We are foolish in our waiting if we neglect these things. And here is one of the hardest truths of this parable: the divine life, so cultivated, cannot simply be shared with another at the last minute. The wise virgins are not being difficult and self-absorbed when they tell their friends that they can’t help them. A saint can’t simply infuse his life into another; it just doesn’t work that way.

28th Sunday in Ordinary Time (Cycle A) October 15, 2017 Bishop Robert Barron

Friends, today's Gospel likens the kingdom of heaven to a king who gave a wedding feast for his son. Notice that the father (God the Father) is giving a banquet for his son (God the Son), whose bride is the Church. Jesus is the marriage of divinity and humanity—and we his followers are invited to join in the joy of this union. The joyful intimacy of the Father and Son is now offered to us to be shared. Listen to Isaiah to learn the details of this banquet: "On this mountain the Lord of hosts will provide for all peoples a feast of rich food and choice wines, juicy, rich food and pure, choice wines." Now there is an edge to all of this. For it is the king who is doing the inviting and it is a wedding banquet for his son. We can see how terribly important it is to respond to the invitation of the King of kings. We have heard the invitation of God to enter into intimacy with him, to make him the center of our lives, to be married to him in Christ—and often we find the most pathetic excuses not to respond.

27th Sunday in Ordinary Time (Cycle A) October 8, 2017 (Bishop Barren)

27TH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME, CYCLE A

MATTHEW 21:33-43

Beautiful Vineyard photographed by Anna Om  Friends, just before his passion and death, Jesus tells the striking story that is our Gospel for today. The fertile vineyard stands for Israel, his chosen people. But it could be broadened out to include the world. What do we learn from this beautiful image? That God has made for his people a place where they can find rest, enjoyment, good work. We—Israel, the Church, the world—are not the owners of this vineyard; we are tenants. One of the most fundamental spiritual mistakes we can make is to think that we own the world. We are tenants, entrusted with the responsibility of caring for it, but everything that we have and are is on loan. Our lives are not about us. Christ is God's judgment. We are all under his judgment. In the measure that we kill him, refuse to listen to him, we place our tenancy in jeopardy. And so the great question that arises from this reading: "how am I using the gifts that God gave me for God's purposes? My money? My time? My talents? My creativity? My relationships?" All is for God, and thus all is under God's judgment.