Let's keep filling our lamps with oil

XXXII Sunday “A” Matthew 25, 1-13 Jesus told his disciples this parable: "The kingdom of heaven will be like ten virgins who took their lamps and went out to meet the bridegroom. Five of them were foolish and five were wise. The foolish ones, when taking their lamps, brought no oil with them, but the wise brought flasks of oil with their lamps. Since the bridegroom was long delayed, they all became drowsy and fell asleep. At midnight, there was a cry, 'Behold, the bridegroom! Come out to meet him!' Then all those virgins got up and trimmed their lamps. The foolish ones said to the wise, 'Give us some of your oil, for our lamps are going out.' But the wise ones replied, 'No, for there may not be enough for us and you. Go instead to the merchants and buy some for yourselves.' While they went off to buy it, the bridegroom came and those who were ready went into the wedding feast with him. Then the door was locked. Afterwards the other virgins came and said, 'Lord, Lord, open the door for us!' But he said in reply, 'Amen, I say to you, I do not know you.' Therefore, stay awake, for you know neither the day nor the hour." For the fools it was too late. At the last moment they realized that they didn’t have enough oil. They only cared about themselves, so they asked the wise for some of their oil. They didn’t care that there wasn’t enough for the wise , they only cared about themselves. So, at the last moment they ran off to the Walmart hoping to find some oil for their lamps. As we know from the parables of Jesus everything represents something else. We can image that the ten people are all of us, and that we live our lives either wisely or foolishly. The bridegroom, we can image that he’s Jesus, the one we are waiting for. But I don’t want to focus on the people or the bridegroom today. No, I want us to look at the oil. What is the oil in our lamps? It obviously isn’t something that we can run out to get at the Walmart in the last minute of our lives. The light, I would like to imagine that the light is the light of faith. It is the light that we all received at the sacrament of baptism. I was baptized at just two weeks old, so my baptism was a gift that was freely given to me. It was a gift given to me by my parents. As I baby it was my parents who supplied me with oil, who made sure that my light kept burning brightly. But slowly I had to take responsibility for my own journey of faith. I had to begin collecting oil on my own. For all of us we collect oil by living the sacramental life of the Church. The Eucharist is obviously a great gift of oil. Something that we can and should replenish at least once a week. The sacrament of confession, again another way to replenish the oil. Those of you who share the sacrament of marriage: in the love that you share, your fidelity, your willingness to give life you gain more oil. For the sacrament of orders, for those of us who are ordained if we live our life in service to others, we are filling our lamps with oil. As we live the sacramental life of the Church, we replenish the oil in our lamps so that the lamp keeps burning brightly. As Catholic Christians, as we live our faith we are getting supplied with the best of oil. But the sacraments are not the only way that we can replenish our oil. People continue to be concerned about Acapulco, and rightfully so. Our generosity for those in need is filling our lamps with oil. The immigrants are concern for those who a traveling to our country, those who are in need. Reaching out to any one in need we are replenishing our oil. Marriage is a sacrament and in the love that you have for your children it is a replenishment of that oil. Last week we had a priest visiting from Madrid here in the parish. Fr. James Allison a theologian from Madrid. He challenged all of us to be fruitful. Traditionally the Church defined being fruitful as having children. He said that that is one way, but he said that even couples who have no children can be fruitful. If they are generous, if in some way their love is life giving. All of us are called to be fruitful all us are called to give life. Thinking about the 10 people I think of all of us feel sorry for the foolish. Those who thought that they could borrow oil or go and purchase it at the last minute. I wonder what would have happened if the foolish ones had not risked missing the Lord by going out to buy oil. What if they had waited around instead without their lamps burned out? What if they would have welcomed the Lord in humility and admitted their mistakes and asked for forgiveness. Do you think that Lord would have still cast them out?