Daily Gospel Reflection for August 27, 2021

Join us as we reflect, ponder, and pray together inspired by today's Gospel.

Today's Gospel: Memorial of St. Monica - Matthew 25:1-13

Five were foolish and five were wise. Five thought ahead and five did not. When the foolish ran out of oil the wise ones would not give of their supply. Remember that this is a parable not about Christian charity and mercy. It is about being prepared at all times.

What does the oil signify? Perhaps it represents sacramental grace or the depth of one’s prayer life. Perhaps it is the hours spent studying Scripture and growing in the love of God and love of one’s neighbor. In short, perhaps the oil represents the state of our hearts and the love that is alive there. It cannot then simply be transferred to another person. We are each responsible for our own hearts, for our own cumulative response to the grace of God.

Saint Monica, who we remember today, knew full well the uncertainty of the timing of the Bridegroom’s arrival. She prayed for the conversion of her wayward son for decades. He was living with a woman out of wedlock and had even fathered a child with her. Yet Monica’s desperate prayer, surely born of her knowledge that no one knows when our lives will end or when the Bridegroom will come, yielded tremendous fruit. We can thank her for the great St. Augustine, bishop and Father of the Church.

How do we keep our lamps full? Father Francis Fernandez writes, “If we want to lead those around us to God, our example and our joy need to come first. Complaints, bad moods, and bitter zeal achieve little or nothing. Constancy, peace, cheerfulness and humble and persevering prayer to our Lord gain all things."

We must stay awake, for we “know neither the day nor the hour.”

Ponder:

In our own lives, what might represent the oil that we must have in abundance?

Pray:

O Lord, please help me to keep my lamp full, knowing that You may come or my days may end at any time. I know not when.

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We are each responsible for our own hearts, for our own cumulative response to the grace of God. #dailygospel

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