29 April 2027 · Syro-Malankara Rite
Open in the Daily Word appAlso: Syro-Malabar Rite · Latin Rite · മലയാളം
“The one who calls you is faithful, and he will do this.” 1 Thessalonians 5:24
The Gospel today is a wedding story, and it suits the saint the Church remembers. In Jesus' time the bridegroom came at night to bring his bride home, and young women of the village waited with lamps to light the procession. “Ten bridesmaids took their lamps and went to meet the bridegroom. Five of them were foolish, and five were wise.” The difference is small and decisive: “the wise took flasks of oil with their lamps.” The bridegroom is delayed; all of them sleep. “But at midnight there was a shout, ‘Look! Here is the bridegroom! Come out to meet him.’” The lamps of the foolish are going out, and oil cannot be borrowed at the last moment. While they go to buy it, “the bridegroom came, and those who were ready went with him into the wedding banquet; and the door was shut.” Jesus ends: “Keep awake therefore, for you know neither the day nor the hour.” St Augustine asked what the oil is, and answered that it is charity, the love that is not seen from outside but keeps the lamp burning; no one can lend another his love at the door (Sermon 93, in substance). St Ephrem and the Syriac Fathers loved to call Christ the Bridegroom and the Church his bride; in this Qyomtho season we know him as the risen Bridegroom, and he will come again. Is there oil in our lamps?
St Paul's blessing for the Thessalonians reads like a prayer for wise bridesmaids: “May the God of peace himself sanctify you entirely; and may your spirit and soul and body be kept sound and blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.” Holiness is not only for the soul; the whole person, spirit, soul and body, is to be made ready for the Lord. That is why the Church cares for the body as well as the soul: in fasting and feasting, in chastity, in caring for the sick. Then comes the sentence that removes our fear: “The one who calls you is faithful, and he will do this.” We do not fill our lamps by our own strength. God who calls is faithful; he keeps pouring the oil of his grace through prayer and the sacraments, if we keep coming back for it. And Paul adds two very human requests: “Beloved, pray for us. Greet all the brothers and sisters with a holy kiss.” Holiness is never private. It grows in a community that prays for one another and shares the peace, as we do at the Qurbono when the kiss of peace passes from the altar through the whole church.
St Catherine of Siena was such a wise virgin. Born in 1347, one of the youngest of some twenty-five children of a dyer's family, she gave her life to Christ while still a girl and later joined the Dominican lay sisters of her city, the Mantellate. She nursed the sick in times of plague, visited prisoners, and gathered around her a circle of disciples. Though she had little schooling, she dictated a great book of spiritual teaching, the Dialogue, and some three hundred and eighty of her letters survive. With bold love she wrote to princes and to the Pope himself, and in 1376 she travelled to Avignon to beg Pope Gregory XI to return to Rome; he did so the next year. She died in Rome on 29 April 1380, at the age of thirty-three. Pope Paul VI declared her a Doctor of the Church in 1970. Her lamp was full because she spent long hours with the Bridegroom in prayer; from that prayer came her fire for the Church. In one of her letters she wrote that if we are what we ought to be, we will set all Italy on fire (in substance). Ask her today for that fire, and for love of the Church and the Pope. Spend some time in prayer before the Most Holy Qurbono if you can: that is where the oil is given.
Theme: “The one who calls you is faithful, and he will do this.”
On Thursday of the fourth week after Qyomtho, with St Catherine of Siena: oil in the lamps, the whole person made holy, and a saint on fire for the Church.
“Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path.” Psalm 119:105
“In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father in heaven.” Matthew 5:16
Apply: Spend fifteen minutes today in quiet prayer, and let it become a daily habit until Pentecost.
“A new heart I will give you, and a new spirit I will put within you; and I will remove from your body the heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh.” Ezekiel 36:26
“I appeal to you therefore, brothers and sisters, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship.” Romans 12:1
Apply: Offer one bodily discipline to God this week: an early rising for prayer, a fast from screens, a visit to the sick.
“and as the bridegroom rejoices over the bride, so shall your God rejoice over you.” Isaiah 62:5
“Blessed are those who are invited to the marriage supper of the Lamb.” Revelation 19:9
Apply: Pray each day this week for the Pope and our bishops, as St Catherine did.
The oil of love is filled in prayer and cannot be borrowed at the last hour.
St Catherine's burning lamp became fire for the whole Church; the faithful God can do the same in us.
Take-home resolution: Fill your lamp in prayer, offer God your whole self, and stay ready for the Bridegroom.
Dear friends, Christ is risen! Jesus tells of ten bridesmaids waiting with lamps for the bridegroom. Five of them were foolish, and five were wise. The wise took flasks of oil with their lamps (Matthew 25:2–4). At midnight the cry goes up: look! Here is the bridegroom! Come out to meet him (Matthew 25:6).
Those who were ready went in to the wedding banquet, and the door was shut (Matthew 25:10). The oil cannot be borrowed at the last moment. St Augustine said it is the oil of love. Keep awake therefore, for you know neither the day nor the hour (Matthew 25:13).
Paul prays: may the God of peace himself sanctify you entirely; and may your spirit and soul and body be kept sound and blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. And he encourages us: the one who calls you is faithful, and he will do this (1 Thessalonians 5:23–24). God gives the oil, if we keep coming to him.
St Catherine of Siena, whom we remember today, was a wise virgin. A dyer's daughter with little schooling, she prayed so deeply that she became a Doctor of the Church, and she loved the Church so much that she persuaded the Pope to return to Rome. Let us ask her prayers, fill our lamps in prayer and at the Qurbono, and be ready for the Bridegroom. Amen.
Children, Christ is risen! Jesus told a story about ten girls waiting for a wedding with their lamps. Five brought extra oil and five forgot. When the bridegroom came at midnight, only the girls with oil could go to the party! Jesus wants our hearts to be like lamps full of oil, ready for him. We fill them when we pray and love others. Today we remember St Catherine, a girl from Italy who prayed every day and loved Jesus with all her heart. Ask her to help you pray too!
Lord Jesus Christ, risen Bridegroom of the Church, you will come at an hour we do not know. Keep our lamps burning with the oil of your love, so that when the cry goes up at midnight we may go out to meet you and enter the wedding banquet with joy. God of peace, sanctify us entirely, spirit, soul and body, for you who call us are faithful. By the prayers of St Catherine of Siena, who spent herself in prayer and in love for your Church, kindle in us her fire, and bless our Holy Father the Pope and all the shepherds of your flock. You live and reign for ever. Amen.