XXXII Sunday in Ordinary Time
32nd Sunday of ordinary time
“Come to me, all you who labor and are burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am meek and humble of heart; and you will find rest for yourselves” (Mt 11:28-29). The Lord invites us to find peace and joy in Him this Sabbath as we set aside time to worship and rest.
PREPARE
“Remember the sabbath day—keep it holy. Six days you may labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is a sabbath of the LORD your God.”
Sabbath comes from the Hebrew word “Shabbat”, which literally means “to stop.” Keeping holy the Sabbath is not just a commandment, but an invitation. An invitation from the Lord to stop our work, stop our worrying, stop our striving. An opportunity to fid rest and to be renewed. A chance to refocus on the things that truly matter - the Lord, family, community. In our culture, Sunday has become a day to “catch up” on everything that didn’t get done during the week, and any time left over is often seen as an opportunity just to “get ahead” for next week. But we Christians have a chance now to remember what it means to keep the Sabbath. During this pandemic the Lord is calling us back to Himself, offering us a chance to reclaim the gift of the Sabbath, reminding us again what it means to “keep it holy.”
A basic principle for observing the Sabbath is only to do things that can be considered “rest” or “worship”. Here are a few ideas to consider to begin more to enter into the Sabbath. Maybe pick just one thing to focus on this Sunday, then next Sunday keep that practice in addition to a second one. And then the next Sunday add a third, to slowly over time begin to enter into this great gift of the Sabbath more and more.
Keep the Lord at the center - read the Mass readings ahead of time, participate in Mass, make more time for prayer, spend some extra time in silence focusing on the Lord
Try not to work - resist the urge to check your email, or catch up on a few things, and leave it for Monday
Plan ahead - take care of what needs to be done before Sunday, so plan the rest of your week to make sure you get the laundry done, have gone grocery shopping, etc.so you don’t have to do any of it on Sunday
Spend the day “screen free” - try to stay off social media, internet news, and your phone as much as possible. If you can’t make it the whole day try to go for at least a few hours
Be intentional with others - if you live with others (ie. family, roommates), is there something you can do together like play a game or go on a hike? If you live alone, can you reach out to a good friend and catch up?
Leisure, not entertainment - try to do things that are life giving; binge-watching a favorite show or playing video games for hours rarely leaves anyone with a new zeal for life. Read a good book, go on a long walk, develop a hobby.
PARTICIPATE
“Where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them” (Mt 18:20). Each Sunday we are called to “keep holy the Sabbath” and although that may look different for right now we will still come together as a St. Ann community through the gift of technology.
MASS READINGS
GIVING
Take a few minutes to give to St. Ann Parish. Please give generously and sacrificially as an act of faith during these difficult times. You can give online:
After giving, offer ways to be generous of your whole self during this trying time for our world.
“Each must do as already determined without sadness or compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver. Moreover, God is able to make every grace abundant for you, so that in all things, always having all you need, you may have an abundance for every good work.”
PROCESS
“At midnight, there was a cry, ‘Behold, the bridegroom! Come out to meet him!’ Then all those virgins got up and trimmed their lamps” (Mt 25:6-7). With this parable of the wise and foolish virgins, we begin our annual stewardship drive, which will continue over the course of this week through next weekend. The example of the wise virgins in the parable teaches us a lesson of paramount importance, namely, how to use our resources wisely to prepare for the coming of the divine bridegroom. Taking the oil in their lamps as a symbol of our resources, we see that they can be spent wisely or foolishly. The foolish virgins dissipate their oil without realizing what it was for, and run out before the bridegroom comes. Perhaps they were distracted, or forgetful, or careless, but in any case we see that they did not act as good stewards, using well what had been given to them. The wise virgins, on the other hand, use their oil well, making sure to have enough to light the way when the bridegroom arrives. In the face of so many needs and wants that we face, so many ways to potentially use our resources, how do we ensure that we use them wisely?
Wisdom is, according to our first reading, “the perfection of prudence” (Wis 6:15). St. Thomas Aquinas explains that it is a gift of the Holy Spirit which helps us to see all things in the light of divine truth (Summa Theologiae, II-II. q.45). It helps us understand clearly how God has made us for Himself, how His desire for us is to enjoy eternal beatitude with Him, and in light of these things, how we are to use our resources well. Returning to our parable, the wise virgins knew that the oil had been set aside for a certain purpose. It was reserved for the bridegroom, whose coming they eagerly desired (even though they fell asleep for a while!). The reason they could not give to the foolish virgins was not because they were hoarding their oil, but rather because it was not theirs to give – it had already been promised to God.
We are also invited not to burn all of our oil, so to speak, on only the wants and needs of this world, but to be wise in setting some aside for the Lord. This is the invitation given to us as we consider a financial commitment to St. Ann. To set aside a portion of our finances, to give back to the Lord, for use by our church. To use what we have been given to support the mission of the church, being watchful and vigilant in this work, since “we know neither the day nor the hour” (Mt 25:13).
PRACTICE
Our practice this week is to take some time to prayerfully discern what sort of financial commitment you can make to St. Ann in the coming year.
First, we invite you to watch our series of videos that can help you as you make your decision. These videos will be released each day over the coming week and will go deeper into the theology of tithing as well as some practical help for how much and how consistently we should give.
Then, we would be so grateful for any financial commitment you can make to support the extraordinary work and mission of St. Ann. You can access online giving here.
DISCUSSION QUESTIONS
Think about how you can continue to reflect on God’s word to you this week, and how you can invite others into the conversation. You can use the questions below for personal reflection, or to grow with others. Be creative! You could consider gathering with friends and family, or starting a group text, or a group FaceTime, to discuss the questions below. What stands out to you from the readings this week? What might God be speaking to you at this time?
Did you do anything this past week that was inspired by last Sunday’s practice? Maybe try something new to grow in devotion to a saint?
The importance of wisdom is a strong theme in the readings this week. How would you explain what it means to have wisdom? Are there ways to grow in wisdom?
Can you think of a time in your life when you acted “foolishly”? What was it that impacted your decision at the time?
Is there a situation you are facing in your life right now where you really need wisdom?
This week at St. Ann we will be focusing on stewardship. We recognize that all we have has been given to us by the Lord and He asks us to be faithful stewards (or managers) of what He has given us. Do you feel you usually look upon what you have as “yours” or more see everything as God’s? What makes that easy or hard to do?
What are some of the factors that make it challenging to commit to financial support of the parish and other charitable organizations?
Have you ever experienced a time when you made a choice to give sacrificially and had a positive experience because of it?
KIDS
ACTIVITY
Tell your kids that you are going on a pretend trip. What would be the things we would need to take with us so that we are prepared? Name as many things that you would need to go on your trip.
CONNECTION
In this Sunday’s Gospel, Jesus uses a parable to tell us that we need to always be prepared for His second coming. Jesus tells us in Scripture “that He will come again in glory to judge the living and the dead” (Nicene Creed). In this parable, the wedding banquet is like God’s kingdom and the coming bridegroom represents Christ. We need to be alert and ready for the Lord’s coming because we do not “know either the day nor the hour.”
DISCUSSION QUESTIONS
Have you ever had to be ready for something very important, and then found that you didn’t have something that you really needed?
Why were some of the girls foolish and some wise?
How can we keep ourselves ready for when Jesus returns?
FAMILY PRACTICE
Take a piece of paper and fold it into fours. In one box write “Every Day,” “Every week,” “Every month”, and in the last box “Every Year”. Then write 4 things you can do in each box to help you be prepared for Jesus’ coming. Some examples are praying every day, going to mass every week, going to confession every month, doing a service project every year.
