Word Sharing Circle (WSC) Reflection Guide
2nd Sunday in Ordinary Time (Cycle A, Year I)

Community Word: God exalts His faithful servants.

Theme:  God exalts those who remain vigilant in serving Him.

Promise: “Whoever watches…at dawn shall not be disappointed.” (Wis 6:14)

Reflection:
In the Parable of the Ten Virgins, Jesus teaches us to be ready for the Kingdom of God, and how we should live our life preparing for His coming.  In the parable, the bride waits for her beloved groom assisted by her female friends (the virgins in the parable) in the darkness of the night broken by the flickering lights of the oil lamps.  But the groom’s coming is delayed. Unfortunately, only the wise virgins who are awake and brought extra oil for the lamps are prepared to greet the groom when he finally arrives; and they are able to accompany him to meet the bride and into the banquet hall. The foolish unprepared virgins are simply left behind.

Jesus draws our attention to the need to be wise and always watchful, to be spiritually prepared.  In our life, we could be like the foolish virgins in our neglect to “bring enough oil” and instead waste our time in useless or uncaring pursuit.  For example, we know that we should spend more time with our family, but instead choose to be busy with work. We know we need to visit a sick friend in the hospital, but do not go as the traffic will inconvenience us. We know we need to apologize to someone but prefer to ignore it. We know we need to be generous to the needy, but would rather keep the money for personal wants and priorities. We continue to struggle to transform our foolishness and put our preparedness to enter the Kingdom of God at risk.  When a person no longer cares for spiritual values, when he no longer respects God and men, he is spiritually asleep and unprepared.

But the good news is that we can transform our foolishness by being vigilant in search of Wisdom.  In the 1st reading, Wisdom makes herself known even in advance to those who desire her with all their hearts, for “he (who) for her sake keeps vigil shall quickly be free from care; because she makes her rounds, seeking those worthy of her,” (Wis 6:15-16a).  The search for Wisdom is actually the search for knowledge of God and for His tangible and concrete presence in our lives.  And as we seek to know God, we also should follow His will for us.  As we seek Christ’s presence, Christ will seek us out.  Jesus teaches us that every person is responsible to his spiritual condition.  We do not have to go far in search of Christ’s presence in our lives.  All we need is to be constantly conscious that we meet Jesus whenever we encounter the last, the least, and the lost among our neighbors, and serve them.  Our theme for the 32nd Sunday in Ordinary Time states: God exalts those who remain vigilant in serving Him.

To be spiritually awake, wise and prepared means to dedicate our life to our calling as a Christian, active in the service of God and neighbor, living our life to the full, and not delaying or postponing spiritual conversion to the last minute.  Life maybe a wait in the darkness of temptation, struggle, and despair.  But the “dark night of the soul” will be brightened by the “oil” of intimacy, courage and faithfulness to ones consecration as a Christian.  With the oil in the lamp, light is produced that will break the darkness until the night passes by and full salvation dawns. Then we can look forward to seeing Jesus in the glory of God’s Kingdom at the end of time.

There is a clear difference between those who believe and those who do not, those who hope and those who do not.  Let us be vigilant in seeking Jesus in every person we meet and in every circumstance.  Let us embrace Jesus as our Lord, as the true meaning and reason for being, even as we await for His coming.  By doing so, we pray that all of us can transform our struggle with foolishness to victory during this “in-between time” and be worthy to enter the wedding feast with our Lord.  Because as promised to us: “Whoever watches…at dawn, shall not be disappointed,” (Wis 6:14).

Prayer:
Heavenly Father, grant me Your divine wisdom that I may be wise in everything that I do.  For Your wisdom will guide me in being watchful and prepared. Do not allow my eyes be blurred by the darkness of this world, but rather fill me with the light of Your promise of salvation. In Jesus name. Amen.

Reflection Guides:
1.How can I develop a disposition of readiness for the Lord?

2.Do I take responsibility for my own spiritual growth?  What aspects of my personal life still needs to be transformed?

This Week’s Daily Mass Reading Guide:
November 12, 2017 (Sun) – Wis 6:12-16/Ps 63:2, 3-8/1Thes 4:13-18/ Mt 25:1-13
November 13, 2017(Mon) – Wis 1:1-7/Ps 139:1-10,Lk 17:1-6
November 14, 2017(Tues) – Wis 2:23-3:9,16-19/Lk 17:7-10
November 15, 2017(Wed) – Wis 6:1-11/Ps 82:3-7/Lk 17:11-19
November 16, 2017 (Thur) – Wis 7:22-8:1/Ps 119:89,-91,130,135/Lk 17:20-25
November 17, 2017 (Fri) – Wis 13:1-9/Ps 19:2-5/Lk 17:26-37
November 18, 2017(Sat) – Wis 18:14-19,19:6-9/Ps 105:2,3,36-37,42,43/Lk 18:1-6

“Ignorance of the Bible is ignorance of Christ.  Read your Bible daily!”