The WORD in other words (2018) by Fr Roderick Salazar SVD – Christ the King Seminary, Quezon City
Friday 21st Week in Ordinary Time
We all have experienced being late but to be too late is surely tragic, especially for something one considers vital.
As I reflect on today’s Gospel, dear Lord, I pray that I welcome and treasure the time You have given me to live on this earth. That I always use it well and never be too late in meeting you, loving and serving you, as yourself and as you live in others especially in the least of them.
Help me to always be ready, with my lamp to meet you, with the oil that feeds the lamp, with the strength and the will to stay awake for the many forms of your coming, with the faith, hope, and love that will respond to your call.
Please help me live the lesson that William Barclay suggest to learn in praying this Gospel:
“There are certain things which cannot be got at the last minute. It is far too late for a student to be preparing when the day of the examination come… It is so with God. There are certain things that cannot be borrowed. The foolish virgins found it impossible to borrow oil, when they discovered they needed it. A man cannot borrow a relationship with God; he must posses it. A man cannot borrow a character; he must be clothed with it. We cannot always be living on the spiritual capital which others have amassed. There are certain things which we must win or possess for ourselves, for we cannot borrow them from others.”
Such must be our prayer and our life, the faith and the love we must have: Personal, Original, Authentic. Timely. Never TOO LATE.
