“For you do not know the day or the hour.”
One of the great privileges we, as Catholic priests,
have is to visit people when they are sick
and give them the anointing of the sick.
I know it sounds strange but it is actually a beautiful moment
because people are at their most vulnerable
and to come and to be able to pray with them is a real gift.
And even more so when somebody is dying.
We have the privilege to give them
what is now known as Commendation of the Dying.
It used to be called Extreme Unction or Last Rites;
and sometimes it is still called that
but we prefer to call it the Commendation of Dying.
It is the Sacrament of the Anointing
with these beautiful words of commendation.
It is a very tender moment
when a person is clearly in their last days of their life
and you are asked to come and anoint them.
When we anoint them with the family gathered around them,
we say these words:
“Go forth now Christian soul.
I commend you, my dear brother/sister,
to almighty God,
and entrust you to your Creator.
May you return to him
who formed you from the dust of the earth.
May holy Mary, the angels, and all the saints
come to meet you as you go forth from this life.
May Christ who was crucified for you
bring you freedom and peace.
May Christ who died for you
admit you into his garden of paradise.
May Christ, the true Shepherd,
acknowledge you as one of his flock.
May you see the Redeemer face to face,
and enjoy the vision of God for ever.
And I usually add some words at the end of it
to lighten the moment a little bit and say:
“Say hello to the Lord. I look forward to seeing him
but not too soon.”
And then I usually add to ask the Lord for some help down here.
It is always a beautiful moment.
I had the opportunity just on Friday to do that
with one of my all-time friends and parishioners at my former parish
who was like a father to me.
He and his wife have been like parents.
He is clearly on his last days.
He fell and broke his hip and it is not possible to do any surgery.
He knew he is dying and asked if I would come
and pray that prayer with him.
It is a very tender moment.
Some of the family gathered with me to pray.
And as I said it, there were tears in my eyes and tears in his eyes.
But there was something incredibly real about that moment;
he was very, very content;
he was very happy with his life.
He was very happy with his children;
his grandchildren and even his great grandchildren.
He knew this time would come.
We had talked about this for some time;
about how to die well;
how to die with faith and dignity.
At the last moment, knowing that this would probably be
one of the last times I would ever see him.
I said to him, “Before you go, will you give me your blessing?”
And through teary eyes both for him and for me,
he gave me his blessing.
I think of what an incredibly powerful moment;
the blessing of a dying man;
the gift that will keep on giving.
That is the ultimate definition of dying well,
of giving your life away and in that moment
in fact giving your death away as a treasure to be held.
In today’s gospel, Jesus is in his final days of life.
The context of this parable is Chapter 25 of Matthew’s gospel
and Jesus’ last few days of his ministerial life.
Matthew gives three parables;
the one of the ten virgins,
the three servants who are called stewards and
the often called the final judgment
with the separation of the sheep and the goats.
Then Jesus will enter into his passion.
Jesus knew he was facing his death.
He knew what he was doing was not only giving his life away
but he was giving his death away as well.
He was saying to his disciples,
and there is profound wisdom in this,
he knew that the disciples were “one of the ten virgins”
insofar as they were the ones who had left everything and
they had and came to follow him.
There was no question that they believed in him.
No question that they had followed him.
That they were with him all this time.
But Jesus in this parable is saying there is more to discipleship
than just avoiding evil but we must also do good.
We must extend ourselves far beyond
just the avoidance of not doing any wrong things
but going the one step further
and giving our life away.
And ultimately in the end giving our death away.
That is the distinction between the foolish virgins and the wise ones.
All the virgins were there to greet the bridegroom.
They were doing the right thing.
But the wise virgins planned ahead and
they looked at what they would need in the future;
to be successful with what was their goal.
They not only avoided doing anything wrong,
they planned ahead so that the good they were going to do
was going to be long lasting;
in other words, the bridegroom was going to be there.
There are multiple levels to this parable
because it is a prolepsis of Jesus’ death as well.
That is all wonderful but hopefully none of us here is eminently dying.
We are all dying in some way;
we get closer but none of us is eminent hopefully.
What does that mean for us now, here, here and now?
It means that it is not enough for us
to just avoid doing bad things or not doing bad things.
For those of us who are in the second half of life,
we should be about giving our lives away.
In fact, we should be preparing and giving our death away;
that we give our whole life to the Lord.
So what is the Lord asking of you?
What is the Lord asking for you to give away today?
I cannot answer that because every one of us is going to be different
because we are all at different stages of life.
If we have young kids then I suspect what the Lord
is asking you is to pour your heart into your children and your family.
If your kids are long gone then I expect the Lord
is asking you to give back to any other kids who are in need;
to give back to the community.
I suspect that if you are single like I am,
you are asked to give everything away.
Give it all away to the Lord.
Give it all to whomever the Lord asks of us.
What is the Lord asking me to give away today?
What am I to give up and to give to somebody else?
Ultimately in the end,
if we want our community, if we want our country to be united
then we must be willing to be united with each other
and with our community.
If we want our country to be generous and kind
then we must be generous and kind in our community and in our family.
In the end, if we want our country to be a community of faith;
then you and I need to be people of faith
in our community and in our families.
We are called to follow the Lord, which means sacrifice;
to give away each of us in different ways
not the same sacrifice but equal sacrifice, not equal giving.
“For you do not know the day or the hour.”
