Recently I spoke to a woman who was back in Whanganui visiting her elderly mother who was unwell. One of five siblings she left the others behind as she came to the Vigil Mass. They said to her: "You can go for us." Today's gospel reminds us that such an attitude is not a valid one for the Kingdom of Heaven. Catholics all have the lamp of faith through baptism yet not all are wise. The oil of prayer and the sacraments keeps the lamp of faith burning throughout our lives. Those Catholics are foolish who neglect the obligation of their religion and coast along oblivious to the danger that they will be bereft when the time comes whether it be of trial, sickness or even death. I remember a saying of the lay evangelist Jan Heath who said: "God has children. He does not have grandchildren." It is incumbent on all the baptized to appropriate their faith and to live it out according to the gifts given them by the Holy Spirit. It is true that: "For by grace you have been saved through faith, and this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God - not the result of works, so that no one may boast" (Eph. 2: 8-9), however, we also need to cooperate with grace to accomplish the redemption offered us in Christ. "Besides this, you know what time it is, how it is now the moment to wake from sleep. For salvation is nearer to us now than when we became believers; for the night is far gone, the day is near. Let us then lay aside the works of darkness and put on the armour of light; let us live honourably as in the day, not in reveling and drunkenness, not in debauchery and licentiousness, not in quarreling and jealousy. Instead, put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh, to gratify its desires." (Romans 13: 11-14)
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