I have been fascinated for years about the sinking of the Titanic. This goes beyond and long precedes the 1997 James Cameron movie. It is an interesting story that is a series of minor problems, that without the hubris of the times would have been insignificant. However, when you assume that nothing can go wrong, you soon discover that this assumption will do more to sink any ship than any iceberg.

What is interesting is that each issue that needed to be addressed was addressed focusing on the moment and not how that issue may affect that overall mission of the maiden voyage of this ship. For example, many people may not know that the lookouts on the ship, the first who would see the iceberg on the horizon, did not have binoculars. There were more officers who showed up for duty than were needed, so one was sent home, and he had the key to the locker with the binoculars in it.

Every minor issue addressed in the short run, became part of the overall collection of factors that sunk the ship. The iceberg was just the catalyst for a series of errors that came together and led to the death of over 1500 people. Further, it affected people beyond the death of those who drowned. For example, the captain of the California, the ship that did not respond, but was so near, lived the rest of his life defending his reputation right up to his death in 1962. Many officers of the Titanic had trouble finding work in the industry because of their connection to the Titanic.

The worst case scenario was not planned for in the maiden voyage of the ship.

Jesus tells many similar stories of people who never planned for things to go wrong.

In today’s parable of the wise and the foolish virgins, the wise prepare that the groom will show up late, the foolish do not and when the worst happens, they find themselves to address the situation at hand and learn that this leads them to a bigger problem in the long run, they miss the wedding altogether and are not even allowed in late.

It is good for us to look at the key element, the oil in the lamps. Jesus does not tell us what the oil represents in the lamps. This is something, in our own reflection we can ask ourselves. However, the oil gives light to the lamps. for us our light is gained through holiness of life. When we prepare for Christ, we prepare through holiness of life. When we decide that Christ will not come back or that now is not the time to take our relationship with Christ seriously, then holiness of life is not what is important.

The question Jesus is asking us always is are we seeking holiness life?  Are we focused not just on doing the right thing, but on being in

photo credit JulioY via Bigstockphoto.com

relationship with Christ in a way that affects our life. It is always holiness of life that is key to Christ. We cannot have holiness of life in our terms. Like the wise virgins they prepare for when things are not on their terms, that being the groom is late. The foolish virgins assume the world works their way, and do not prepare for any other option. They even assume that if anything goes wrong they will exploit others to fix the situation because everyone bows to their will. When this does not happen, they find out they they come out on the losing end of the stick. They lose everything.

However, our being prepared is not fearful, we have to do this or else, it is joyful, we have to prepare ourselves for the Lord to come, whenever that will be. It will be a wonderful time. The way we do this is to be in love with the Lord.

This weekend I took a group of youth and adults to St. Joseph Abbey in Spencer, MA. My Grand-Uncle was part of that community decades ago. He had to leave the monastery for health reasons,but he always kept the Cistercian  spirituality. He was a joyful man who reflected his love for Christ and his love was intense. He is the example of what we are called to be.

When we live in our relationship with Christ we do not become afraid or worried as much about what can go wrong because we know the end of the story is that all goes right with our admission into Heaven. Meanwhile those foolish who reject our faith and live in the world deal with every situation and do not realize that each one can be overcome separately but becomes part of a whole that cannot be overcome so quickly. Every issue that was raised about the maiden voyage of the Titanic would today have prevented it from sailing and in some cases being built in the first place. Yet, each issue was addressed on its own merits and no one saw that each little issue became part of a collection of issues that contributed to the sinking of the ship and the loss of lives and destruction of others.

Let me give you an example, look at great history of the events that led up  World War II. One of the famous events was Neville Chamberlain celebrating that they had avoided war with the Munich Agreement in 1938. World War II started a year and a half later and the Munich Agreement did nothing to stop it. Meanwhile in NAZI Germany a Catholic by the name of Dietrich Von Hildebrand foresaw that the Munich Agreement was not going to work because the problem was that people had lost their connection to God. His warning was that people lost a sense of the eternal and therefore the world was in trouble.

This brings us back to the ultimate message of Jesus as again we live in a time when people turn from Christ and deal with each individual situation on its own merits, while ignoring the essential message which is our individual and communal quest for holiness. The world will never embrace that issue, but you and I must if we are to experience true joy. For it is holiness that leads us to truth and nothing we do outside of this will ultimately work.

Are you prepared to meet Christ, then make sure you have oil for your lamps and oil for your lamps is holiness of life.

God Bless You,

Fr. Robert J Carr

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