August 28, 2026
Memorial of Saint Augustine, Bishop and Doctor of the
Church
Lectionary: 429
Reading 1
Brothers and sisters:
Christ did not send me to baptize but to preach the Gospel,
and not with the wisdom of human eloquence,
so that the cross of Christ might not be emptied of its meaning.
The message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing,
but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.
For it is written:
I will destroy the wisdom of the wise,
and the learning of the learned I will set aside.
Where is the wise one?
Where is the scribe?
Where is the debater of this age?
Has not God made the wisdom of the world foolish?
For since in the wisdom of God
the world did not come to know God through wisdom,
it was the will of God through the foolishness of the proclamation
to save those who have faith.
For Jews demand signs and Greeks look for wisdom,
but we proclaim Christ crucified,
a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles,
but to those who are called, Jews and Greeks alike,
Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God.
For the foolishness of God is wiser than human wisdom,
and the weakness of God is stronger than human strength.
Responsorial Psalm
R. (5) The earth is full of the goodness of the
Lord.
Exult, you just, in the LORD;
praise from the upright is fitting.
Give thanks to the LORD on the harp;
with the ten-stringed lyre chant his praises.
R. The earth is full of the goodness of the Lord.
For upright is the word of the LORD,
and all his works are trustworthy.
He loves justice and right;
of the kindness of the Lord the earth is full.
R. The earth is full of the goodness of the Lord.
The LORD brings to nought the plans of nations;
he foils the designs of peoples.
But the plan of the LORD stands forever;
the design of his heart, through all generations.
R. The earth is full of the goodness of the Lord.
Alleluia
R. Alleluia, alleluia.
Be vigilant at all times and pray,
that you may have the strength to stand before the Son of Man.
R. Alleluia, alleluia.
Gospel
Jesus told his disciples this parable:
“The Kingdom of heaven will be like ten virgins
who took their lamps and went out to meet the bridegroom.
Five of them were foolish and five were wise.
The foolish ones, when taking their lamps,
brought no oil with them,
but the wise brought flasks of oil with their lamps.
Since the bridegroom was long delayed,
they all became drowsy and fell asleep.
At midnight, there was a cry,
‘Behold, the bridegroom! Come out to meet him!’
Then all those virgins got up and trimmed their lamps.
The foolish ones said to the wise,
‘Give us some of your oil,
for our lamps are going out.’
But the wise ones replied,
‘No, for there may not be enough for us and you.
Go instead to the merchants and buy some for yourselves.’
While they went off to buy it,
the bridegroom came
and those who were ready went into the wedding feast with him.
Then the door was locked.
Afterwards the other virgins came and said,
‘Lord, Lord, open the door for us!’
But he said in reply,
‘Amen, I say to you, I do not know you.’
Therefore, stay awake,
for you know neither the day nor the hour.”
https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/082826.cfm
Commentary on 1
Corinthians 1:17-25
In today’s reading, a distinction is made between true and
false wisdom. Paul presents us with one of the most central concepts of his
teaching, and indeed of our Christian faith. He begins by saying that Christ
had not sent him to baptise. In so speaking, he is not in any way minimising
baptism. What he is asserting is that his special calling was to proclaim the
gospel. It was for others to establish Christian communities after he had gone
to preach the Message in another mission field. Peter, too, asked others to
baptise the gentile Cornelius and his household after they were received into
the community (Acts 10:48).
Today’s passage focuses on the essence of our faith, which
transcends all human divisions—a message just as relevant now as it was then.
What he says arises out of his displeasure with factions which were forming in
the Corinthian communities. Some were saying they were for Paul, others for
Apollos, or Cephas (Peter), or even Christ. Paul emphasises that they are all,
no matter who baptised them, one in Christ. It was Christ and Christ alone who
died for them and saved them. Paul’s particular role or charism was to proclaim
the gospel mainly to new communities; he was a founder of churches and
communities and so he kept moving from place to place. The other church
ministries were left to others to carry out. It is a good example of the
diversity of gifts which he will speak about later on.
Further, his role was to preach the Cross of Christ, but not
with an orator’s eloquence which might rob the Cross of its real power. Oratory
was a highly esteemed talent in those days, especially among the Greeks and
Romans, but Paul makes no claim to it and for that he is glad. Paul’s mission
was not to couch the gospel in the language of the trained orator, who had
studied the techniques of influencing people by persuasive arguments. What Paul
shares is not human wisdom, but the wisdom of God. The strength of the message
is not in how it is delivered, but in its content.
The Cross will speak for itself and does not need the
persuasive language of the orator. The message of the Cross is unique. It
requires a special kind of insight to see its meaning and its wisdom, which is
itself a gift from God. For those who are not on God’s wavelength, it makes no
sense, but for those who are, it speaks of God’s power—above all, the power of
love.
Paul quotes from the prophet Isaiah (29:14) in which God
says he will bring the wisdom of the wise to nothing. This was originally said
in the context of the people of Judah and Jerusalem who thought it was an
astute thing to do to make an alliance with Egypt and thus turn away the
threats of Sennacherib, the Assyrian king. God had other plans to deal with
him, plans which the ‘wise’ never dreamt of. In fact, Sennacherib was forced to
withdraw from the gates of the city when his army was unexpectedly decimated by
a kind of plague.
And where are the wise men now, Paul asks—all those pagan
philosophers, including those Paul met in Athens and who laughed at his
message. Perhaps Paul knew of the remark of Aristides who said that on every
street in Corinth one met a so-called wise man, who had his own solutions to
all the world’s problems (we still see them on our media every day!). Where,
asks Paul, are the experts in the Mosaic Law? Where are the “debaters of this
age”, those Greek sophists who loved to engage in long and subtle disputes?
Has not God, in Christ, made the wisdom of the world look
foolish? Faced with the mystery of the Cross such people have nothing to say.
In a beautifully paradoxical statement (worthy of an
orator!) he says:
…since, in the wisdom of God, the world did not know God
through wisdom, God decided, through the foolishness of the proclamation, to
save those who believe.
This does not mean, of course, that Paul’s preaching is
foolish, but that the message of Christ crucified is viewed by the world as
foolish. Jesus said something similar:
I thank you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because
you have hidden these things from the wise and the intelligent and have revealed
them to infants… (Luke 10:21)
And so, the Jews are demanding miracles and signs as proofs
of God’s saving power among them. Several times in the Gospels, Jesus was asked
for a ‘sign’ to prove his credentials, even though his whole public life was a
succession of signs which ordinary people frequently recognised. The Greeks, on
the other hand, indulged in endless philosophising about ‘truth‘ and ‘wisdom’
without ever coming to grips with the realities of life.
The Cross is on a completely different level. It does not
require great intelligence and learning to be understood. It can be grasped by
the totally illiterate person. It is not a message of intellectual depth, but a
witness to immeasurable love. It can only be accessed by faith and trust.
Paul and his companions are proclaiming a crucified Lord, a
message of power shining through total impotence and apparent failure. On the
face of it, it is a total contradiction—except to those who can see its inner
meaning. No wonder it is a ‘scandal’, an insuperable obstacle for those Jews
who were waiting for an altogether different Messiah. They expected a
triumphant, political Messiah, not a crucified one.
Even Jesus’ disciples had this expectation. On the day of
the Ascension, they asked him:
Lord, is this the time when you will restore the kingdom
to Israel? (Acts 1:6)
The answer, of course, was “Yes”, but not in the way they
were thinking. Similarly, the two disciples on the way to Emmaus said to the
stranger who walked along with them:
…we had hoped that he was the one to redeem Israel.
(Luke 24:21)
It was only after Jesus had explained the Scriptures to them
that they realised the real truth behind their question.
And to the Gentiles it made no sense whatever. How could a
crucified criminal be proclaimed as the world’s Saviour? Greeks and Romans were
sure no reputable person would ever be crucified, so it was unthinkable that a
crucified criminal could be the Saviour.
However, for those who have received the call, be they Jews
or Greeks, Jesus on the cross speaks eloquently of the power and wisdom of God.
The crucified Christ is the power that saves and the wisdom that transforms
apparent folly into ultimate and highest discernment. And Paul finishes with a
memorable and much-quoted statement:
For God’s foolishness is wiser than human wisdom, and
God’s weakness is stronger than human strength.
Today, the Cross is still seen as a stumbling block and as
nonsense by those who only see the external image. In a world dedicated to
acquisition, power and success, it gives a totally unacceptable message.
The power of the Cross, the power of active non-violence is
not understood, and the followers of Jesus are ridiculed and deemed irrelevant.
As Christians living in this world, we are probably often caught in the middle.
We are carried along by the power-success dream, and at the same time would
like to be able to make the weakness-failure Way of Christ ours too. What we
need is to be able to see clearly that the real power and wisdom is with Jesus’
Way, and that the way of the world ultimately leads only to nothingness.
Commentary on
Matthew 25:1-13
The second chapter of the Eschatological Discourse consists
of three long parables, all of which are familiar to us. They have the common
theme of preparation for the final coming of the Lord, whenever that will be.
Today’s reading is the parable about the wise and foolish
bridesmaids. The story likely reflects common wedding customs of the time. The
bridesmaids who attend on the bride are waiting for the bridegroom to come. The
time of his arrival is not known. Perhaps, at that time, it was his way of asserting
his male authority from the very beginning of their marriage.
In the story there are 10 bridesmaids altogether. Of these
we are told five were “wise” and the others were “foolish”. The “wise” young
women all brought an extra supply of oil with them while the “foolish” ones
only had their lamps. The lamps consisted of oil-soaked rags at the top of a
pole and needed to have oil added every 15 minutes or so.
The bridegroom was long in coming. The implication is that
he was taking much longer than expected. In fact, he was so long in coming that
the bridesmaids all fell asleep. Suddenly, in the middle of the night, the call
went up:
Look! Here is the bridegroom! Come out to meet him.
Immediately the young women got ready and trimmed their
torches. The charred edges had to be cut away and the rags soaked in more oil.
The foolish ones immediately realised they were running out of oil. They ask
their companions to share some of their oil. These refused on the grounds that
there was not enough to go round and none of them would have enough. The
foolish ones were told to go off and buy some more for themselves.
However, while they were still away, the bridegroom arrived.
Those who were ready went into the marriage celebration with him and the doors
were shut. When the foolish bridesmaids finally arrived with their new supply
of oil, they found the doors closed in their face. They cried out:
Lord, lord, open to us.
But the bridegroom answered:
Truly I tell you, I do not know you.
Again this is a parable warning us all to be ready when the
Lord comes. In the early Church, he had at first been expected to come in the
very lifetime of the early Christians. This belief is reflected in the First
Letter to the Thessalonians (read during the weekdays of the Cycle 1 First Readings),
which is the earliest writing of the New Testament.
But Jesus did not come and, by the time Matthew’s Gospel
appeared, people were beginning to realise that his coming could be in a more
distant future. It is in this context that today’s parable gives a warning. If
the Lord was not going to come soon, then some people might begin to take
things easy and become lax in their living of the gospel. Today’s passage
suggests that that is not a very wise way of behaving.
The bridegroom may not have come when expected, but he did
come. And, when he came, half of the group were not ready. In other places,
Jesus has warned that the:
..day and hour no one knows, neither the angels of
heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father. (Matt 24:36)
Because:
the day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night.
(1 Thess 5: 2)
The only policy is constant readiness. If we are not ready
and he does come, then we may find the doors closed and hear what are perhaps
the most chilling words in the whole Gospel:
…I do not know you.
In John’s Gospel, Jesus says that, as the Shepherd, he knows
his sheep and they know him. Not to be known by Jesus means to have broken our
relationship with him through sinful and loveless behaviour. To be in that
state when he comes is truly tragic. The choice is ours, as we have been given
adequate warning.
While the Gospel is speaking about the final or
eschatological coming of Jesus as King and Lord, it would be very complacent of
us to think that there are no signs of its happening in the near future. That
would put us in the same category as the foolish bridesmaids! While the final
coming may still be far off, our own rendezvous with the Lord can be at any
time. For all practical purposes, that is the time for which we must be
prepared.
Our news media is full of reports of lives being cut short
by accident, illness or violence. Any of us could be one of those victims,
young and in perfect health with a whole life before us. But the Lord calls
when he calls.
Will I have ‘oil in my lamp’? That is, what would I be able
to show the Lord in terms of gospel-centred living? Maybe we think the “wise”
young women in the story were selfish not to have shared their oil, but there
are some things which we have to bring to the Lord on our own. We cannot borrow
the good life that someone else has led. It has to be totally ours.
Clearly, the best way to prepare is not to think anxiously
of the future, but to concentrate on the here and now. Let us learn to live
totally in the present, to seek and find God there. If we can do that, then all
the rest will take care of itself. And, whether the Groom arrives early or
late, it will not matter. Because he has been constantly part of our everyday
lives. And, apart from the insurance that it gives, is it not by far the best
way to spend our days?
https://sacredspace.com/commentary
Friday,
August 28, 2026
Ordinary Time
Opening Prayer
Father of everlasting goodness, our origin and guide,
be close to us and hear the
prayers of all who praise you. Forgive our sins and restore us to life. Keep us
safe in your love.
We ask this through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives
and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.
Gospel Reading – Matthew 25: 1-13
Jesus said to
his disciples: “Then the Kingdom of Heaven will be like this: Ten wedding
attendants took their lamps and went to meet the bridegroom. Five of them were
foolish and five were sensible: the foolish ones, though they took their lamps,
took no oil with them, whereas the sensible ones took flasks of oil as well as
their lamps. The bridegroom was late, and they all grew drowsy and fell asleep.
But at midnight there was a cry, “Look! The bridegroom! Go out and meet him”.
Then all those wedding attendants woke up and trimmed their lamps, and the
foolish ones said to the sensible ones, “give us some of your oil: our lamps
are going out.” But they replied, “There may not be enough for us and for you;
you had better go to those who sell it and buy some for yourselves.” They had
gone off to buy it when the bridegroom arrived. Those who were ready went in
with him to the wedding hall and the door was closed. The other attendants arrived
later. “Lord, Lord,” they said, “open the door for us.” But He replied, “In
truth I tell you I do not know you.” So stay awake, because you do not know
either the day or the hour.
Reflection
•
Matthew 25: 1ª: The beginning: “At that time”.
The parable begins with these two words: “At that time”. It is a question of
the coming of the Son of Man (cfr. Mt 24: 37). Nobody knows when this day, this
time will come, “not even the angels in Heaven nor the Son himself, but only
the Father” (Mt 24: 36). The fortune tellers will not succeed in giving an
estimate. The Son of Man will come as a surprise, when people less expect him
(Mt 24: 44). It can be today, it can be tomorrow, that is why the last warning
of the parable of the ten Virgins is: “Keep watch!” The ten girls should be
prepared for anything which may happen. When the Nazi police knocked at the
door of the Monastery of the Carmelite Sisters of Echt in the Province of
Limburger, in the Netherlands, Edith Stein, Sister Teresa Benedicta of the
Cross, was prepared. She took on the Cross and followed the way to martyrdom in
the extermination camp out of love for God and for her people. She was one of
the prudent virgins of the parable.
•
Matthew 25: 1b-4: The ten virgins ready to wait
for the bridegroom. The parable begins like this: “The Kingdom of Heaven is
like this: ten wedding attendants took their lamps and went to meet the
bridegroom”. It is a question of the girls who have to accompany the bridegroom
to the wedding feast. Because of this, they have to take the lamps with them,
to light the way, and also to render the feast more joyful with more light.
Five of them were prudent and five were foolish. This difference is seen in the
way in which they prepare themselves for the role that they have to carry out.
Together with the lighted lamps, the prudent ones had taken some oil in
reserve, preparing themselves in this way for anything which could happen. The
foolish ones took only the lamps and they did not think to take some oil in
reserve with them.
•
Matthew 25: 5-7: The unforeseen delay of the
arrival of the bridegroom. The bridegroom was late. He had not indicated
precisely the hour of his arrival. While waiting the attendants went to sleep.
But the lamps continue to burn and use the oil until gradually they turned off.
Suddenly, in the middle of the night, there was a cry: “Look! The bridegroom!
Go out and meet him!” All the attendants woke up, and began to prepare their
lamps which were burning out. They had to put in some of the oil they had
brought in reserve so that the lamps would not burn out.
•
Matthew 25: 8-9: The different reactions before
the delay of the bridegroom. It is only now that the foolish attendants become
aware that they should have brought some oil in reserve with them. They went to
ask the prudent ones: “Give us some of your oil, our lamps are going out”. The
prudent ones could not respond to this request, because at that moment what was
important was not for the prudent ones to share their oil with the foolish
ones, but that they would be ready to accompany the bridegroom to the place of
the feast. For this reason they advised them: “You had better go to those who
sell it and buy some for yourselves”.
•
Matthew 25: 10-12: The fate of the prudent
attendants and that of the foolish ones. The foolish ones followed the advice
of the prudent ones and went to buy some oil. During their brief absence the
bridegroom arrived and the prudent ones were able to accompany him and to enter
together with him to the wedding feast. But the door was closed behind them.
When the others arrived, they knocked at the door and said: “Lord, Lord, open
the door for us!” and they received the response: “In truth I tell you, I do
not know you”.
•
Matthew 25: 13: The final recommendation of
Jesus for all of us. The story of this parable is very simple, and the lesson
is evident: “So stay awake and watch, because you do not know either the day or
the hour”. The moral of the story: do not be superficial, look beyond the
present moment, and try to discover the call of God even in the smallest things
of life, even the oil which may be lacking in the small light or lamp.
Personal Question
• Has it happened to you sometimes in your life to
think about having oil in reserve for your lamp?
Concluding Prayer
I will bless Yahweh at all times, his praise continually on my
lips.
I will praise Yahweh from my heart; let the humble
hear and rejoice. (Ps 34: 1-2)
Saint Augustine, Bishop and
Doctor
Augustine was born on 13 November, 354 in Tagaste
(present-day Souk Ahras, Algeria), then a Roman city in North Africa. His
mother, Monica, was a Berber and a devout Christian and his father, Patricius,
a pagan. He was brought up as a Christian, but not baptised.
He studied rhetoric at the university in Carthage with the
intention of becoming a lawyer. However, he gave up this idea and instead went
into teaching and study. His study of philosophy, mostly of Plato, and later of
Manichaeism over a period of nine years resulted in his effectively abandoning
the Christian faith of his mother.
Over a period of 15 years, he lived with a mistress by whom
he had a son, named Adeodatus (meaning, ‘a gift of God’). He left Africa and
moved to Rome to teach rhetoric, and later to Milan where he got a very
prestigious professorship. It was at this point that he began to become
disillusioned with Manichaeism and became interested in Neo-Platonism. He also
came under the influence of Ambrose, Bishop of Milan.
In the year 386, he was greatly inspired by reading the life
of the desert Father, St Anthony. There is also the famous story of his hearing
the voice of an unseen child, while sitting in his garden in Milan. The voice
kept chanting, Tolle, lege (‘Take and read’). He opened his
Bible at random and the text he found happened to be from Paul’s Letter to the
Romans:
Let us then throw off the works of darkness and put on
the armor of light; let us walk decently as in the day, not in reveling and
drunkenness, not in illicit sex 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. (Rom 13:12-14)
Augustine decided to give up his promising career, give up
the idea of marriage, and become a Christian and a celibate priest. After a
long interior conflict, which he graphically describes in his Confessions,
Augustine was finally converted. Together with his son, Adeodatus, he was
baptised by Ambrose at the Easter Vigil of 387 in Milan.
In 388, he returned to Africa, sold off his inheritance and
gave it to the poor. He then set up a kind of monastery in his house. In 391,
he was ordained a priest and, four years later, became coadjutor-bishop of
Hippo. From 396, he was the sole bishop in the diocese. He left his monastery,
but continued to lead a monastic life in his bishop’s residence. He left a rule
of life which was later adopted by what is known today as the Order of St
Augustine (OSA).
Augustine’s intellectual brilliance, broad education,
passionate temperament, and deep mystical insight resulted in a personality of
very special, if not unique, quality. His interpretation of Christian
revelation revealed in his many writings probably has had more influence on
Christian thinking than anyone since St Paul. Among his most famous works are
his Confessions, Sermons on the Gospel and Letters
of John, a treatise on the Trinity and, at the end of his life, his De
Civitate Dei (The City of God). This last work deals with the
opposition between Christianity and the ‘world’, occasioned by the invasions of
the north European tribes and the collapse of the Roman Empire. It is regarded
as the first Christian philosophy of history. Many other works were responses
to controversies with Manicheans, Pelagians, or Donatists and led to the
development of his thought on the Church, the Sacraments, and Grace. Few, if
any, Christian writers have written with such depth on love (Latin, caritas)
and on the Trinity.
While Augustine’s great influence on Christian thought has
been mainly positive, his teaching on Predestination has come under criticism.
Perhaps due to his Manichean background, which he never fully shook off, and
guilt about his own immoral past, he became almost obsessive about sin and
evil. He would condemn unbaptised children and others to eternal damnation. He
has also been criticised for his teaching on sex and marriage. Even sex within
marriage was seen by Augustine as a necessary evil and never completely without
sin. At the same time he did emphasise, against the Manichaeans, the threefold
good of marriage—family, sacrament and fidelity.
Later Christian tradition set aside his view that Original
Sin is transmitted through sexual intercourse or that intercourse is tolerated
only with the intention of having a child. The Second Vatican Council made it
clear that, in a marriage, sexual intercourse is an important expression of
love and union.
As a bishop, Augustine lived with his clergy in a community
life, and was actively engaged in church administration, the care of the poor,
preaching and writing and even acting as judge in civil as well as
ecclesiastical cases. As bishop, he was an upholder of order in a time of
political strife caused by the disintegration of the Roman Empire.
He died at Hippo on 28 August, 430. At the time of his
death, the Vandals were at the gates of Hippo. The cult of Augustine began very
soon after his death and was widespread. His relics were first taken to
Sardinia. Later Liutprand, king of the Lombards, enshrined his body at Pavia.
He is usually depicted in episcopal vestments with a pastoral staff, but later
artists also showed him with the emblem of a heart of fire.
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