One of the themes in the Sacred Scripture is about acquiring "wisdom." To be wise means to have a lamp that is lit because wisdom guides the person to the right path. And to be foolish means to be unwise, that is, to live a life without any direction at all. Today, we hear the famous parable of the ten virgins, five of whom are wise, and the other five are foolish.

Since November 1 is the Solemnity of All Saints, the liturgy, and the readings for the 31st Sunday of Ordinary Time are set aside to give preference to the liturgy and readings proper to Solemnities. In this Solemnity, we focus our attention on the Church Triumphant: the holy men and women who enjoy the beatific vision of God.

Fr. Flor McCarthy, SDB, the author of New Sunday and Holy Day Liturgies has the story to tell us. It is the story of Abbot Moses who is known for his holiness.

Since Holy Week was fast approaching, he and all the monks had agreed to fast and pray in their respective cells for the entire Holy Week. However, about the middle of the week, two wandering monks came to visit the cell of Abbot Moses.

Are humans basically good? Yes of course, because we were all created in the "image and likeness of God" who is "All Good". Why is it that we sometimes do what is contrary, that is, evil? Is it because of human weakness? We see this reality in the story that we have today. The adversaries of Jesus (the Scribes and Pharisees) are determined to trap Jesus so as to find something to accuse him of or to incriminate him. The trap was genuinely put in a question: "Is it lawful to pay taxes to Caesar or not?"

What is peculiar with the Gospel of Matthew is that it has many parables. Today, we hear again another beautiful parable, the Parable of the great Banquet. In sacred scripture banquets signify God's blessings which he wants to bestow not only to the people of Israel but to all the nations. And God wants that his banquet hall will be filled with a lot of people. He wants the Kingdom of heaven be filled with a lot of people because his gift of salvation is universal. It is for all people.

Today we hear another parable which is the Parable of the fruitless vineyard. The first reading tells us about the people of Israel who are compared to God’s vineyard whom he cared for; yet they failed to produce good fruit. The same scenario has taken placed in the Gospel: the landowner is God; the vineyard is the people of Israel.

Last Sunday, we heard the Parable of the workers in the vineyard wherein we learned about the benevolence and generosity of God which we could not merit by our own works and actions, but on the very nature of God who loves us unconditionally. Today, we hear another parable which is the Parable of the two sons. This specific parable is primarily addressed by Jesus to the Pharisees and the scribes, his adversaries.

The first reading today emphatically states that God is completely different from us humans. It says: “God’s ways are not our ways. God’s thoughts are not our thoughts.” This is aptly expressed and illustrated in the parable that we have heard today, which is the “Parable of the of the Workers in the Vineyard.” I suppose that this story is Jesus’ way of defending himself from his adversaries who criticized Him for giving more preferential love to the outcast than to the virtuous. He teaches that God is full of mercy and compassion to the poor and outcast, and that His generosity is based on His nature which we humans cannot merit.

The whole of Matthew 18 teaches about “community life” and its intricacies about human relationships. Last Sunday, the Lord taught that we must correct our erring brother or sister because we responsible for each other and that we belong to one community, thus we are all brothers and sisters united under the Fatherhood of God. In correcting, our aim is to win over our erring brother or sister, devoid of judgement, embarrassment and humiliation.

This Sunday readings follow a theme: “As God’s people we belong to one community, therefore we are responsible for each other.” Our first reading (Ez 33:7-9) tells us about the role of a prophet or messenger which is to point out the error or mistake of the person and lead him to the truth. We have the responsibility to warn people for God.