Daily Archives: November 9, 2023

The Living Waters

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While we celebrate the dedication of the “mother church” of Western Christianity today, I think the image of the prophet Ezekiel goes to the heart of the matter. An Angel of the Lord comes to Ezekiel and describes to the prophet a temple from which rivers of living waters flow to all the corners of the earth.  Everywhere the river flows there is not just life, but abundant life – urbis et orbis – to all the cities and into the world. The living waters turn saltwater to fresh, gives all living creatures the chance to thrive and multiply, and all manner of game, fish, and produce are plentiful. Continue reading →

Lacking Oil

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This coming Sunday is the 32nd Sunday of Ordinary Time. Our gospel is the parable of the Ten Virgins. It was not that five slept and five stayed awake: v. 5 says explicitly that they all slept and all had to be awakened by the midnight shout. The problem goes back to the preparations they had made before going to sleep. At the core of the problem is that they lacked oil for their lamps. While the parable itself offers no allegorical identification for the oil, we do know that oil is a rich and multifaceted symbol in both the Old and New Testaments. Its symbolic use carries various meanings and significance in different contexts. Here are some of the key ways in which oil is symbolically used in both the Old and New Testaments: Continue reading →