Refusing Indifference
The nights are drawing in. The Christmas lights will be turned on in Canterbury this coming Friday. All the stalls for the Christmas market are in place, and Christmas Day is less than seven weeks away.
During the next three weeks of November, the gospel readings at Mass come from the 25th chapter of Matthew. This chapter is often described as one of the most striking and sobering chapters in Scripture. It contains three parables:
- The Ten Bridesmaids: Jesus shows that readiness means the Holy Spirit filling us continually — not merely outward appearance. Five were wise and five foolish; the foolish ran out of oil before the bridegroom arrived and were excluded.
- The parable of the Talents (‘talents’ stand for God-given abilities for assigned duties): faithfulness depends not on output but on how sincerely we manage what God has given to us.
- The Judgement of the Nations (the familiar passage called ‘The Sheep and the Goats’): here Jesus describes final judgement as dividing people into righteous and unrighteous groups.
Taken together, this chapter offers us one unified vision of Christian life:
- Watchfulness — nurture interior holiness rather than relying on appearances.
- Faithful stewardship — employ every gift God provides, avoiding fear.
- Active love — serve Christ in the suffering, refusing indifference.
The chapter makes clear that our own eternal outcome rests on how we treat others. It reveals who Christ is: He is the Bridegroom we await, the Lord who entrusts gifts, and the one hidden in the face of the poor. The unsettling current beneath the entire chapter is the risk of indifference. Across all these parables, indifference exacts a heavy cost. We cannot afford to be indifferent — either toward Jesus, the Holy Spirit, our resources, the needy, or lost humanity.
Rather than becoming anxious about all the many things we need to do before Christmas, over the next three weeks let Matthew 25 be for us a daily examination of conscience. Am I living as if Christ might return tonight? Am I using what God has given me? Am I recognising Christ’s face in those who suffer around me?
