Thirty-Second Sunday in Ordinary Time · Year A · Matthew 25:1-13
The ten virgins
For Sunday, November 8, 2026
Ten bridesmaids (the Gospel says virgins) go out at night to meet the bridegroom, lamps lit. Five bring extra oil. Five do not. He is late, and they all fall asleep. At midnight someone shouts that he is coming. The lamps are going out. The five without oil ask the five with it to share. No. Go buy your own. While they are gone the bridegroom comes, the ready ones go in with him, and the door is locked. When the others get back he says, I do not know you.
The part that bothers kids is the no. Five girls had plenty and would not share. It sounds selfish. Jesus tells it anyway, so the no is the point. You cannot give what you do not have, and the oil is the one thing in the story that cannot be handed over.
What is the oil? Whatever each of us brings to meet Him. Prayer. Mass. Showing up when nothing seems to be happening. A friend cannot hand you theirs at midnight. A sponsor cannot. A parent cannot, and that one is hard to hear. You can bring your kids to the door. The oil is theirs. Jesus ends it plainly: stay awake.
Five minutes at the table
- Say you studied hard for a good grade in school. A friend who did not try asks if they can have your good grade. What do you tell them? And if you could hand it over, would you?
- What is in your lamp right now? What have you built up that nobody could have done for you?
- The bridegroom was late and they all fell asleep. Where are you waiting on God and getting tired of it?
Class discussion topics
Nov 4 — Connect Chapter 4, The Structure of the Church. Sponsor forms due.
“Who runs the Church, and what is your job in it?”
The lesson is the structure of the Church, and it starts small. Each kid names a kind act they can do on their own. Holding a door. Sitting with the kid who eats alone. Then the class talks about doing it with friends. The same kind act, done together, reaches more people.
More takes organizing. One-on-one basketball with a friend takes a ball and a hoop. A tournament with teams from across the state takes months of planning. Referees, scorekeepers, security guards, gyms, schedules. The kids playing hardly see it. Next time they might thank the refs, the scorekeepers, the other teams. At least the coach, and the parents who drove them.
The Church is the biggest team there is, and its organization helps us spread her mission. The Pope, the successor of Peter. Bishops, the successors of the Apostles. Priests and deacons who serve with them. Sisters and brothers who give their whole lives by vow. And the laity, everyone else. The kids find out they are in the biggest group by far.
Sunday is a chance to notice the refs. Someone set the altar, practiced the music, and is reading the first reading. Thank one of them.
Sunday's Gospel is read to the locked door and left there. Five would not share their oil, in a lesson about working together. Why? The answer waits for Mass, and it is above: a team is only as good as what each player brings, and nobody can bring yours for you.
For the ride home: brainstorm the service project. What is the oil in your lamp that only you have? What kinds of projects would let it shine? The Project Book comes in for a first look in December, and the finished project goes in with it at Sponsor Night in April.