Friends,
our Gospel today is the parable that compares the kingdom of heaven
"with ten virgins who with their lamps went out to meet the bridegroom."
This is an image borrowed from the customs of the time. The bridesmaids
would wait for the groom and, upon his appearance, accompany him.
Well,
this is the Christian community, waiting for Christ the groom to
arrive. Did Jesus tell this parable because he knew that his Church
would be in for a long period of waiting?
We
are wise in our waiting if we pray on a regular basis; if we educate
ourselves in the
faith; if we participate in the sacraments, especially the Eucharist; if
we perform the corporal and spiritual works of mercy; if we become
people of love. We are foolish in our waiting if we neglect these
things.
And
here is one of the hardest truths of this parable: the divine life, so
cultivated, cannot simply be shared with another at the last minute. The
wise virgins are not being difficult and self-absorbed when they tell
their friends that they can’t help them. A saint can’t simply infuse his
life into another; it just doesn’t work that
way.
Friday of the Twenty-first Week in Ordinary Time
Lectionary: 429
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.
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."
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