Gospel: Mt 25:1-13
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.”
Homily
“Birds of a feather flock together” is a saying that most of us heard very often in our lives. It was repeated of course when our parents were afraid that the friendships which we had were not facilitating our preparation for adulthood either because of excessive liming and so harming our studies or because we were not establishing the type of relationship which could help us in later life. Parents very correctly saw childhood and youth as preparation for adulthood and they were worried that we prepared well for that stage in life.
The Gospel passage given to us this weekend shows us a Jesus who is concerned that his disciples prepare themselves for the moments when God comes to them and THE FINAL MOMENT in this life when they will see God as God really is.
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Jesus relates the parable of the five foolish maidens and the five wise maidens to his disciples, showing of course how the foolish maidens did not get into the wedding feast, missing all the celebrations, because of their lack of foresight and preparations. In getting ready these foolish maidens never thought about the obstacles which could prevent them being ready to enter into the wedding feast with the bridegroom, and if they did, they were too lazy to make sure that they had what was necessary in case some problem should arise. They took a chance that all would flow smoothly. Unfortunately for them a problem did arise and because of their lack of preparation they lost the chance to enter the wedding feast with the bridegroom.
How often such situations have arisen in life? Failure to check a spare tyre before a trip to the beach or waiting till the last moment to get the ice for a party or waiting till the last moment to study for an exam are all situations which we have experienced in life and the wise amongst us do not let them happen more than once if we have had such an experience. We take such precautions to ensure success in earthly affairs and yet for the most important moments in life, the encounter with God, so often we do not prepare ourselves and are not prepared.
The question then becomes for us; how must we prepare ourselves? In order to answer this question let us look at the lives of the saints. They worked at and lived the double commandment. They loved God with all their mind heart and soul and they loved their fellow human beings as Christ loved us. In other words they built the habit of love into their lives and as all persons who truly love have experienced, once the person loved was around they somehow became aware of his/her presence and they were ready to receive the loved one. Since God was/is the loved One par excellence the saints were always ready to receive God. What is important for us to understand is that we are all called to be saints. Like the saints therefore we must build the habit of love into our lives. If we don’t we may hear those dreadful words; “Amen, I say to you, I do not know you.”
Prayer
All powerful and ever-loving God, you have prepared a feast for us of such magnificence that eye has not seen nor ear heard all the wonderful things which await us. You will come yourselves to escort us and so we must be ready and waiting for you. Help us Lord, like the saints, to prepare ourselves well so that when you come there will be on obstacles to our entering the feast with you. We ask this through the intercession of Mary, our Mother and Jesus your Son. Amen
