Jesus told his disciples this parable:"The kingdom of heaven will be like ten virginswho 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 cameand 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."
REFLECTION
"stay awake,for you know neither the day nor the hour."
God's wisdom or the Logos is the second divine person of the Holy Trinity. The Divine second person became incarnate, became man. He has both a divine nature and a human nature: True God and true man.
The Logos is true love and He gave His whole self, body and soul, divinity and humanity to save us. What God wants for us is good and just. If we seek goodness and love, we will find it. If we seek sin we will find its darkness. And if we seek Him, we will certainly find Him because He sought us first. He tells us to
"stay awake,for you know neither the day nor the hour."
And we are given the hope of being with God. But what happens to us if we neglect to prepare our lamps and show up too late? In this parable, the lamps are our spiritual well being and our preparedness to reach heaven or the wedding feast. But once we die, there are no more chances. There are no second chances once the door is locked, once we die.
Wisdom loves us and warns us to "stay awake" because if we are not prepared we will lose our position and lose our eternal life in heaven, our desire for God, our own spiritual wedding feast with God.
As we pray for the souls in purgatory, remember that they stayed awake and are now in the process of being purged, made ready to see God. As we approach Advent, let us remember the incarnate God came so that we would not miss the wedding feast.
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