Today's Gospel has the difficult parable of the ten virgins waiting to meet the bridegroom with their lamps to light his way. Half of these virgins are wise and come prepared with flasks of oil for their lamps. Half are foolish and not prepared for a long wait; they have no flasks of oil. All of them fall asleep. At midnight, there was a cry, "Behold the bridegroom! Come out to meet him!" All got up and trimmed their lamps but the foolish ones had not enough oil. Why did the wise ones not share? I guess they were wise enough to know that it was better to have the five lamps than to end in darkness because no one had enough oil. The foolish then leave to go try to buy oil. The bridegroom arrives and the wise virgins enter with him to the wedding feast. The others are locked out. The Gospel ends with a warning for all of us: Therefore, stay awake, for you know neither the day nor the hour.
It is a hard parable to understand. For those who came prepared, all went well. Am I prepared? I need to live each day as if it were my last day and then I shall be prepared. What is the oil I need to stock to keep my lamp burning? If wise, I shall be prepared to meet my bridegroom with joy!
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