Gospel (Mt 25:1-13)

“Then the kingdom of heaven shall be compared to ten maidens who took their lamps and went to meet the bridegroom. Five of them were foolish, and five were wise. For when the foolish took their lamps, they took no oil with them; but the wise took flasks of oil with their lamps. As the bridegroom was delayed, they all slumbered and slept. But at midnight there was a cry, ‘Behold, the bridegroom! Come out to meet him.’ Then all those maidens rose and trimmed their lamps. And the foolish said to the wise, ‘Give us some of your oil, for our lamps are going out.’ But the wise replied, ‘Perhaps there will not be enough for us and for you; go rather to the dealers and buy for yourselves.’ And while they went to buy, the bridegroom came, and those who were ready went in with him to the marriage feast; and the door was shut. Afterward the other maidens came also, saying, ‘Lord, lord, open to us.’ But he replied, ‘Truly, I say to you, I do not know you.’ Watch therefore, for you know neither the day nor the hour.”

Commentary

Jesus continues exhorting us to always be watchful. He does so now with a parable about a marriage feast. The bridegroom is about to arrive and a procession of virgins is waiting to accompany him with their lamps lit. But the bridegroom is late, which points us to the meaning of this parable: the marriage feast is the Kingdom of Heaven; the bridegroom is Christ who will come at the end of time to judge and reward each according to their deeds; but the time of his arrival is uncertain and hence the need to remain always watchful. Invited to a life of communion with God, in order to enter his Kingdom we need to keep our heart vigilant for when this moment arrives.

Saint Paul tells the Christians in Thessalonica to have no doubt that Christ will come in glory, but that the best way to prepare for this moment is to fulfill our daily obligations with love (cf. 1 Thes 4:1-12). We have a mission entrusted to us: to direct all our activities to Christ, to make Him the heart of our work, so that everything can be recapitulated and vivified in Him, and elevated to the Father. God relies on us to help establish his Kingdom among men. To do this we must take this life seriously, living with the awareness that the baptized need to have the mind of Christ, setting our minds on the things that are above (cf. Col 3:1-3), while at the same time loving this world. For Christ , head of the Church, is seated at the right hand of the Father.

We do not know the day or the hour. But we do know that charity has neither set days nor hours: our entire existence is a vocation to love and therefore we do not have to wait for special or striking opportunities in order to love. Christians can’t divide their life into watertight compartments, as though any of them were foreign to God. Nothing of ours is foreign to Him. He awaits us in everything we do, think and feel, twenty-four hours a day. If we want to be Christ’s light in the world, the love of Christ must be present in every corner of our life: our sentiments must be the sentiments of Christ.