First Reading - 1 Corinthians 1:17-25
Gospel - Matthew 25:1-13
In the first reading, Paul exhorts the Christians in Corinth to approach Jesus through the path of faith believing in his passion, death, and resurrection. In fact, he lists out some obstacles that can become hindrances to believe in Jesus, like, worldly wisdom and desire for signs or miracles to believe in Jesus. Why does Paul exhort the Christians to avoid them? It's because worldly wisdom is insufficient to comprehend the wisdom of God and desires for signs or miracles, without faith, can't be convincing as well. Paul lays stress on the possession of faith (not blind faith) in order to be able to perceive the wisdom of God in the suffering of Jesus. As a matter of fact, Paul underlines that faith in Jesus is the starting point of our Christian life. Therefore, faith in Jesus gives us assurance of hope of new life in Jesus.
In the gospel, Jesus presents the parable of ten virgins. The parable finds its setting in the wedding preparation. The parable displays the customary practices of the time of Jesus. Since a wedding was a great occasion, the whole village would line up at the sides of the road to wish God’s blessings on the bride and groom in procession. The invited ones would join the procession, which started from the bride’s house, and ended at the groom’s house to take part in the week-long celebration. Since the bridegroom might come to the bride’s house unexpectedly, the bridal party had to be ready at any time, with virgins carrying lighted torches and reserve oil in jars. The five foolish virgins who could not welcome the groom’s party lost not only the opportunity of witnessing the marriage ceremony, but also of participating in the week-long celebration that followed thereafter. The direct implication of the parable is that the foolish virgins represent the “Chosen People of God” who were waiting for the Messiah but were shut out from the Messianic banquet because they were unprepared. The universal meaning is that the five foolish virgins represent those who fail to prepare for the end of their lives and for the Final Judgment. What was the problem of those foolish virgins? It was lack of sensitivity and seriousness. They were insensitive to the need of time and not serious about forsightedness. Hence, they were imprudent.
Dear friends, we are not sure of our lives. The life we have is short-lived and temporary and our tendancies to appropriate it will be our constant effort but the fact is, we cannot possess it forever. Thus, let's not mess it up by being imprudent and insensitive like those foolish virgins. It's because of their imprudence, they were unprepared to welcome the bridegroom. We are given opportunity to save it by laying a strong foundation of faith in Jesus as St. Paul also instructs us. However, our life of negligence and shallowness of faith can make us only unprepared for our destination to be with the bridegroom at the wedding feast that is heaven. Let's always keep the oil of faith to reinforce our Christian life and be prepared for the coming of the Lord.
May God help us save our lives by living a holy life sustained by strong faith.
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