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.”
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Reflection:
What is the advantage of being prepared? We are always ready for what may
happen during any time of the day.
Jesus said to his disciples: stay awake, for you know neither
the day nor the hour (Matthew 25:13). Indeed, nobody knows the moment of the
Lord’s coming, that’s why it is a must that we are always prepared by following
The Lord’s teachings. We must avoid doing things that would make us sin.
It is very easy to say that we are always prepared for His coming but
sometimes it is only lip service without real conviction to do so. We are
easily tempted to sin again, to hurt people again, to ignore those who are in
need again most especially the poor. And to be egoistic and have that
superiority mindset again.
Many of us are like that, we are only prepared for a short period of time
and then we sin again. Why this is so and what must we do to avoid backsliding
to our sinful behaviors again? We must have a continuous encounter with Jesus
through our attendance at Holy Mass, through our prayers, through reading the
Bible. For this is the only way for us to keep ourselves from backsliding into
sinfulness again. Hence, we would always be prepared.
In the gospel, we read about the ten virgins, five of them were foolish
and five were wise. Those who were wise came prepared by bringing along extra
flask of oil. So that their lamps would be lighted if ever the bridegroom would
arrive late.
And true enough the bridegroom came in late for the wedding feast. But
the five wise virgins had no problem because they had an extra flask of oil for
their lamps. For this reason, the five wise virgins were
allowed entry to the wedding feast to witness the ceremony. What happened to
the other five who were foolish? They were not allowed entry by the bridegroom.
Why? Because they were not prepared.
Our continuous engagement with sin makes us unprepared for the coming of
the Lord. The same continuous engagement with sin will not allow us entry into
heaven when our time is up in this world.
– Marino J. Dasmarinas