How Prepared Am I (Sunday, Week 32, Year 2)

We are in the final lap of the Church’s year. During this time of the year, most scriptural passages for Mass will remind us of the end-time and the coming of the Son of Man. Most of those descriptions of the end-time in the Bible are scary and frightening. The reason why we have some of these “end-time” readings during this time is not to instill fear in us but to instill in us some hope and a sense of preparedness. Serious and wise students do not need to wait till few weeks before exams before they can begin to prepare for exams. They begin to prepare from the first day of lectures in school. 

Yes, the end shall surely come; but as for “WHEN”, we do not know. In fact, in Matt. 24:36, Christ says, “About that day and hour no one knows, neither the angels of heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father”. Yes, there will be the Day of Judgment; there will be day of reckoning. On the last day, the Son of Man will come again for judgment and He shall appear like a bridegroom. Our gospel text today (cf. Matt. 25:1-13) ends with a powerful injunction: “WATCH for you know neither the day nor the hour”. “To watch” is not to “sit-and-look”; to “watch” is to be alert, active, awake, vigilant, ready and prepared. So the questions are: Since we don’t know the hour or the day, are we ready to meet Him if He comes NOW? How prepared am I?

This brings us to the Parable of the Ten Virgins which we have as our gospel text (cf. Matt. 25:1-13). It is a story very familiar to us. Many, if not all of us, know the story very well. The story begins with this statement: “The Kingdom of heaven shall be compared to ten virgins who took their lamps and went to meet the bridegroom. Five of them were foolish; and five were wise”. They all had their “lamps”. Those who had some extra oil for their lamps were said to be “wise”. And those who didn’t carry extra oil were said to be “foolish”. You see, the words of the Scriptures are deep. This biblical story should not just be interpreted and understood as an ordinary story. The question is: What do the expressions – “lamps” and “extra oil” – signify? What do they mean? Naturally, lamps give us light. And the light from the lamp is sustained by the lamp oil. When a lamp runs out of oil, the light goes off. Now, let us go back to the Bible, precisely the gospel account of Matthew, as we search for the significance of “lamp” and “light”. In Matt. 5:14-16, Christ describes His disciples (followers) in these words, “You are the LIGHT of the world. A city built on a hill cannot be hidden. No one after lighting a lamp puts it under the bushel basket, but on the lamp stand, and it gives light to all in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good deeds and give glory to your Father in heaven”. In Proverb 31:18, one of the reasons why the virtuous woman is described as “virtuous or good” is because “her lamp does not go out at night”. She has a good reservoir of oil, a good reservoir of “virtues” and “good deeds”.

In the light of Matt. 5:14-15, we must understand that inasmuch as we believe in Christ, insofar as we claim that we have faith in Him and have chosen to be His followers, we carry the light (the light of faith). Such light of faith must be authenticated and kept alive by our good deeds. It must shine out as good deeds and must be sustained by good deeds. If there are no good deeds which are supposed to give credibility to the light of our faith, then that “light” will surely go out and our faith will take us nowhere. In the light of Prov. 31:18 and Matt. 5:14-15, we may say that what oil is to a lamp is what good deeds are to our faith. And that is why St James says that “faith without good deeds is dead”. When the foolish virgins came back, they called out, “Lord, Lord, open for us”. And the Lord responded, “Truly, I say to you, I DO NOT KNOW YOU”. In Matt. 7:22-23, in a similar vein, Jesus says that “On that day many will say to Him, 'Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many deeds of power in your name?' Then I will declare to them, 'I DO NOT KNOW YOU; go away from me, you evildoers.'” As we parade our faith, please do we have the extra oil: the extra oil of purity, the extra oil of honesty, the extra oil of love and generosity, and so on? If we lack the extra oil, our lamps will surely burn out and our faith will never take us anywhere.  

We need wisdom that we may not forget that “EXTRA OIL” is needed for our entrance into the banquet hall of heaven. We need wisdom to know that it is not about calling Him “Lord, Lord”, but it is all about doing His will. Wisdom is not impossible to acquire. It is close to us. The first reading (cf. Wisdom 6:12-16) says that wisdom is found by those who seek her. And anyone who is vigilant on account of her (that is, wisdom) will be free: free from worries of end-time speculations and events, free from doubts about his/her fate, free from fear of eternal damnation, and free from fear about death. It seems the Christians in Thessalonica were already anxious, worried about death or the end-time and were grieving over those who were dead. In the second reading (cf. 1 Thess. 4:13-18), St Paul encouraged them to console one another with the fact that “on that day, those who are alive and the dead will reunite in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air”. Let us not be worried about death or about the end. If we must be worried at all, let us be worried about our level of preparedness. How prepared are we to meet the Lord?