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.”
MEMENTO MORI
Sometimes we live our lives as though we have forgotten that they must eventually come to an end. Jesus uses the Parable of the Ten Virgins (Mt 25:1-13) to remind us that our lives are like a watch in the night, a vigil that will come to an end when he, the Bridegroom, comes out to meet us. He must find us ready, but we do not know when he will come or call us to meet him.
Keeping a watch in the night means we must be alert lest we are surprised by an enemy. It also means that we keep our lamps burning so that even in the midst of the darkness, we are able to see. The night in which we find ourselves is this world that either constantly suggests to us more and more pleasures, distractions, power and riches to hoard, or persecutes us for living in a manner that does not conform to its principles. We keep our lamps burning by, among other things that the Church teaches us: prayer, work and detachment.
“Prayer is the raising of one’s mind and heart to God or the requesting of good things from God (St John Damascene, De fide orth.)” (CCC 2590). St. Augustine tells us that God made us for himself: we belong to him (Confessions 1.1). He is the Bridegroom our hearts long for, the fulfillment of all our desires. In all our hungers and thirsts, it is really God that we are seeking (cf. Ps 42:1-2; 63:1). Prayer is the means through which we strengthen our union with him, our experience of him. Without prayer, our lives become arid and we lose direction. Yet our desire persists, and we end up going after what is not God. The watch that God asks us to keep is a journey riddled with many difficulties and confusions. If we fail to stay in close union with him through prayer, everything falls apart: we are tossed by the world’s cares and attractions like leaves in the wind. Prayer keeps us grounded, strong and focused on the goal; it strengthens our love for God and from it we draw grace to find joy in our waiting. Prayer is the oil that keeps our lamps burning.
When watchmen keep vigil, it is not a passive activity. While we wait for the Lord to come, we must attend to the duties he has given us. We do this through our work, which is “the sum of activities, resources, instruments and technologies” we use “to produce things, [and] to exercise dominion over the earth” (Compendium of the Social Doctrine of the Church, 270). Our work can take the nature of study, of caring for a family, of treating the sick, of teaching, of farming, or some other activity. As long as this work remains conformed to God’s will in that it promotes the good of ourselves and others, then it can be a means through which we can realize the wonderful gift that our lives are: our watch is not a punishment from God, but a means to draw closer to him, serve our brothers and sisters, and realize our own potential in line with his purposes. Work also prevents us from getting drowsy and idle, lest the devil have his chance (cf. Eph 4:27; Mt 26:41). As St Benedict puts it: “Idleness is the enemy of the soul. Therefore, the brothers should have specified periods for manual labor” (Rule of St Benedict 48:1).
Finally: detachment, which rings true in the words of our Lord: “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven” (Mt 5:3). In the world, we are sure to own many riches: material wealth, friends, family, power, reputation, fame, and much more. Detachment means that we do not mistake these things, good as they may be, for God. We should cling to nothing, knowing that we ultimately need nothing but God. We must truly love our neighbor (Mk 12:31), we must use the material things of the world rightly (cf. Lk 16:9), but we belong to God alone (Ps 100:3; Rm 14:8). There is only one Bridegroom (cf. Jn 3:29) to whom we are to be united for all eternity, and when he comes, he must find us ready to receive and embrace him with our hearts open and not crowded by inordinate attachments.
As we keep our watch, we must remember that it will eventually come to an end. The things of this world are passing away (see 1 Jn 2:17; 1 Cor 7:31); even the night itself is passing away. We must be like the saints, who are often portrayed with a skull nearby: a symbol of their wisdom and prudence. They remembered that they would eventually die—that the Bridegroom would eventually come. They prayed, they worked, they were detached from all that is not God. When the Lord called them, they were ready.
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