‘Give us some of your oil,
for our lamps are going out.’
The foolish virgins were not totally unprepared. Their lamps were lit. The problem for them was that they hadn't anticipated and prepared for the long haul.
Since the bridegroom was long delayed,
they all became drowsy and fell asleep.
Everyone, both wise and foolish, felt this drowsiness, and all succumbed to it. During their sleep further preparations could not be made and they were thrown back on whatever precautions they had or had not already taken.
The foolish ones said to the wise,
‘Give us some of your oil,
for our lamps are going out.’
The wise virgins could not empty out their supply of oil. They were rightly unwilling to cast themselves into darkness. They had and could only have that which they had prepared for themselves, and splitting it, trying to do for others what only the Spirit could do, might well leave them both in darkness.
Go instead to the merchants and buy some for yourselves.
The foolish virgins went to seek the oil to make them again lights for the world, but they did this too late. Had they not fallen asleep they might have noticed the problem and had time to correct it. But it is clear that they were wrong to take for granted that they could in fact stay awake. They ought to have recognized that their might well be prolonged darkness in the future, that it might well be difficult to stay or wake or make provisions for oneself during that time. The wise virgins showed a better approach, bringing not only lit lamps, but extra oil. They did this because they knew they had no guarantees as to when the bridegroom would come, much less as to whether they could stay entirely alert for that period.
but the wise brought flasks of oil with their lamps.
How do we prepare in advance for times of darkness and desolation? There are several complementary approaches to suggest. The first is one of the rules for discernment taught by Saint Ignatius of Loyola.
“let the one who is in consolation think how he will conduct himself in the desolation which will come after, taking new strength for that time” - Rule #10 for Discernment of Spirits, by Saint Ignatius of Loyola
Another recommendation is to do what Mary did when she received blessings, when she "kept all these things in her heart and thought about them often" (see Luke 2:19).
Still another way we can prepare is to imitate the one leper who returned to Jesus with thanksgiving. Then, in the darker times, the enemy will not be able to make us forget all that the Lord has done for us.
One of them, when he saw he was healed, came back, praising God in a loud voice. 16 He threw himself at Jesus’ feet and thanked him—and he was a Samaritan (see Luke 17:11-19).
The Lord himself provides the Spirit by which we make ready to endure through hard times and await his coming faithfully. We only need to let ourselves be filled, not being content with just enough to get by for the day, but taking advantage of all that he has to offer. It would be difficult, for instance, to have going to weekly mass as one's only practice of devotion and still be ready when the time comes to meet the Lord.
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.’
If we do not avail ourselves of the light provided by Jesus through his Spirit the darkness will make us unrecognizable. We will lack something important and fundamental about who we are meant to be. Therefore, let us stay awake so that as much as possible we can notice when the fuel is running low. Let us prepare for those times when sleep overwhelms, doing all we can in times of consolation to store up the light so that we can make it through the night until we too hear the cry:
‘Behold, the bridegroom! Come out to meet him!’
Paul was, in effect, saying the same thing to the Thessalonians. What you are doing, he suggested, is good. More will only be better! More will make you more future proof than you are now. Not necessarily more devotions or good works, though perhaps those things as well, secondarily. First and foremost, "conduct yourselves to please God". Before we start getting out our works righteousness checklists we should realize that this first means spending time with him so that the fruits of his Spirit can take hold more fully in our hearts.
Brothers and sisters,
we earnestly ask and exhort you in the Lord Jesus that,
as you received from us
how you should conduct yourselves to please God–
and as you are conducting yourselves–
you do so even more.
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