Nov 12 Sun
In the parable (Mt 25:1-13), the ten virgins took their lamps and went out to meet the bridegroom. It focuses on the Bridegroom who arrives at midnight, at an unexpected moment, and on the disposition with which he finds those who are to participate with him in the wedding feast, especially the ten virgins. They had received a trustworthy commission: to await him with their lamps burning with the necessary oil.
The Bridegroom is Christ who arrives at an unknown hour; the virgins represent all humanity; some will be vigilant, with good works; others, careless, without oil for the lamps: it is the moment when God comes to each soul, the moment of death.
For us, the first thing in life, the truly important thing, is to enter the wedding banquet that God himself has prepared for us. Everything else is relative and secondary: success, fame, poverty or wealth, health or sickness. All this will be good if it helps us to keep the lamp burning with a good supply of oil, which is good works, especially charity.
Immediately after death, the so-called particular judgment will take place, in which the soul, with a light received from God, will see in a few moments, and in full depth, the merits and faults of its life on earth, its good works and its sins. What joy will give us then our aspirations, those genuflections made with love, the hours of work we offered to God, the works of mercy, the smile that cost us when we were tired!
What sadness for the times we offended God; for the hours of study or work that did not deserve to reach the Lord; the lost opportunities to speak of God! What regret for so much lack of generosity and correspondence to grace! What unhappiness for so much omission! Immediately after death, we will either enter the wedding banquet, or find the doors closed forever.
Let us meditate on the state of our soul, and the meaning we give to our days: I know well, Lord, that nothing I do has any meaning unless it brings me closer to You!
The person who loves does not forget the loved one. When the Lord becomes the first one in our life, we do not forget Him. Watch therefore, for you know neither the day nor the hour. For this we need to make the daily examination of conscience, conscientiously. We must seek the ultimate motives of our thoughts, deeds, and words, so that we can promptly apply the appropriate remedies. Our Lady will help us to purify our life, and our Guardian Angel will not abandon us now or at the moment of our death.
Video: