32nd Ordinary Sunday (Cycle A)

Wis 6:12-16                1Thess 4:13-18                Mt 25:1-13

A guard in charge of a lighthouse along a dangerous coast was given enough oil for one month and told to keep the light burning every night. One day a woman asked for oil so that her children could stay warm. Then a farmer came. His son needed oil for a lamp so he could read. Another needed some for an engine. The guard saw each as a worthy request and gave some oil to satisfy all. By the end of the month, the tank in the lighthouse was dry. That night the beacon was dark and three ships crashed on the rocks. More than one hundred lives were lost. The lighthouse attendant explained what he had done and why. But the prosecutor replied, “You were given only one task: to keep the light burning. Every other thing was secondary. You have no excuse.”

We may complain about the five wise virgins saying that they were hard hearted not to share their sufficient oil to the other five virgins on their request. But the story about the lighthouse guard gives a sharp point for our thought what the five wise virgins did was right. Here it is not a question of being charitable to the other virgins but it is a question of

-  how far the righteous can allot their charitable space with those who are behaviourally careless,

-  how far the wiseful hardworking category of people have to substitute their merit with those who are complacent,

- how far the watchful can spare their time to those who are non-vigilant.

Our Lord Jesus Christ, presents the foolish virigns as personification of those who are behaviourally careless, complacent in nature and non-vigilant.

Certainly, those who do not have the opportunity for a meritorious and commendable growth deserve help from those who are meritorious. It is obvious that the child which is mentally ill or physically-challenged deserve more attention from the mother than other children who are normal.

Those who are not gifted naturely with smartness always have their share of right from those who are smart. But those who naturally possessed the wiseness, do not deserve the support of others when they failed to be diligent and hardworking. Those who are clever do not deserve a helping hand from others, when they have wasted the resources that were available at their hands. The resources would mean the capital, the opportunity, the human support and the time factor. They are like the third servant in the Parable of the Talents, who hid his master’s money without using it to procure more. The foolish virgins are no different from this foolish servant.

To understand how much the wise virgins, stand as praiseworthy, we shall refer to another parable said by Jesus, i.e. the Parable of the Dishonest Manager (Lk 16:1-8). Jesus points to the smartness, astuteness, shrewdness, cleverness, wiseness, prudence of the dishonest manager who cleverly used his master’s possession to his own end and well-being. Though what was done by the manager in forwarding his master’s property to his own benefit, is unjust, still Jesus points out that his master praised the dishonest steward for his astuteness. Then Jesus goes on to say: For the children of this world are more astute in dealing with their own kind than are the children of light (Lk 16:8).

If the children of this world are smart enough, then how much more, we Christians, who are children of light are expected to be smarter in keeping ourselves to the Lord’s ways and desires. This is the point of thought, Jesus wants us to reflect upon. If the people of this world and age are clever enough to safeguard their body and its ramifications, then how much more the people of light have to be diligent in caring for their souls.

The five wise virgins stand as a prototype of those who all keep their soul undiminished from the ray of divine light. Whereas, sadly, the foolish virgins stand as a model of those who made their glowing lighted soul extinguished at a moment. These are the kind of people who are surrounded by a circle of unawareness, and they become a prey to the wrong directions of the world. They are being trapped into a veil of ignorance. They think that they are clever, but their cleverness resides only within a mesmerized circle of ignorance.

Just imagine what would have been the dialogue between the wise and foolish virgins before they could begin waiting for the bridegroom. To a question whether they should take extra oil, the reply of the foolish virgins would have been that: “we know the time of the bridegroom’s arrival and why we should unnecessarily carry extra oil and burden ourselves.” This happens within their veil of ignorance due to their unawareness.

A foresight was missing among the foolish virgins whereas the wise virgins had that. It was not only their lack of foresight but also their reluctance to invest extra effort of carrying some more oil. Their intention to forgo the extra effort made them land in a sad situation. This may happen to any of us if we try to forgo the extra effort that is wanted of us. Every good work has the ingredient of extra effort. If there are no good works from us, then it is simply the lack of extra effort.

- Do we compromise our foresight by forgoing our extra effort?

- Do we compromise our foresight by our lethargic nature?

-  Do we compromise our foresight by being over-confident?

These are the queries that should linger in our mind as we reflect on the ways of the foolish virgins.

Referring again to the attitude of the foolish servant in the Parable of the Talents, he failed even to invest his extra effort of lending the money with the lender, for his master cursed him saying: you should have deposited my money with the bankers, and on my return, I would have got my money back with interest (Mt 25:27). Surely, the master was not profit-minded in character. Certainly, if the foolish servant would have used the money to procure more, and incurred a loss, his master would have appreciated him for his attitude of investing his energy and effort.

Attitude is the mark of a person’s personality and character. Attitude defines the real merit of a person. Attitude is the little thing that makes a big difference, the difference between the wise and the foolish bridesmaids. Through the Parable of the Ten Bridesmaids, Jesus ultimately points out the kind of attitude that underlied their eventual results.

We are invited through today’s liturgy of the word to overcome our complacent nature with our diligence, to overcome our lethargic nature with our extra efforts, to overcome our ignorance by our foresightedness. This overcoming exercise could begin only with our rightful attitude towards our Christian vocation and life. Let our attitude be noble and righteous!