There is a story told of three young demons coming of age in hell, preparing to go down to Earth to destroy human souls. The first demon went to Satan and said, "I will tell men there is no God." Satan shook his head and said, "That will not work. Too many men look at the vast expanse of the cosmos and know that a universe of law requires a Lawgiver."
The second demon stepped forward and said, "I will tell them there is no hell!" Satan shook his head again. "No, men and women look into the dark depths of their own hearts and know fully well that evil must be judged."
Then the third demon stepped forward with a cruel smile. "I will not tell them there is no God, and I will not tell them there is no hell. I will simply tell them: There is no hurry."
Satan smiled. "Go," he said. "You will destroy millions."
That, my friends, is the grand deception of our age. It is not that we deny God; it is that we assume we have all the time in the world. Today, Holy Mother Church confronts that very lie.
In our First Reading from the Book of Wisdom, we are introduced to Wisdom personified. The sacred text tells us: "Wisdom is radiant and unfading, and she is easily discerned by those who love her, and is found by those who seek her". She isn't playing hard to get; she is sitting at your gates, waiting for you to wake up and notice her.
Now, let us walk from the sunlight courtyard of Wisdom straight into the midnight darkness of our Gospel from St. Matthew. Ten virgins with their lamps; to meet the bridegroom. Five are wise; five are foolish.
WHAT MADE THE DIFFERENCE?
It wasn't the lamps, all ten of them had lamps. All ten of them flickered with light at the start. All ten of them even grew drowsy and fell asleep. The critical, eternal difference between the wise and the foolish was something invisible, portable, and utterly personal: EXTRA OIL in flasks.
When the midnight cry rang out "Here is the bridegroom! Come out to meet him!" Panic set in. The foolish looked down at their dying wicks and realized a terrifying truth: You cannot borrow grace. The foolish virgins had the outward apparatus (the lamp), yet lacking the hidden, interior substance (the oil).
Dear friends, you can borrow money. You can borrow a car, a book, or an umbrella. But you cannot borrow a relationship with God. You cannot lean on your mother’s rosary, your spouse’s fervent faith, or the spiritual capital of your parish priest when the bridegroom arrives. When the door closes, it closes. There is no second chance.
Connecting Wisdom and the Midnight Cry
How do these two readings lock together? My friends, Wisdom is the oil.
The wise virgins weren't just holding decorative metal; they had cultivated an interior life. They had spent their days letting the light of Truth fill the vessels of their souls, drop by drop, in prayer, in sacrifice, in charity, and in quiet moments with God.
The foolish virgins lived on spiritual credit. They wanted the wedding feast, but they didn't want to pay the daily price of keeping their lamps trimmed and their oil ready for the bridegroom. They thought they had plenty of time. These are the kind of people that will always say to themselves "Tomorrow I will change. Tomorrow I will pray. Tomorrow I will put away that sin, later i will give up that habit, later i will go to confession." But the tragedy of tomorrow is that it very often turns into ‘TOO LATE’. The foolish virgins were spiritual procrastinators. They bought into the third demon’s lie.
A Practical Challenge for the Week
How is your oil supply today? If the midnight cry were to echo through your bedroom right now “Behold, the bridegroom!”, would your lamp be blazing? or would it be sputtering out in a cloud of smoke and panic?
1. Stop living on spiritual leftovers. Stop relying on the faith of yesterday. Grace is like manna in the desert; you cannot hoard it from last week. You need a fresh encounter with Christ in prayer today.
2. Trim your wicks. Examine those areas of your life where worldly distractions, petty grievances, or secret compromises are bleeding away your spiritual energy.
Wisdom is sitting at your gates right now. She is waiting for you to open the door. Do not wait for a midnight cry to discover your flask is empty. Fill your soul with the oil of grace, keep your lamps burning bright, and stay awake for you know neither the day nor the hour.
God bless you, and may He keep you in His peace.