My wife, Anna, says that I sometimes overthink some things. I said, shouldn’t the bridegroom be with his bride. What was he doing with 10 virgins anyway? My wife is right. Saint Paul writes We have been called by God to be holy, not to be immoral; in other words, anyone who objects is not objecting to a human authority, but to God, who gives you his Holy Spirit. These were 10 good people. They could be women or men. They were sinners but not bad people. Saint Matthew is quoting Jesus who is using a metaphor in His parable of Him as the bridegroom and the 10 souls that do not know when their time on earth is over. There was a difference in 5 of these virgins.
How do keep oil in our lamps burning?
Saint Paul writes, conduct yourselves to please God. Saint Paul further writes. Therefore, whoever disregards this, disregards not a human being but God, who also gives his Holy Spirit to you. So, the Holy Spirit maybe part of God’s plan to be prepared. The 5 successful virgins planned for the future. Our future is heaven, and we also have to be prepared. The five foolish virgins didn’t plan. They did most of the right things but only went through the motions.
How do we use the Holy Spirit to plan for success?
We pray to God the Father, God the Son, but God the Holy Spirit is sometimes ignored. Sometimes I just don’t know how to pray or what to pray for, but I am confident that the Holy Spirit knows. Romans 8:25-27 But if we hope for what we do not see, we wait with endurance. In the same way, the Spirit too comes to the aid of our weakness; for we do not know how to pray as we ought, but the Spirit itself intercedes with inexpressible groanings. And the one who searches hearts knows what is the intention of the Spirit, because it intercedes for the holy ones according to God’s will.
The second thing that differentiated the wise virgins was that they thought ahead. They had a plan and so must we. We have to plan to go to Church and what Mass to attend. We have to plan for the Sacrament of Reconciliation. We have to plan to help others. This week I hug a flagpole on my neighbor’s apartment’s entrance. I got the ladder out, laid out the simple hardware and my drill with extension cord. It was a simple task that always takes longer than expected, but that was part of the plan.
We have been called by God to be holy, not to be immoral; in other words, anyone who objects is not objecting to a human authority, but to God, who gives you his Holy Spirit. The 5 virgins who had a plan and listened to the Holy Spirit won.
We also must plan, stay awake, listen to the Holy Spirit and keep your lamps burning, “because you do not know either the day or the hour.”
God Love You Always
Bob Burford
PS: Please Pray for Cancer victims and their caregivers. Pray for the conversion of Russia and the salvation of the Ukrainian and Russian people and their soldiers. Pray for peace! Pray for Hurricane and wildfire victims.
