You can’t borrow someone else’s relationship with God. You can’t borrow someone else’s prayer life. You have to have your own.
Sunday, Nov. 8, is the 32nd Sunday in Ordinary Time. Mass readings: Wisdom 6:12-16; Psalm 63:2, 3-4, 5-6, 7-8; 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18 or 4:13-14; Matthew 25:1-13.
What does Jesus teach us in the Parable of the Wise and Foolish Virgins?
The text speaks of “ten virgins who took their lamps and went out to meet the bridegroom. Five of them were foolish and five were wise. The foolish ones, when taking their lamps, brought no oil with them, but the wise brought flasks of oil with their lamps.”
The oil is the love of God, the wisdom of God. It is God himself. It is all God’s treasures of Scripture, the sacraments, prayer, the Church and the liturgy; it is joy, mercy, forgiveness, peace, and the gift of holiness. The wise virgins have stocked up on God’s abundant gifts. They have richly availed themselves of God’s goodness and plentiful graces.
The text explains, “The foolish ones said to the wise, ‘Give us some of your oil, for our lamps are going out.’ But the wise ones replied, ‘No, for
