This morning’s Gospel reading is Matthew 25:1–13:

Jesus told his disciples this parable:

“The kingdom of heaven will be like 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. Since the bridegroom was long delayed, they all became drowsy and fell asleep.

At midnight, there was a cry, ‘Behold, the bridegroom! Come out to meet him!’ Then all those virgins got up and trimmed their lamps. 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 there may not be enough for us and you. Go instead to the merchants and buy some for yourselves.’ While they went off to buy it, the bridegroom came and those who were ready went into the wedding feast with him. Then the door was locked. Afterwards the other virgins came and said, ‘Lord, Lord, open the door for us!’ But he said in reply, ‘Amen, I say to you, I do not know you.’ Therefore, stay awake, for you know neither the day nor the hour.”

For most of my life — and certainly after my teen years — I have had a particular compulsion about punctuality and preparation. I hate being late, even when punctuality really isn’t an issue, and I have had to force myself to stop showing up early for social occasions. In fact, I went to a social function just this week and had to pull over for a few minutes to keep from showing up before the appointed time. I burned a few minutes checking e-mail and news headlines.

This becomes even more true while traveling. I hate the need to rush through airports, so I show up far earlier than even the TSA suggests just to avoid it. When traveling by car, I want to leave as early as possible to get as much done. I’ll set my alarms far earlier than necessary on such days, and then when it’s too early to leave, I’ll sit and fidget until I can finally be on the road, either literally or to the airport. And I don’t even like to travel all that much.

I only wish that I had that same sense of vigilance about my spiritual life and preparation for that journey.

Today’s readings all have something to say about keeping vigil for salvation to come, and the need to shake off our slumber in one way or another. How ardently do we prepare for our greatest journey? Or do we prepare at all?

Our first reading from Wisdom offers us a beautiful and poetic look at this question, and emphasizes how important our vigil is. In this case, Wisdom is given a feminine quality of both love and perfection, who responds to those who prepare for her coming.

In fact, our sense of vigilance and desire for salvation makes Wisdom even more eager to fulfill our longing, as the author of the book writes in this passage. “She hastens to make herself known in anticipation of their desire,” we hear today. ‘”Whoever watches for her at dawn shall not be disappointed, for he shall find her sitting by his gate. … whoever for her sake keeps vigil shall be quickly free from care[.]”

What does this tell us about salvation? Salvation is an act of cooperation, not just dropped from the sky. Wisdom comes to those who prepare to encounter her, and the more they make themselves ready to receive her, the more Wisdom “hastens” to their side. It is not that Wisdom disdains others, but that the disdain of others prevents them from encountering her. Wisdom is always present and ready to bless those who wish to receive her, but they have to make themselves ready for that encounter.

Jesus makes this plain in another sense in today’s parable, but boosts the element if timing as well. What is a wedding and marriage, if not at act of cooperation? The man and woman agree to cooperate in a lifetime bond of self-sacrificing love in the sacrament, to serve each other until death. That extends past the bride and bridegroom to the families and the communities involved as well. But that cooperation and communion comes at a very specific moment, and if that moment is missed, so is the wedding itself — in this case, a symbolic and literal representation of salvation. We are all the bride of Christ in salvation, after all, a truth in Revelation that we celebrate in every Mass.

In this parable, it is not sleep itself that represents a failure. All of the virgins fall asleep while waiting for the bridegroom, whether ‘prepared’ or not. Sleep does not prevent them from coming to the wedding, but rather the lack of preparation before sleep. No one knew when the wedding would take place, but those who had brought their lamp oil were prepared when the bridegroom appeared. Those who had dissipated their fuel were left in literal darkness.

Sleep in this instance represents death, a point made more explicitly in our reading today from Paul’s first letter to the Thessalonians. Paul refers to “the dead in Christ” in those first years of the Church as those who have “fallen asleep.” It is our vigilance before falling asleep that will matter when the Bridegroom wakes us and calls us to the wedding. If we have not filled our lamps with His light before falling asleep, we too will remain in the darkness when the Wedding Feast of the Lamb takes place.

The temptations of this world encourage us to procrastinate on the vigilance and preparation necessary for salvation. We are too often preoccupied with our own appetites and foolish priorities to refill our lamps for the wedding day. Jesus gently reminds us that we have to cooperate in His salvation by maintaining our vigilance in keeping His Word, and trusting that His wedding will lead us to a much better world than this one, in which we set so much store. That truly is Wisdom.

The front-page image is “Parable of the Wise and Foolish Virgins” by Hieronymous Francken II, c. 1616. On display at the Hermitage Museum. Via Wikimedia Commons. 

“Sunday Reflection” is a regular feature, looking at the specific readings used in today’s Mass in Catholic parishes around the world. The reflection represents only my own point of view, intended to help prepare myself for the Lord’s day and perhaps spark a meaningful discussion. Previous Sunday Reflections from the main page can be found here.