The Wise Virgins

The Foolish Virgins

The Wise and Foolish Virgins, c. 1250, The (Lutheran) Cathedral of Saints Maurice and Catherine (of Siena), Magdeburg, Germany.

Click here to access today’s Sunday Mass Readings.

[The bridegroom said to the foolish virgins] ..”Amen, I say to you, I do not know you.” Therefore, stay awake, for you know neither the day nor the hour.     Matthew 25:12-13.

Click on words highlighted in red for further information.

In the eyes of a 21st. century person, this is a rather strange parable. Ten young women are told to get ready for the arrival of a bridegroom, making sure they take their lamps with them. We are not told who the bridegroom is, or, indeed, who he intends to marry. And the lamp thing is unusual too. In fact, the whole situation is a challenge to understand, especially with no mention when the bridegroom will appear which seems to be the point of the story. In fact, he arrives at midnight! Well, it was just as well they were told to bring their lamps – but half of them had no oil for them. The others, who had prepared, knew that if they shared their oil with their foolish friends, everyone would be left in the dark because there would not be enough to go round. So off went the foolish maidens to get some oil; the wise young women, with their lamps lit, welcomed the bridegroom and went into the wedding feast with him. By the time the others returned, the feast was presumably underway but the gates were now locked. The bridegroom himself came out to tell them he did not even know them. He left them there, on the wrong side of the locked gates. And that’s it, apart from the instruction to “stay awake” as we neither know the day not the hour.

It just seems to be a little mean, that the foolish maids would be abandoned, presumably for eternity, excluded from the heavenly banquet (if that is what it was) because they had forgotten to buy some oil! Yes, on the face of it, strange and mean. Well we know the Lord is not mean, but sometimes he serves a challenge up to us to mull over, and bat ideas around.

Which is exactly what I did. And then a thought from years ago came to me. In 1908, a veteran soldier in England called Robert Baden-Powell published a book called “Scouting for Boys”. He  managed to gather together an eclectic bunch of boys from several levels of society (and England was very class conscious then, even more than today) and took them off to live somewhat by their wits on an island near Bournemouth on the English Channel coast. It was the very first gathering of what was to become the international boy scout movement, currently comprising millions of members worldwide, and long including girls. So what magic did this Pied Piper have that attracted all levels of society to live, somewhat, in the wild? It was, I believe, summed up in the scout motto, present in the book and in that first camp on Brownsea Island near Bournemouth: “Be Prepared”. What did that mean? According to the founder, it meant “You are always in a state of readiness in mind and body to do your duty”. His idea was that Scouts should prepare themselves to become productive citizens and strong leaders and to bring joy to other people. He wanted each Scout to be ready in mind and body and to meet with a strong heart whatever challenges might await him. In other words, to “Be Prepared”. All this seemed to fit today’s gospel well nigh perfectly.

Be Prepared: The Original Story Behind the Scout Motto

And here are the words of Baden-Powell himself as to the meaning:

BE PREPARED

which means, you are always in a state of readiness in mind and body to do your DUTY.

Be Prepared in Mind by having disciplined yourself to be obedient to every order, and also by having thought out beforehand any accident or situation that might occur, so that you know the right thing to do at the right moment, and are willing to do it.

Be Prepared in Body by making yourself strong and active and able to do the right thing at the right moment, and do it.

Clearly the foolish virgins in the parable do not fit that perfect model in any way. In fact, it is almost as if Baden-Powell had just read that very parable and tried to figure out what was wrong with those foolish virgins, what it was that they lacked, why they were considered to be so at fault and, more importantly, what could be done about it. Looking at that formula above, they failed in every single respect. But nothing there is impossible. It just takes care, forethought, willingness and preparation, something all of us can appreciate and do. The wise virgins had prepared themselves for the task and then allowed themselves to fall asleep at the evening grew long. The others not.

So the task for which the wise had prepared themselves, using Baden-Powell’s model, was life: the ups and downs, the joyful and the tragic, the expected and unexpected, all of them threats to blow those lamps out! We must be ready for them all and know how to respond as Christians. Here Jesus seems to be implying the ultimate moment when the bridegroom arrives; in other words, when we are summoned from this life to enter the feast – to enter heaven. That signifies the end of the preparation, and if we have responded appropriately, our lamps will be well and truly lit, showing clearly the way into the feast, the moment for which we have been preparing ourselves throughout life. The foolish have been warned time and again and have decided to do it their way, not the Lord’s way. And that way leads to disaster. And finally what is that disastrous way? Well, I think the Lord equated the lamps with the gifts each of us received from God – all of us, without exception, some more or less than others, so be it. But what we DO with those gifts is the thing. They need oil – that is, the effort needed from us to fire them up – our determination to succeed in using them to serve God and our neighbor. That oil is education, moral upbringing, all the things that enable us to act as an obedient child of God. Without all that, we too will be standing in front of the locked gate, unable to enter – and it will be our own fault. And there you have it: we have, all of us, been told in no uncertain terms – make sure your lamps are LIT!

Troop 61 Eagle Scout Wins District Award For Project.

PLEASE FORWARD THIS REFLECTION TO THOSE YOU THINK WOULD APPRECIATE IT.

THANK YOU.

Reflections on next Sunday’s Mass Readings will be posted on Wednesday.

Please send your reflections to: RogerJohn@aol.com

© SundayMassReadings.com