Fr. Lawrence Jagdfeld, O.F.M., Administrator
When you stop to think about the behaviors or attitudes which may exclude you from God's reign, I daresay that being foolish is not one of them. Yet the Gospel passage for today speaks of ten virgins, five foolish and five wise. Things do not go well for the foolish.
As we read this parable, it is a good idea to keep an earlier parable in mind; namely, the parable about the man who is excluded because he comes to the wedding feast in the wrong attire. As in that parable, the issue is readiness, preparedness, attentiveness.
The end of all three of the synoptic Gospels highlights various parables and sayings that refer to the second coming of Christ. The Scriptures identify this time as the apocalypse, the parousia, the eschaton or the end times. Apocalyptic literature authors view the world as corrupt and in need of cleansing or reformation before the end times. So these stories oftentimes have an overtone of destruction. In order to avoid falling victim to the coming destruction, the Scriptures warn us that we must be ready, must be prepared.
This is where the five foolish virgins fail. Notice that all ten of the virgins were sleeping. However, the five wise virgins were able to quickly regroup because they had prepared for this event. Folly and wisdom are two sides of a coin. The Hebrew Scriptures portray them as women. Dame Wisdom has prepared for the coming of the bridegroom, while Dame Folly has not.
As Shakespeare's Hamlet proclaims: "The readiness is all."