“Amen, I say to you, I do not know you.”
St. Paul describes the virgin in the New Testament era in these words:
“The unmarried man is busy with the Lord’s affairs, concerned with pleasing the Lord. The virgin – indeed, any unmarried woman – is concerned with things of the Lord, in pursuit of holiness in body and spirit.”(1Cor 7:32, 34)
In addition to belonging to the Lord, the virgin is focused on one thing alone — to do all that is possible to please the Lord with all that he or she possesses. The more the virgins act to please the Lord, the more that desire to please Him alone inflames them and motivates all their actions. By this virginal heart, the virgins are constantly searching for more opportunities and better ways to please the Lord.
The five foolish virgins in the parable of the ten virgins went out to meet the bridegroom with lamps only without flasks of oil simply because they had lost the desire to please the bridegroom always with all that they had, beginning with the lamps that they had in hand. They forgot that the lamp was not just for their own journey; but it was to please the bridegroom by welcoming him at any time that he would arrive. They would not have neglected the flasks of oil if that desire to please the bridegroom all the time was alive and strong in them.
On the other hand, the five wise virgins brought flasks of oil with their lamp because they had this desire to please the Lord still burning bright in their hearts, “The wise brought flasks of oil with their lamps.” This desire to please the Lord is what made the wise virgins vigilant and prepared to welcome the bridegroom at any time or condition that he may arrive
They wise virgins were vigilant for the arrival of the bridegroom. They were also vigilant against those who would take away what belongs to the bridegroom alone. They would not even risk giving some oil to their foolish companions who failed to bring oil with their lamps. When the foolish asked for some oil, the wise replied, “No, for there may not be enough for us and you.” The lamp and oil flasks of the wise virgins were for no one else but the bridegroom and they would not let anyone take it from them for any reason.
The wise virgins were also fully prepared by their readiness to please the bridegroom with their fully oiled lamps on his return. They would not leave him stranded with his wedding entourage, no matter the time of night that he returned. They never lost that sense that the oil and lamps were given to them in the first place to give pleasure to the bridegroom by welcoming him.
My dear brothers and sisters in Christ, we are all called to be virgins in the sense that we are called to have Jesus Christ as the sole bridegroom of our souls and the one that we strive to please all the time with all that we have. No matter our state in life, married or not, we are all called to have the virgin’s heart towards Jesus Christ by doing what is pleasing to Him at all times and striving to do so more in the future. Without this disposition of a virginal heart, there is no way that we will be vigilant and prepared for His glorious return.
There is nothing more pleasing to Jesus than fulfilling the will of the Father. Jesus Himself attested, “My food is to do the will of Him who sent me and to finish His work.”(Jn 4:34) This is what He longed for the most. The more we do His Father’s will by the power of His grace, the more we become more like Him, more intimate with Him, and the more that He recognizes us as His Father’s beloved children, “Whoever does the will of my Father in heaven is my brother, sister and mother.”(Mt 12:50) If we strive to do His will all the time, we would be intimately known by Him, and He would not say to us what the bridegroom said to the foolish virgins, “Amen, I say to you, I do not know you.”
The Church is the virgin bride of Christ and so too should her children be. The Church is always the waiting and vigilant virgin, eagerly awaiting the glorious return of her bridegroom, Jesus Christ. She and her children must be vigilant, “Therefore, stay awake, for you know neither the day nor the hour.” This vigilance also means being on the watch against the many false messiahs who would deprive us of our divine blessings like saving truth, freedom, grace, purity of heart, inner joy, etc. We must flee those who would corrupt our faith, diminish our hope, and quench our love for God, no matter if these people are found inside or outside the Church.
However, vigilance alone is not enough. The Church must also be prepared always for His return by doing His will with all that He has given to her. Moreover, she must do His will for the sake of pleasing Him alone. Jesus Christ, the bridegroom, promises to be with His Church all the time, “I will be with you always until the end of time.”(Mt 28:20) Because He wants us to have a virginal heart like His, He will surely give us all the graces that we need now to do His will now in preparation for His glorious return.
We must open our hearts now to His merciful love and graces with a view to pleasing Him by doing His will. We must not be like the foolish virgins who learned too late that there are some things that cannot be obtained at the last moment of our lives. The futilely asked then, “Give us some of your oil, for our lamps are going out…Lord, Lord, open the door for us.”
God the Father decreed from all eternity that the Son would be born of a virgin. His Father repeated this promise after the Fall of our first parents in the Garden of Eden. The Holy Spirit prepared a particular virgin to be the Mother of the Son. The Son freely chose to be born of a virgin, the Blessed Virgin Mary. Mary’s heart was vigilant and well prepared through the Immaculate Conception to receive Him at the Annunciation and to please Him always, “Behold the handmaid of the Lord, be it done to me according to your word.” She would seek to please Him always, even if all that she could do was to keep Him company as He drew His last breath on the cross. She is our Virgin-Mother who would help to form this virginal heart in us too if only we let her do so.
Jesus Himself comes to us in this Eucharist to form His virginal heart in us. He will come at the end of time to seek a virgin’s heart towards Him in each of us. This is the only heart that He knows intimately and will identify with in His glory – a heart that strives to please Him despite the failures of the past, the struggles of the present, or the challenges of the future. But if He finds such a heart lacking in us for whatever reason, we will hear those terrible regrettable words addressed to us also, “Amen, I say to you, I do not know you.”
Glory to Jesus!!! Honor to Mary!!!
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image: Erfurt: Cathedral, detail of the so called Jungfrauenportal (Virgin Portal) with the five wise virgins / photo by Roland Meinecke / Wikimedia Commons (GFDL 1.2 or FAL)
