Friday, 8/29/13
Today’s Gospel is from Chapter 25 of Matthew’s Gospel. That chapter consists of the three of Our Lord’s
parables by which he will judge us at the end of our days. (We can also use the
three together to determine how we are doing with God at the present.)
Today’s Gospel comes from Matthew, Chapter 25, verses 1 to
13. It tells how we will need to have oil for our lamps when the Lord comes. Tomorrow we will have
the next parable, the one about making good use of talents. That comes from
Matthew, 25, verses 14 to 30.
In the final fifteen verses from that Chapter 25, we will
have the third of the three parables in verses 31 to 46,. It is the one in which
at the end of time God will separate us the way a shepherd separates the sheep
from the goats. We will be cuddled like lambs if we have always shown care for
those in need.
Returning to today’s parable, where the wise virgins saved
oil for their lamps, while the foolish ones did not; we must determine what
Jesus meant by the oil.
The straight-forward catechism answer to that would be that
the oil stands for Sanctifying Grace. If we recover Sanctifying Grace by making
good confessions after we have sinned, we will be in the state of grace.
However, most of the people living in this world, both now
and back through time, have never seen a catechism or a confessional. It is
better for us to take a more generic understanding of the oil for our lamps in
Our Lord’s parable.
I would suggest that we have that oil in our lamps if we
love God and if we are determined to live good lives in obedience to him.
However, that oil for our lamps is a symbolic image; and that allows for you
muse and pray over it. You might even take a fling at being poetic over the
image of oil for your lamp. Jesus was speaking poetically.
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