My brothers and sisters, each day brings us closer to that final encounter with the Divine Bridegroom. Each day that passes brings you and me nearer to this meeting with the Bridegroom. Who is the Divine Bridegroom? This is Jesus, our Lord. We are waiting for Him who understands us best, who knows us best, who loves us best. Our Lord knows us better than our husband or wife knows us, Our Lord knows us better than our own father and mother know us, Our Lord knows us better than our best friend knows us. In fact, Our Lord knows us better than we know ourselves. Jesus, the Divine Bridegroom, will come with justice and truth, but also with great mercy, when He arrives to open the door to the wedding banquet. This door will then be shut. Do we yearn for the Lord’s coming, do we wait for this encounter? Do we live our lives in such a way as to “keep awake”, as the Gospel says? Will our lights burn, because we have enough oil, when that day of judgement comes? Or have we grown distracted and sidetracked with the things of this life, and have given in to temptation, passion, and sin? St. Jerome, a Father of the Church, puts it this way: “Suddenly…on a stormy night, and when all think themselves secure, at the hour when sleep is the deepest, the coming of Christ shall be proclaimed by the shout of Angels, and the trumpets of the Powers that go before Him” (Catena aurea, vol. 1, pg. 686, 2014). Or in other words, to paraphrase the Gospel, when all are saying peace and security, the Lord will return in glory.
We need to keep our own lamps lit, and make sure that we have enough oil to sustain their light. What are the lamps of the foolish bridesmaids that end up going out? St. Gregory the Great gives us an indication: “The lamps of the foolish virgins go out, because the works which appeared outwardly to men to be bright, are dimmed…at the coming of the Judge” (Catena aurea, vol. 1, pg. 686, 2014). So, the deeds of the foolish bridesmaids appeared to be deeds of light in the view of people, but when the Divine Bridegroom arrives, when the Judge arrives, those deeds will lose their light. There are deeds which are celebrated by our society, by our culture, but they are evil. There are things which may be legal in our country, but they are immoral and sinful. This is the case in terms of euthanasia. As our own former bishop, Guy Desrochers, put it, euthanasia “is now publicly celebrated as a virtue in many media stories, and it is not uncommon to see public obituaries proudly profess euthanasia/assisted suicide as a celebrated means of death…euthanasia is a “crime against human life”, and therefore is intrinsically evil in every circumstance. Additionally, any formal or material cooperation (assisting in facilitating the process of euthanasia/assisted suicide) constitutes a grave sin against human life” (Bishop Guy Desrochers, C.S.S.R., Pastoral Letter, January 10, 2021). As St. Gregory the Great put it so well: there are things which appear to shine so brightly in the view of men and women, but they will lose their brilliance, they will lose their shine, when the Judge comes. Let us not be deceived by our own self-confidence.
What about that oil that one group of bridesmaids asked to borrow from the other group and did not receive, what could it represent? Perhaps it is good works that are spoken of here. St. Jerome says, “each man shall receive the recompense of his own works, and the virtues of one cannot atone for the vices of another on in the day of judgement” (Catena aurea, vol. 1, pg. 687, 2014). Each person will be judged according to his or her deeds. The good deeds of one are like that oil, that cannot be transferred to another person. Each person will answer for his or her works, both good and evil. There is a certain comfort here: in the end, all of us will stand before Christ with our own deeds – not the deeds of our husband, wife, children, parents, or siblings. Certainly, some people are responsible for shaping the deeds of others – parents in regard to children, pastors in regard to their parishes, teachers and professors in regard to what they teach. However, if we have done our best to teach rightly, only our own deeds will go with us.
My brothers and sisters, the Bridegroom is coming. He is the one who knows us best, who understands us best, who loves us best. He is the just and merciful judge, who wants all of us in the eternal banquet. Let us keep awake and remain vigilant. Let us keep a firm hold of our Rosary prayers: Mary, the Mother of Mercy, will lead us toward Her Merciful Son, who in turn, will take us to the Merciful Father.
(Fr. Paweł Ratajczak, OMI, Nov. 12, 2023)