The associated reading for this reflection can be found in your Every Sacred Sunday Mass journal or online here.
At work there’s a saying: “Failing to prepare is preparing to fail.” In today’s Gospel, five out of the ten virgins failed to prepare enough oil for their lamps for the coming of the bridegroom. This led to their ultimate failure: “Amen, I say to you, I do not know you.” I can’t think of worse words to hear from Jesus.
All ten virgins, the wise and the foolish alike, were excited for the anticipated arrival of the bridegroom. However, when He was delayed, all ten became drowsy and fell asleep. But don’t we all? We know Christ will be coming but we in the Church easily become complacent in our virtue and prayer and so fail to live each day as if He were actually coming tomorrow.
Temptations towards sin urge me to just relax and rest my eyes which will inevitably blind me to the sin in my life. They lie: “This sin isn’t even a big deal. I can just go to confession on Saturday.” In entertaining these inclinations, I ignore my relationship with Christ and I hardly realize it.
This is why Christ calls us to “stay awake.” If I’m consistently able to overcome temptations and be spiritually awake, I will slowly gain the wisdom to be aware of the areas of my relationship with Christ and others that need improvement. This wisdom, which is within my grasp to acquire (see the first reading!) can allow me to know when unhealthy and unhelpful sins, people, or habits are present in my life.
One tool to help us stay awake spiritually is a daily examen. The steps of the examen help us take an honest look at how we lived up to our Christian calling and will prepare our hearts, souls, and lamps for the coming of Christ, the Bridegroom:
Identify graces that you received
Identify your sins your shortfalls
Resolve to improve in some concrete way tomorrow
Holy Spirit, keep the lamps of our hearts burning with the oil of zeal and virtue so that we may stay awake through the temptations of the night and be prepared to welcome of Christ the Bridegroom. Amen.
Tomás Aguilar is a Marine Corps Officer from Pennsylvania stationed in Okinawa, Japan. When not in uniform you can find him on a mountain hiking, under the sea snorkeling, in the car singing Country or Gospel music, or in the kitchen cooking. Check out his Instagram to see his world travels, attempts at cast iron pizza, and efforts to be the patron saint of memes!