Dear Brothers and Sisters,
Once again the gospel is a stupendous good news for us and can help us to enter God’s will. What is the will of God for us? That all men be saved so that you be saved, and your spouse be saved, and your children be saved, and your mother-in-law be saved, and your boss and neighbor also. This is God’s will. How can we put ourselves more deeply into his will? This is the point of the gospel.
If you look at these ten virgins, five were prudent and five were foolish, so what was the issue? It is not that they fell asleep since all ten of them did. The issue was that some did not have the oil, which does not mean that they were not perfect, or they were not good people, or they didn’t have great morale, or because they all fell asleep.
In the Bible to fall asleep means to sin. There is a song that says, she was sleeping, my heart was waiting for the voice of my beloved. So, she was saying when I am sleeping in the midst of my sin, in the midst of my darkness, in the midst of my guilt and anguish, in the midst of my poverty, my heart kept vigil; it was awake. She had the desire to be with her spouse. This desire is the oil. My heart watched for the voice of my beloved. In that moment I heard the voice of my beloved. The voice of the Beloved approaches us in our weakness. He is coming close to us in this gospel and is telling you that I know you are asleep, but I still love you. These are the ones that have enough oil.
Perhaps some carried the lamps as an ornament since half of them brought the lamps but did not bring extra oil. What were they thinking? Were they expecting oil-free lamps? It is like a person who wants to be a Christian but does not want to love. But this is why you are in the Church or in a community or the reason to listen to the readings and the preaching. If internally you don’t want to love, if you don’t want to have this oil why are you here? They could have taken extra oil but didn’t. The oil is to love.
The psalm gives us the key point: my soul is thirsting for you, O Lord. To have the oil is to thirst for God. My flesh pines and my soul thirsts like the earth, parched, lifeless and without water. We want to be satiated by this water of the love of the Lord. This is to have the oil.
Another way of looking at the meaning of ‘having oil’ is the idea of the oil press which you can still see in the Holy Land. They were made of stone, and they still exist today. In ancient times the first press did not apply any pressure and that gave the extra virgin oil, which was used only in the temple to honor God. The second press applied some pressure, and it gave very good oil but not the best. This was used by the people for eating and other personal uses. The third press applied the maximum pressure and the oil from this was used in the homes for lamps and other material needs. What is the meaning of the oil? Allow yourself to be pressed, for God, for others and lastly for material needs.
Jesus the night before he was arrested and gave his life for us, was spent in the garden of Gethsemane which means oil press. He went three times to go and pray and found the apostles sleeping each time he went back to them. He was pressed to the fullest degree for love of us. Oil means to give of yourself for the Church, for others and for work. No one can give this oil to you. Either you have it or you don’t. The parable is not about sharing what you have.
Use the occasions that God presents to you to gain extra oil, go to Mass every Sunday, listen to the preaching, develop a relationship with Jesus Christ, give alms, etc. At some point, probably in many points of your life, you will need this oil so don’t be foolish. This wedding is a sign of heaven, and you will be betrothed to the Lord. Make sure you have enough oil while you are waiting.