One day there were ten girls

Today’s gospel recounts Jesus’ parable of the ten virgins. Five wise and five foolish. In the wisdom tradition, such contrasts abound, the wise usually those who observe the Law of Moses and the foolish those who do not, with consequences for each. Jesus, a rabbi and someone intimately knowledgeable of the traditions of his people, has a go at it. A wisdom story.

The point of the story is: be vigilant. For you do not know the hour.

There is a problem with vigilance that we all know too well. Falling asleep or dropping your guard. Time drags on, this hour looks the same as the one before, as the one after this will be.

This sort of vigilance is all too passive. Except for watching the hand of time and wishing it to speed up a bit. Or a lot.

Active vigilance sees you keeping busy with what you are supposed to do. You do the work as you would every day. Your duty. Your calling. Your task. Whatever name you call it by. That of preparing, getting things in place.

The first reading encourages an active seeking out of Wisdom. She is to be sought out, not stumbled upon as she drifts by. A busy thing.

The responsorial psalm is busy, too, longing for God: I gaze on you, my lips speak your praise, I bless you all my life, I lift up my hands in your name, my mouth praises you with joy, I remember you on my bed, I muse on you through the night. Even when I am in the shadow of your wings, I rejoice. Busy all the time. Vigilance is busy, not sitting around doing nothing.

That would be wisdom. Solomon prays for this kind of wisdom in another part of the Scriptures. “Give me the wisdom that sits by your throne, and do not reject me from among your servants” (Wisdom 9:4). And then, further on, he adds, “for even if one is perfect among the sons of men, yet without the wisdom that comes from you he will be regarded as nothing” (9:6).

It’s not just empty poetry of a wise king. There is a reason behind it. He prays: “with you is wisdom, who knows your works and was present when you made the world” (9:9). She knows God’s works, wisdom. She was present when he made all that is. Active, you see?

Let’s look at some of the action.

The gospel parable comes in the context of this time in the liturgical year when we reflect on the end times. This one in particular, is about that definitive end time event, the Second Coming. The bridegroom coming to his bride, Christ to his Church, Jesus to his gathered faithful. Be vigilant about it. Not sit around doing nothing.

Check your oil rags, or if you wish, your lamps. Check the oil, practice your bridegroom-is-here songs. Do your responsorial psalm things, praising God from your bed and singing to him at night. Just be sure not to disturb others who might need the rest. Go on faithfully worshipping God and serving your neighbour.

Be vigilantly busy, let your vigilance be busy.

It is not an empty vigilance, just for the sake of it. Yes, we are waiting for the Bridegroom to come. But the real reason is, of course, the wedding. Or the reception. Yes, the banquet. On this mountain, prophesied Isaiah, the Lord will prepare a banquet for all. Sion. The new Jerusalem. Heaven. Call it what you want.

That is why we are busy. What we are working for. Why we are vigilant.

We want to be there. With God and his holy ones in a complete and full manner, with everything he is and we are. And then we shall hear, “it is fulfilled.”

Let me not disturb you any longer. Go, and be busy about it, wise virgin.