Every Christian is meant to be a lamp carrier – a bearer of the light of Christ to a darkened world, but like the bridesmaids in today’s gospel, we sometime allow the precious light of Christ to grow dim or even to go out altogether. The lamp is essentially the lamp of love. Love in order to be genuine, doesn’t have to be extraordinary. What we need is to love without getting tired or cynical.
How does a lamp burn? Through a continuous input of small drops of oil. If the drops of oil cease, the lamp will go out. What are these drops of oil in our lamps? They are the small things of daily life: faithfulness, punctuality, small words of kindness, a thought for others, our way of being silent, of looking, of speaking and of acting. These are the drops of love that keep our religious life burning like a lively flame.
Jesus shared our life, our loneliness, our anguish, our death. He is not far away from us, but is very close to us. We can touch, serve and love him every day of our lives. With the oil of prayer & good works we must keep the lamp of faith burning, and he will recognise us. We will not be judged on a momentary lapse, but on our life as a whole.
Since we do not know the day, nor the hour of the Lord’s coming, we must be prepared so that when he comes we can enter his kingdom. To be prepared means to be a doer rather than a mere hearer of the word.
All that Jesus says to us in this parable is meant as a warning. This warning is a sign of his love for us. It tells us that every moment should be beautiful. That the soul should always be ready for the coming of the Bridegroom, always waiting for the voice of the Beloved.