Thoughts for When You Cannot See… Or You Don’t Want to See

 1. It is not so difficult to know the truth when you really want to find it. Sometimes people cannot see why the Church teaches this or that, because they do not want to see it. Some people cannot see the truth because they hear very good objections and they cannot resolve them. But sometimes people look for good objections because they do not want something to be true. “If this is true, they think, I have to change the way I live.” “If this is true, I have to crush my worldview, I have to change the way I think.” “I need an objection, I need something that can convince my conscience that I do not need to change, that I can keep doing what I want…”

What do you say to a person struggling in this way? Sometimes, it helps to remember that God is a good Father, and He only desires what is best for us. We may not see it at first, but it is absolutely true and it always works: there is not one saint who was disappointed in having done what God desires. Other times, like in today’s Gospel, it helps to remember that one day, when the Spouse comes, there will be no time to do what we failed to do and there will be no point in making excuses. The ten virgins represent all of us, and the coming of the Bridegroom is our Judgment day. Both wise and foolish fall asleep, because we are all going to die. But only those who were wise and prepared, will participate in the feast.

2. One of the most terrifying things about this parable is the dialogue between the wise virgins, who represent those who will be saved, and the foolish virgins, who represent those who will be condemned. “The foolish said to the wise, ‘Give us some of your oil, for our lamps are going out.’ But the wise replied, ‘No! there will not be enough for you and for us; you had better go to the dealers and buy some for yourselves.’” The oil can represent many things. One of them is good works, some say works of mercy, others, works of justice. The oil can also mean human approval, especially the approval of our own conscience.

What terrifies me is that the saints and those who will be saved on that day can do absolutely nothing for those who will be condemned. All those who will be saved, will be rewarded precisely because they put other people first and made efforts to do everything they could for their neighbour. On that day, they will say no. On that day, they will not give. “I cannot give you the good works I did, because these were the works I had to do, not the ones you had to do. You cannot be punished for the sins I have committed in life, but you cannot be rewarded for my good works either.” We have to do good works, we have to repent of our sins before we fall asleep in death. The wise are not people who never sinned, but people who repented of their sins and at least tried to offer penance for their sins with good works.

3. The oil can also mean approval. When the virgins wake up, they prepare their lamps. When we are called to the Judgment Seat of God, the first thing we will do is to reflect upon our lives. Our conscience will tell us whether we have loved enough or not. To the wise, their conscience will tell them, “You are safe, you are good.” To the foolish, instead, “you are in trouble, you are not good enough; not enough oil here!” The foolish will realize that God is about to disapprove them for ever because of their bad choices, and they will desire someone to approve them, because their own consciences will not. “Give us some of your oil!,” as if they were saying, “Please, tell us that we are good!” In life, the foolish cared more about human approval than about pleasing God; they will try to do the same on that day, and so they will say to the wise, “Please, give us your approval!”

The wise will reply, “We can’t! Our conscience can only approve good works, not your wrong decisions. Go and ask the people whose approval you sought in life, go and ask them to help you and tell you that you are cool, that you are going with the times, that you are bold because you do whatever you want, that you are a mature, free, modern person who does not care about religious myths and does not surrender to old-fashioned religious authorities. Go and ask them for approval, now that God Himself is about to disapprove you for ever. Where are those people now? Who will help you before the Judgment Seat of God?” Thinking about the day of our death may help us to better see what is right, what we should do now. It may help us to see when we don’t want to see. It may help people to open their eyes and stop looking for excuses.

4. The devil’s trick is to make you think that changing the way you live is too difficult (or perhaps unnecessary since there is always more time) and that the path of virtue is impossible. This is not true. A good father never asks his child for something impossible, because he does not want to discourage his child. Look at Wisdom in the first reading: “Wisdom… is easily discerned by those who love her, and is found by those who seek her. She hastens to make herself known to those who desire her. One who rises early to seek her will have no difficulty, for she will be found sitting at the gate… one who is vigilant on her account will soon be free from care, because she goes about seeking those worthy of her, and she graciously appears to them in their paths, and meets them in every thought.”

The path of virtue might be long, but God is not asking you to finish it today, but to begin walking. You can certainly do that. The finish line may seem far away at this moment, but the first step is close, and urgent. And at the moment you decide to enter the path, you will not be alone: Wisdom comes immediately to meet you with a road map and a bag full of snacks, to walk all the way with you and to protect you. Wisdom will be a refreshing cloud during the day, and a column of fire and light during the darknesses of life. The path of virtue is tough, like a hockey game, but you know you are in the winning team. The victory is sure if you are in the right team. The secret of life is dying as a part of the right team. And if the day of your death is the same day you decided to enter the team, you win, like the Good Thief. Let us never get tired of entering again the path of virtue, of entering again Jesus’ team.