21st Friday in Ordinary Time

Today’s Gospel of the wise and foolish virgins is read every day in Coptic monasteries at the Office of Midnight Prayer. It’s a reminder that wearing the habit won’t do us any good unless we prepare for the coming of the Bridegroom by devoting ourselves humbly to a life of prayer and penance. And so the monks continue by singing this Troparion:

“Remember, my soul, that awesome day, awake and light your lamp with the oil of joy for you do not know when the voice will call: ‘Behold, here comes the Bridegroom’. Watch, my soul, that you do not fall asleep lest you should stay outside knocking like the five foolish virgins. But watch with prayers in order to meet the Lord, Christ, with rich oil. He will bestow upon you the joys of His true divine glory”.

History shows that many who lived a celibate monastic life for a long time never really learned what this wisdom of heart is, because instead of studying the teaching of the fathers, they followed their own desires, and so they couldn’t find rest anywhere. They wound up filling their hearts with jealousy, criticism of others, anger, and any number of other passions.

Monks like that are like the five foolish virgins because they spend their time foolishly. They do not control their tongues nor purge their hearts of lust. They think it’s enough for them merely to wear a white cowl symbolizing virginity. As a result, they do not experience the heavenly joy which would trim their lamps, and the Bridegroom does not open the door to them but repeats what he said to the foolish virgins: “Amen, I say to you, I do not know you”.

What the Lord wants of us is to be free and faithful and pure brides of Christ, the Bridegroom of all holy souls. As St Paul says in 2nd Corinthians: “I gave you all in marriage to a single husband, a virgin pure for presentation to Christ” (2 Cor 11:2).

We all have one job, then, while we are still in this body: it is to stay awake and repent of our sins day and night from the bottom of our hearts. We have no business delaying and wasting time, or we may be like the foolish virgins who could find no one willing to sell them oil. Those virgins burst into tears and cried out, “Lord, open the door for us”. But he answered, “Amen, I say to you, I do not know you”. And that happened to them simply because of their laziness.

St Benedict gave the moral of the Gospel in the Prologue of his Rule: “If you desire true and eternal life, keep your tongue from evil and your lips from seeking deceit. Turn aside from evil and do good; seek and strive after peace, and see how the Lord in his love shows us the way of life”.
strive after peace, and see how the Lord in his love shows us the way of life”.