Today's parable points us to the end times—especially fitting as we come to the end of the Church's year. The notion of the Reign of God being compared to a wedding feast is especially important. As John's gospel points out, Jesus was a very welcome guest at the wedding in Cana: the mere mention of a wedding brings a smile to the face, as you know you are going to be in for a good time. Only last July I joined with Mary and Jamie for a wonderful celebration that brought my whole family together. It was a day filled with laughter and true joy, as we, simply, enjoyed each other's company, and reminisced about those who could not be with us. Over the years, I have discovered that a wedding is a celebration not to be missed. In the parable for today: everyone is excited and eagerly looking forward to the event, sadly there will be foolish ones who will miss out!

Jesus begins the parable with the excitement of the ten bridesmaids who are awaiting the arrival of the groom. It is late at night, and they have their lamps ready to guide the way when he does arrive. Five of these guides were obviously in the Girl Guides as they come prepared with extra oil, as they cannot determine the exact arrival time—rather like waiting at 'arrivals' in any airport you care to name! However, the other five are not prepared: they are just happy to soak in the party atmosphere and expect others to bail them out. We have all met those who want others to sort out their problems. Jesus makes it clear that these five foolish ones need to get their act together. Indeed, all of us, as we approach the Advent season need to get our act together. How ready are we to meet the Lord this December 25th?

Already M&S have their Dawn French cartoon fairy telling us to have a sparkling Christmas table, while the Lidl raccoon completes a mission impossible to get a lost child's toy back home. TV's 'Food Channel' have renamed this month 'Novembermas' and McDonald's have introduced themed cups to serve their drinks. I must be getting old, as it seems that the commercial preparation for the great Christian feast of birth starts earlier every year. However, as we come to the end of this year, we have the chance, today, to look back and see just how prepared we are to answer that universal call to love God, love our neighbour, and to take care of ourselves. For the Christian, everything must be viewed through the lens of resurrection—everything can only make sense through resurrection. More than ever, in these past couple of years, we have learnt that we need to stay with the problems that hit our communities—to be there in the good and the bad; to be there on Good Friday and Easter Day. This is why we need to copy those wise ones in today's gospel and ensure that all is ready. The point is not to flee the danger but to find our place where we serve and make the conscious decision to stay with our lamps ready and with plenty of back-up. Thomas Merton helps us to appreciate the power of this day and to see glory even in the middle of so much pain, especially in Ukraine and the Holy Land. As Christians, we are invited to live life to the full—we need a strong dose of reality:

True encounter with Christ liberates something in us, a power we did not know we had, a hope, a capacity for life, a resilience, an ability to bounce back when we thought we were completely defeated, a capacity to grow and change, a power of creative transformation.

Author: Fr Gerry O'Shaughnessy SDB

Photo by Jordan Davis on Unsplash