The Ten Virgins

Behold, the Bridegroom comes!----Jesus

 

Jesus told the parable of the Ten Virgins to teach about the Kingdom of God. Five of the virgins took extra oil for their lamps, and when the Bridegroom took longer to arrive than expected, these five had enough oil to keep their lamps burning. The other five had to return to town to get more oil. While they were gone, the Bridegroom arrived and took the five who were ready into His chamber and closed the door.-- Jesus is the Bridegroom, the Church is the Ten Virgins. The oil for the lamps is prayer, service, and devotion. The lamps are our faith and hope. We must be ready!  We must be like the five virgins who took extra oil for their lamps. We must pray without ceasing. We must persist in prayer and devotion to our Beloved. With God's grace, we must endure the dry deserts, the frustrations, the suffering, the crosses, and the waiting. Jesus said that those who persevere until the end will be saved. How happy were the five prepared Virgins with their lamps burning brightly for their Lord to see! 

 

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Ten Virgins from Peter von Cornelius

 

The Mystery of Hope

We do not give up hope, for today we may be given the opportunity to tell someone about this hope we hold on to tightly, in spite of the pain and anxiety we may also carry, as we follow after Him. Jesus said we must take up our cross daily and follow after Him.

 

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Pray

My Father's house will be a house of prayer!---Jesus
 
When the disciples asked Jesus to teach them how to pray He told them to call God their Father. No Rabbi before Jesus had ever suggested such a thing! He then went on to give them a prayer we call the "Our Father". The early church memorized this prayer and even now many Christians know and pray this prayer daily. In this prayer, Jesus gives us a glimpse of His intimate human heart toward His Heavenly Father. Our Father---not "my" Father,  Who art---God is,  in Heaven---our true home is with God,  hollowed be Thy Name---His name is Holy and we are to regard Him as such in every way,  Thy Kingdom come---God is King not president and we should desire His kingdom and His ways,  Thy will be done---His will is doable,  on earth as it is in Heaven---there is hope for earth,  give us this day our daily bread---the Greek translates "super-substantial" bread which the early Church knew to mean the true Bread from Heaven, the body of Jesus in the Eucharist,  and forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us---As children of this Father, we are to be like Him in forgiving one another as He forgives us,  and lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil----the evil one is going to do all he can to steal our souls, and therefore, we should cry for mercy and help from our Father always. In other words, pray to your Father in humility and trust, for only He can deliver you. 

 
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Stilling the Tempest

Urge those who have familiar speech with God to use much prayer, with much perseverance, for the stilling of the tempest that is now wrecking the world.---St. John Chrysostom (5th century)

 

In these times of panic in the economic markets, the world does not pray. It attacks, complains, worries, dreads, expects the worse, accuses, etc.. We as believers in Jesus, the King of kings, must not fall in to any of these camps. Instead, we must pray. We must put our hope in the One Who is. The world may fall apart and it may not, either way, our goal has not changed! Our goal is to finish the race set before us, to walk in faith and not sight, to feed the poor, clothe the naked, visit the prisoner, to grow in our union with the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. The devil wants to fill us with anxiety; but if we, in humility, keep our eyes fixed on Jesus, the Author and Perfecter of our faith, and gaze upon His cross of love, we will know His peace that passes understanding.

 

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The tree of relationship with Jesus

There is, of course, great gain in religion----provided one is content with a sufficiency.-----St. Paul to Timothy, the first letter chapter 6.

 

We have been through years of attacks on the relevance of religion. We have heard and said things like, 'Christianity is a relationship, not a religion.' And the media attacks organized religion every chance it gets, pointing out the failures, but never the successes and good it does. We have grown up in a generation that is weary of religion. St. Paul and Jesus saw religion as very important. Jesus said 'true religion is caring for widows and orphans.' St. Paul tells us there is 'of course, great gain in religion.' True religion is a good thing, it gives us right doctrine, ritual and tradition that allows our relationship with Jesus to mature and deepen. Religion is like the branches on the tree of relationship with Jesus, it allows us to climb out of ourselves and ego, and see the world from a higher perspective of grace and service. True religion does this. It gives us avenues to help others, together, not as lone rangers. It allows us to be family, with all of our warts, personality differences, different backgrounds, race, language, etc... The devil hates true religion.

 

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Faith, not by Sight

We live by faith and not by sight--St. Paul

 

"If I am asked how the bread is changed into the Body of Christ, I answer, the Holy Ghost overshadows the priest and operates in the same manner in the elements which He effected in the womb of the Virgin Mary."----St. John of Damascus

 

We have great and wonderful mysteries given to us by The Father that invigorate us in our journey. We have Jesus the Bread of Life as our food! We have the prayers of the Saints. Pray that your soul will hunger more and more for all of His gifts, so that you may know Him deeply. Wake up each day and make the sign of the cross before your feet hit the floor, give this day to your Beloved Lord. And if you do not feel like doing these things, do them anyway. Ask God to give you the strength to walk by faith, not by sight. The devil hopes you won't.

 

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Meditate on the Life of Jesus

The depth of our understanding is up to God. We can never mediate too much on the sufferings of Jesus, the Annunciation, the Resurrection, the Ascension, Jesus' time in the garden of Gethsemane, the wedding at Cana, or any of the mysteries of the Rosary. Remember, when you pray the Rosary, you are meditating on the life of Jesus through the eyes of Mary. What better eyes to see Him with! No one else could have the eyes of that moment when the angel Gabriel came to tell her that she would give birth to the King, the moment when God breaks into time and takes on flesh. We must humble ourselves when we pray the Rosary and say, 'Dear mother, help me to see and love Jesus like you, for your love was both as an obedient disciple and loving mother.' For Jesus said, "who is my mother, brother,....the ones who hear the word of God and do it." No one ever fulfilled this better than Mary. She heard the word of God through the angel and did it. So let us be faithful to meditate on the life of Jesus and ask God to deepen our understanding of Himself. The more we know Him and His Father, the more we know eternal life.

 

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