Friday September 1, 2017
Is there something unjust and un-kingdom-like in the behavior of the five wise virgins? Why did they refuse to share some of their oil with the unfortunate and foolish virgins? Was it not against Christian charity?
In all likelihood, there was nothing uncharitable in the behavior of the wise virgins. Perhaps their hearts went out to the five foolish ones. Yet, there are certain things in spiritual life that cannot be shared, but must be developed by oneself in co-operation with God’s grace. For example, a personal experience of Christ. The wise can only share some of their experience; but one still must come to have one’s own. A similar dynamic holds true for virtues. You can be virtuous, but you cannot transfer your virtue on to another; the other must develop her own in co-operation with the Holy Spirit. Thus, the oil of the bridesmaids was not of a sharable variety. And that is what made five of them doubly foolish—they should have worked at it long before the eleventh hour.
