This week's Gospel is a story about preparedness. How does preparedness relate to our faith? Well, it has everything to do with how we live our life and how we choose to prepare for life’s moments, expected and unexpected.
The parable of the 10 virgins is the story of 5 foolish and 5 wise virgins waiting to meet the Bridegroom. Let’s fast forward to more modern times and refer to the Virgins as the “Bachelorette's” and the Bridegroom as the “Bachelor” The 5 foolish and the 5 wise Bachelorette’s were waiting for the Bachelor to arrive so that they could meet him. The 5 foolish bachelorette’s were not prepared to meet the Bachelor and therefore missed their opportunity to meet him. The 5 foolish ones were dependent on asking for help from the wise ones but the wise ones prepared only for themselves.
In life, we need to prepare for the challenges that come our way. Sometimes the one thing we need to do to prepare is to just educate ourselves. We can never be fully prepared for these challenges, but we can train ourselves to be confident enough to take it on. Failures and mistakes are a part of the process, a learning part of the process. Some may see those mistakes as weaknesses, but as people of faith, we rise above, learn from it, and go at it again! If the foolish Bachelorette’s were prepared, they wouldn’t have missed their opportunity. This should be a lesson to learn from your mistakes and prepare better. It’s OK to depend on others, but it's good to also depend on yourself.
Our faith calls us to believe in our abilities. Sometimes we need to ask help from others, and for the most part, some will help, but sometimes they won’t. Do you remember the 7 Gifts of the Holy Spirit? It’s those Gifts that remind us that we were created in the image of God. That those 7 gifts are a reminder that we are given the ability and the confidence, with God’s grace, to do as we need and to accomplish what we dream.