April 21, 2010 – Matthew 24:45-25:30

I have always wondered about the parable of the 10 virgins and the end times.  What does it mean as a religion to run out of oil.  A better question is what extra oil do we have to sustain us when we run out.  Some early Christians thought the end was going to be in their lifetime.  I am sure throughout the 2,000 years since many have thought so and we know today many think so.  If it is near, and I don’t think it is, when would the oil have run out.  I guess from a purely Catholic point of view you could look to the Protestant Reformation as a point when our original oil source ran out.  The Church was in a corruptive state and many violations were taking place.  A group broke off, then another and so on.  I imagine if I were in their shoes I would argue that they found a new source of oil in the teaching of Luther and others and the Catholic Church is sitting in the dark because they used up the original oil.  I would argue that the Orthodoxy of the Catholic Church and those that kept to the traditions and the sacraments found a renewed source of oil by relying on the grace in those sacraments and the traditions based on the many centuries of teaching. 

If that makes any sense.  Or we could be looking at a time know when we are running low on oil.  Not just the Catholic Church, but all religion in general.  The world is trying to remove the sense of religion and replace it with a rational science that makes everything and object and gives nothing value.  We need to find our oil again.  We need to get back to the basics of our faith.  We need to dive back and cling to the sacraments and the graces they give us.  We see the darkness that the world is walking around in.  They have run out of oil.  The Church and the Sacraments are there to give us eternal oil.  Jesus promised He would never leave us and His presence in those Sacraments fulfills that promise.  But the further we move from them, the darker it gets.  Let us not be caught in the dark when our bridegroom comes.