God Is With Us

Day's Saints
Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary
Blessed Adam Bargielski, Martyr

Gospel Matthew 1:18-23
This is how the birth of Jesus Christ came about.
When his mother Mary was betrothed to Joseph,
but before they lived together,
she was found with child through the Holy Spirit.
Joseph her husband, since he was a righteous man,
yet unwilling to expose her to shame,
decided to divorce her quietly.
Such was his intention when, behold,
the angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said,
"Joseph, son of David,
do not be afraid to take Mary your wife into your home.
For it is through the Holy Spirit
that this child has been conceived in her.
She will bear a son and you are to name him Jesus,
because he will save his people from their sins."
All this took place to fulfill
what the Lord had said through the prophet:
Behold, the virgin shall be with child and bear a son,
and they shall name him Emmanuel,
which means "God is with us."

+

How quickly you forget what I showed you,
and you fall down. Stand up and walk
with me.

Why do we so often act as if God was far from us? He is close to us, very near to us, physically as well as spiritually, in His affections and feelings, and we do well to guard against hurting Him who has been hurt for us already too much.

We have committed sins, offending and repulsing Him, whom we should be intent on worshipping. What else should the children of God do in the presence of Almighty God? Do we take advantage of the grace to be close to Him in our affections and feelings? Granted, the work of God sometimes calls for sacrifices, and some of them, severe sacrifices, but given our proclivity toward sin, it is the least painful path to being freed of sins, particularly repetitive sins, habitual sins. Do not act as if we have been left no defense, because that is not true. If He seems to stand off, it is to see if we can walk yet, and whether we will. If a sinner is repentant and shows signs of resistance, the Lord will watch to see our first steps as a free child.

And who wishes to forever be a toddler? A child strives with all its might to speak when spoken to, even though the brain lacks the substance to enable speech; still the child will mimic every nuance of speech directed toward him. Evil wishes to convince us that sinful acts bear fruit immediately and strives to blind us to the truth, that the fruit of sin is death and is bitter to the taste.

No sin produces true happiness. It lacks the dimension of divine satisfaction and contentment, though the excitement of living as part of Jesus  overwhelms the soul with delight. Equally compelling is the realization that life with God is eternal and unfading and lacks the weakness of earthly satisfactions which quickly fade and are forgotten, until something stirs desire in  us again, imperiling our soul.

How to get an entire planet to desire God's goodness? He will love the human race forever, and work to give us or place with Him in Heaven. He does not forsake or abandon us, and those who will practice abandonment to the Will of God will find themselves promoted to a higher place, from which vantage point, we may see more and the more we see, the more we will love Him, and the more He will love us. He will love us without reserve, as He has always. If we saw the splendor of the Lord, there would be no question in our mind that He is superior in every respect to any earthly thing, or any earthly friend. He is not like the fickle hearts that flare up flames of love for a time, until some other fascination captures our imagination and he flies off leaving us to grieve.

The Lord grieves if we abandon Him, and He will point out what we abandoned and that we will only know happiness if we return to Him.

Do not wait until the universe is dissolving around us, to make up your mind how much you love Him. If your love is weak, ask Him to strengthen it, then do not grow discouraged of the strengthening makes you work as you have not worked before. You will learn to walk, and then to run until you can fly and be anywhere you want. You should want to fly with all your heart. The view from high is breathtaking in the Heaven of God, which is your homeland.

God Is With Us

Day's Saints
Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary
Blessed Adam Bargielski, Martyr

Gospel Matthew 1:18-23
This is how the birth of Jesus Christ came about.
When his mother Mary was betrothed to Joseph,
but before they lived together,
she was found with child through the Holy Spirit.
Joseph her husband, since he was a righteous man,
yet unwilling to expose her to shame,
decided to divorce her quietly.
Such was his intention when, behold,
the angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said,
"Joseph, son of David,
do not be afraid to take Mary your wife into your home.
For it is through the Holy Spirit
that this child has been conceived in her.
She will bear a son and you are to name him Jesus,
because he will save his people from their sins."
All this took place to fulfill
what the Lord had said through the prophet:
Behold, the virgin shall be with child and bear a son,
and they shall name him Emmanuel,
which means "God is with us."

+

How quickly you forget what I showed you,
and you fall down. Stand up and walk
with me.

Why do we so often act as if God was far from us? He is close to us, very near to us, physically as well as spiritually, in His affections and feelings, and we do well to guard against hurting Him who has been hurt for us already too much.

We have committed sins, offending and repulsing Him, whom we should be intent on worshipping. What else should the children of God do in the presence of Almighty God? Do we take advantage of the grace to be close to Him in our affections and feelings? Granted, the work of God sometimes calls for sacrifices, and some of them, severe sacrifices, but given our proclivity toward sin, it is the least painful path to being freed of sins, particularly repetitive sins, habitual sins. Do not act as if we have been left no defense, because that is not true. If He seems to stand off, it is to see if we can walk yet, and whether we will. If a sinner is repentant and shows signs of resistance, the Lord will watch to see our first steps as a free child.

And who wishes to forever be a toddler? A child strives with all its might to speak when spoken to, even though the brain lacks the substance to enable speech; still the child will mimic every nuance of speech directed toward him. Evil wishes to convince us that sinful acts bear fruit immediately and strives to blind us to the truth, that the fruit of sin is death and is bitter to the taste.

No sin produces true happiness. It lacks the dimension of divine satisfaction and contentment, though the excitement of living as part of Jesus  overwhelms the soul with delight. Equally compelling is the realization that life with God is eternal and unfading and lacks the weakness of earthly satisfactions which quickly fade and are forgotten, until something stirs desire in  us again, imperiling our soul.

How to get an entire planet to desire God's goodness? He will love the human race forever, and work to give us or place with Him in Heaven. He does not forsake or abandon us, and those who will practice abandonment to the Will of God will find themselves promoted to a higher place, from which vantage point, we may see more and the more we see, the more we will love Him, and the more He will love us. He will love us without reserve, as He has always. If we saw the splendor of the Lord, there would be no question in our mind that He is superior in every respect to any earthly thing, or any earthly friend. He is not like the fickle hearts that flare up flames of love for a time, until some other fascination captures our imagination and he flies off leaving us to grieve.

The Lord grieves if we abandon Him, and He will point out what we abandoned and that we will only know happiness if we return to Him.

Do not wait until the universe is dissolving around us, to make up your mind how much you love Him. If your love is weak, ask Him to strengthen it, then do not grow discouraged of the strengthening makes you work as you have not worked before. You will learn to walk, and then to run until you can fly and be anywhere you want. You should want to fly with all your heart. The view from high is breathtaking in the Heaven of God, which is your homeland.

Returning

Day's Saints

Charbel, Martyr
Teresa of Calcutta, Congregation of the Missionaries of Charity

1 Thes 5:1-6, 9-11

Concerning times and seasons, brothers and sisters,

you have no need for anything to be written to you.

For you yourselves know very well

that the day of the Lord will come like a thief at night.

When people are saying, "Peace and security,"

then sudden disaster comes upon them,

like labor pains upon a pregnant woman,

and they will not escape.

But you, brothers and sisters, are not in darkness,

for that day to overtake you like a thief.

For all of you are children of the light

and children of the day.

We are not of the night or of darkness.

Therefore, let us not sleep as the rest do,

but let us stay alert and sober.

For God did not destine us for wrath,

but to gain salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ,

who died for us, so that whether we are awake or asleep

we may live together with him.

Therefore, encourage one another and build one another up,

as indeed you do.

Gospel Lk 4:31-37

Jesus went down to Capernaum, a town of Galilee.

He taught them on the sabbath,

and they were astonished at his teaching

because he spoke with authority.

In the synagogue there was a man with the spirit of an unclean demon,

and he cried out in a loud voice,

"What have you to do with us, Jesus of Nazareth?

Have you come to destroy us?

I know who you are–the Holy One of God!"

Jesus rebuked him and said, "Be quiet! Come out of him!"

Then the demon threw the man down in front of them

and came out of him without doing him any harm.

They were all amazed and said to one another,

"What is there about his word?

For with authority and power he commands the unclean spirits,

and they come out."

And news of him spread everywhere in the surrounding region.

+

Come back.

If we had been present, would we have recognized Jesus for who He was?

Even after casting out the demon, they did not know who He was, or they would have responded differently.

And what is our accustomed response to the miraculous? Are we believing or bewildered, having no clue what to do? How do we expect any different response when we cannot realize who is in front of us? And many people have come to us clothed in humility and deserving of recognition, but our response is repudiation and exclusion, and so long as we remain the same, the response of God will not change. Although He loves us enough to be crucified to show us, we fail to recognize Him, so close beside us.

Surely if He is enveloped in pain and blood, it will be difficult, because we are not accustomed to suffering, or to embracing it if we feel the slightest hint of love urging us to become a victim of His love. How do we expect miracles, then? We say "He has abandoned and forgotten us' when He is plainly very near us if only we had faith. Or, "What ever happened to the age of miracles when He walked among us and we ate miraculous bread from His hand?"

While we fall far short of divinity, it is clear that He intends to make us one with Himself, and that we  ought to ask for faith, and then act as if nothing has changed, loving Him all the more and believing in spite of the difficulties inherent to belief.

Suppose you were smitten in a flight of bliss and He asked you, "Will you bear my cross, my wounds, my burden of sorrow, for the sake of my children?"

"Can you shoulder my cross for even a moment, while I rest and catch my breath?" "Can you put yourself out for me even in the slightest?"

Let us strive and grow enough to say "yes" to Him, without fear or the taint of disappointment. That is how the greatest saints became so great - by saying "yes" and abandoning our own comfort and desires. He chose discomfort and agony equal to our desire to be comfortable and blest.

When there is the light of faith in the whole world, then He will have fulfilled His promise to reveal them to us. And when He reveals Himself to us, a great change will come over the earth, as many things come to pass. We must be such, by then, that we do not pine for the old satisfactions then, for Jesus has become the sole satisfaction of every desire, and our desires must become His own. The Israelites sinned in the desert of Sinai when Moses ascended to receive God's gift, His Law. Jesus came to fulfill the Law and institute a new reality, and we will be and must be of the same new reality in order to be happy. Let our worries all be about helping one another become new. He has already given ample grace; ask Him for more ! We do not realize what He intends that we should be capable of, but being so close to becoming what pleases Him, He will not allow victory over evil to fail or be put off until another day.

Returning

Day's Saints

Charbel, Martyr
Teresa of Calcutta, Congregation of the Missionaries of Charity

1 Thes 5:1-6, 9-11

Concerning times and seasons, brothers and sisters,

you have no need for anything to be written to you.

For you yourselves know very well

that the day of the Lord will come like a thief at night.

When people are saying, "Peace and security,"

then sudden disaster comes upon them,

like labor pains upon a pregnant woman,

and they will not escape.

But you, brothers and sisters, are not in darkness,

for that day to overtake you like a thief.

For all of you are children of the light

and children of the day.

We are not of the night or of darkness.

Therefore, let us not sleep as the rest do,

but let us stay alert and sober.

For God did not destine us for wrath,

but to gain salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ,

who died for us, so that whether we are awake or asleep

we may live together with him.

Therefore, encourage one another and build one another up,

as indeed you do.

Gospel Lk 4:31-37

Jesus went down to Capernaum, a town of Galilee.

He taught them on the sabbath,

and they were astonished at his teaching

because he spoke with authority.

In the synagogue there was a man with the spirit of an unclean demon,

and he cried out in a loud voice,

"What have you to do with us, Jesus of Nazareth?

Have you come to destroy us?

I know who you are–the Holy One of God!"

Jesus rebuked him and said, "Be quiet! Come out of him!"

Then the demon threw the man down in front of them

and came out of him without doing him any harm.

They were all amazed and said to one another,

"What is there about his word?

For with authority and power he commands the unclean spirits,

and they come out."

And news of him spread everywhere in the surrounding region.

+

Come back.

If we had been present, would we have recognized Jesus for who He was?

Even after casting out the demon, they did not know who He was, or they would have responded differently.

And what is our accustomed response to the miraculous? Are we believing or bewildered, having no clue what to do? How do we expect any different response when we cannot realize who is in front of us? And many people have come to us clothed in humility and deserving of recognition, but our response is repudiation and exclusion, and so long as we remain the same, the response of God will not change. Although He loves us enough to be crucified to show us, we fail to recognize Him, so close beside us.

Surely if He is enveloped in pain and blood, it will be difficult, because we are not accustomed to suffering, or to embracing it if we feel the slightest hint of love urging us to become a victim of His love. How do we expect miracles, then? We say "He has abandoned and forgotten us' when He is plainly very near us if only we had faith. Or, "What ever happened to the age of miracles when He walked among us and we ate miraculous bread from His hand?"

While we fall far short of divinity, it is clear that He intends to make us one with Himself, and that we  ought to ask for faith, and then act as if nothing has changed, loving Him all the more and believing in spite of the difficulties inherent to belief.

Suppose you were smitten in a flight of bliss and He asked you, "Will you bear my cross, my wounds, my burden of sorrow, for the sake of my children?"

"Can you shoulder my cross for even a moment, while I rest and catch my breath?" "Can you put yourself out for me even in the slightest?"

Let us strive and grow enough to say "yes" to Him, without fear or the taint of disappointment. That is how the greatest saints became so great - by saying "yes" and abandoning our own comfort and desires. He chose discomfort and agony equal to our desire to be comfortable and blest.

When there is the light of faith in the whole world, then He will have fulfilled His promise to reveal them to us. And when He reveals Himself to us, a great change will come over the earth, as many things come to pass. We must be such, by then, that we do not pine for the old satisfactions then, for Jesus has become the sole satisfaction of every desire, and our desires must become His own. The Israelites sinned in the desert of Sinai when Moses ascended to receive God's gift, His Law. Jesus came to fulfill the Law and institute a new reality, and we will be and must be of the same new reality in order to be happy. Let our worries all be about helping one another become new. He has already given ample grace; ask Him for more ! We do not realize what He intends that we should be capable of, but being so close to becoming what pleases Him, He will not allow victory over evil to fail or be put off until another day.

Cliffs and Being Flung

Day's Saints
Blessed Catherine of Racconigi, Dominican & Stigmatic
Blessed Peter of St. James, Mercedarian

Gospel Lk 4:16-30
Jesus came to Nazareth, where he had grown up,
and went according to his custom
into the synagogue on the sabbath day.
He stood up to read and was handed a scroll of the prophet Isaiah.
He unrolled the scroll and found the passage where it was written:
The Spirit of the Lord is upon me,
because he has anointed me
to bring glad tidings to the poor.
He has sent me to proclaim liberty to captives
and recovery of sight to the blind,
to let the oppressed go free,
and to proclaim a year acceptable to the Lord.
Rolling up the scroll,
he handed it back to the attendant and sat down,
and the eyes of all in the synagogue looked intently at him.
He said to them,
"Today this Scripture passage is fulfilled in your hearing."
And all spoke highly of him
and were amazed at the gracious words that came from his mouth.
They also asked, "Is this not the son of Joseph?"
He said to them, "Surely you will quote me this proverb,
'Physician, cure yourself,' and say, 'Do here in your native place
the things that we heard were done in Capernaum.'"
And he said,
"Amen, I say to you, no prophet is accepted in his own native place.
Indeed, I tell you,
there were many widows in Israel in the days of Elijah
when the sky was closed for three and a half years
and a severe famine spread over the entire land.
It was to none of these that Elijah was sent,
but only to a widow in Zarephath in the land of Sidon.
Again, there were many lepers in Israel
during the time of Elisha the prophet;
yet not one of them was cleansed, but only Naaman the Syrian."
When the people in the synagogue heard this,
they were all filled with fury.
They rose up, drove him out of the town,
and led him to the brow of the hill
on which their town had been built, to hurl him down headlong.
But he passed through the midst of them and went away.

+

Neither will the impious lay hands on the just to fling them off a cliff to die. It may be we need to change our reaction to other people, though, so that the holy ones sent us to convert our hearts and our behavior can be understood . Often they are difficult people, and understanding them will be difficult for anyone who does not know the Lord.

It is ironic that they should be misunderstood since we all pray for union, perhaps not realizing just how radical a change in thinking must take place. What happens when we are made one in Christ? Our thinking and understanding become like God's, and depart from the ways most people think because of the world they live in, which is corrupt.

If our prayers are answered and the Lord sends us someone to meet His needs in us, it is possible they will not fare well amongst us because they are not like us, and some may even be hostile because of the challenge inherent in their existence, that we must become like Christ which firstly requires a repudiation of all the comforts and pleasure that people treasure so. When we have begun to change ourselves, we find that things which were important to us before, hardly affect us at all, now.

St. Francis at first lost his taste for drink and carousing and womanizing, and that may have put off some of his friends who marked a change in him which separated him from other men. 

Some might be frightened of a man who can embrace the cross so fully as to truly desire to endure its tortures purely out of love for God and His children.

Many have endured what did not show outwardly, and who wept for the fact that the sharing was not more complete. But the Lord tells us in the Gospels not to do things for show, but for the love of God who has so personally involved Himself in our lives. It might be a dreary thing, to read the chronicles of blessed who became martyrs of His love, crucified and bleeding and embracing the pain which was likewise the occasion of the bliss that inhabits suffering.

If we accept His request to suffer as a victim (martyr) of His love, we might be a spectacle of the spectacle of Calvary, and a demonstration that God exists and insists on changing thoughts and behaviors.

If His Will cannot be enacted one way, it certainly may be enacted in another, and so our life may change accordingly. If we have surpassed human existence to live as Christ, we may become lost in Him and of little use to this world. Then  men should take note, and be aware of the Lord yearning for our attention and waiting to see our behavior change. Where we worried only about ourselves and our next meal, we may be overcome that a man has nothing to eat or to wear, and even his humanity fails to clothe him. The very specific moment of His crucifixion and passion is but one moment of His life. He may live as the beggar who has nothing, starving and dying for sleep and a full stomach at the end of the day. Surely they have atoned for their sins by what they suffer, so that they have paid more than we know, for each breath they take. God bless those who can listen and spend their time on others. God bless those whose love of God is real.

Who put themselves second after the Lord, and are glad they can suffer for Him, even entering into His own unique suffering which constrains us in love.

No man can be crucified except he consents; the victim of His love is asked to give their all, and they give until there is no substance of themselves left to give, and they pass away like a little spider's web.

Give thanks to God for what you enjoy, and the peace and love that is in your life, for that is His life in you. If He is in you, and you do not share in the suffering of His passion and cross, be glad and do for others what will gladden them as well. Bring happiness into life, from the treasury of His Heart, the divine love which powers everything and exalts the powerless.

When He crucified me, He did not make the wounds visible, but rather, He made me powerless and crushed me so I may learn to be glad to be made anew by Him to enjoy His bliss as much as His agony. We must make room in our hearts and lives for God so that He fills our sky more and more as we forget to live this mortal life, for all the bliss He gives us drawing us in to Him where we may get lost. Find yourself in Him, then He will be all.

Cliffs and Being Flung

Day's Saints
Blessed Catherine of Racconigi, Dominican & Stigmatic
Blessed Peter of St. James, Mercedarian

Gospel Lk 4:16-30
Jesus came to Nazareth, where he had grown up,
and went according to his custom
into the synagogue on the sabbath day.
He stood up to read and was handed a scroll of the prophet Isaiah.
He unrolled the scroll and found the passage where it was written:
The Spirit of the Lord is upon me,
because he has anointed me
to bring glad tidings to the poor.
He has sent me to proclaim liberty to captives
and recovery of sight to the blind,
to let the oppressed go free,
and to proclaim a year acceptable to the Lord.
Rolling up the scroll,
he handed it back to the attendant and sat down,
and the eyes of all in the synagogue looked intently at him.
He said to them,
"Today this Scripture passage is fulfilled in your hearing."
And all spoke highly of him
and were amazed at the gracious words that came from his mouth.
They also asked, "Is this not the son of Joseph?"
He said to them, "Surely you will quote me this proverb,
'Physician, cure yourself,' and say, 'Do here in your native place
the things that we heard were done in Capernaum.'"
And he said,
"Amen, I say to you, no prophet is accepted in his own native place.
Indeed, I tell you,
there were many widows in Israel in the days of Elijah
when the sky was closed for three and a half years
and a severe famine spread over the entire land.
It was to none of these that Elijah was sent,
but only to a widow in Zarephath in the land of Sidon.
Again, there were many lepers in Israel
during the time of Elisha the prophet;
yet not one of them was cleansed, but only Naaman the Syrian."
When the people in the synagogue heard this,
they were all filled with fury.
They rose up, drove him out of the town,
and led him to the brow of the hill
on which their town had been built, to hurl him down headlong.
But he passed through the midst of them and went away.

+

Neither will the impious lay hands on the just to fling them off a cliff to die. It may be we need to change our reaction to other people, though, so that the holy ones sent us to convert our hearts and our behavior can be understood . Often they are difficult people, and understanding them will be difficult for anyone who does not know the Lord.

It is ironic that they should be misunderstood since we all pray for union, perhaps not realizing just how radical a change in thinking must take place. What happens when we are made one in Christ? Our thinking and understanding become like God's, and depart from the ways most people think because of the world they live in, which is corrupt.

If our prayers are answered and the Lord sends us someone to meet His needs in us, it is possible they will not fare well amongst us because they are not like us, and some may even be hostile because of the challenge inherent in their existence, that we must become like Christ which firstly requires a repudiation of all the comforts and pleasure that people treasure so. When we have begun to change ourselves, we find that things which were important to us before, hardly affect us at all, now.

St. Francis at first lost his taste for drink and carousing and womanizing, and that may have put off some of his friends who marked a change in him which separated him from other men. 

Some might be frightened of a man who can embrace the cross so fully as to truly desire to endure its tortures purely out of love for God and His children.

Many have endured what did not show outwardly, and who wept for the fact that the sharing was not more complete. But the Lord tells us in the Gospels not to do things for show, but for the love of God who has so personally involved Himself in our lives. It might be a dreary thing, to read the chronicles of blessed who became martyrs of His love, crucified and bleeding and embracing the pain which was likewise the occasion of the bliss that inhabits suffering.

If we accept His request to suffer as a victim (martyr) of His love, we might be a spectacle of the spectacle of Calvary, and a demonstration that God exists and insists on changing thoughts and behaviors.

If His Will cannot be enacted one way, it certainly may be enacted in another, and so our life may change accordingly. If we have surpassed human existence to live as Christ, we may become lost in Him and of little use to this world. Then  men should take note, and be aware of the Lord yearning for our attention and waiting to see our behavior change. Where we worried only about ourselves and our next meal, we may be overcome that a man has nothing to eat or to wear, and even his humanity fails to clothe him. The very specific moment of His crucifixion and passion is but one moment of His life. He may live as the beggar who has nothing, starving and dying for sleep and a full stomach at the end of the day. Surely they have atoned for their sins by what they suffer, so that they have paid more than we know, for each breath they take. God bless those who can listen and spend their time on others. God bless those whose love of God is real.

Who put themselves second after the Lord, and are glad they can suffer for Him, even entering into His own unique suffering which constrains us in love.

No man can be crucified except he consents; the victim of His love is asked to give their all, and they give until there is no substance of themselves left to give, and they pass away like a little spider's web.

Give thanks to God for what you enjoy, and the peace and love that is in your life, for that is His life in you. If He is in you, and you do not share in the suffering of His passion and cross, be glad and do for others what will gladden them as well. Bring happiness into life, from the treasury of His Heart, the divine love which powers everything and exalts the powerless.

When He crucified me, He did not make the wounds visible, but rather, He made me powerless and crushed me so I may learn to be glad to be made anew by Him to enjoy His bliss as much as His agony. We must make room in our hearts and lives for God so that He fills our sky more and more as we forget to live this mortal life, for all the bliss He gives us drawing us in to Him where we may get lost. Find yourself in Him, then He will be all.

Lamps and Oil

Day's Saints 
Our Lady of Montevergine
Ambrosinian of Armenia

Gospel Mt 25:1-13

Jesus told his disciples this parable:
"The Kingdom of heaven will be like ten virgins
who took their lamps and went out to meet the bridegroom.
Five of them were foolish and five were wise.
The foolish ones, when taking their lamps,
brought no oil with them,
but the wise brought flasks of oil with their lamps.
Since the bridegroom was long delayed,
they all became drowsy and fell asleep.
At midnight, there was a cry,
'Behold, the bridegroom! Come out to meet him!'
Then all those virgins got up and trimmed their lamps.
The foolish ones said to the wise,
'Give us some of your oil,
for our lamps are going out.'
But the wise ones replied,
'No, for there may not be enough for us and you.
Go instead to the merchants and buy some for yourselves.'
While they went off to buy it,
the bridegroom came
and those who were ready went into the wedding feast with him.
Then the door was locked.
Afterwards the other virgins came and said,
'Lord, Lord, open the door for us!'
But he said in reply,
'Amen, I say to you, I do not know you.'
Therefore, stay awake,
for you know neither the day nor the hour."

+

What store would be open at midnight so the foolish virgins might buy oil for their lamps? 

For those prepared, the door was open, they were invited to a feast, and rested with the bridegroom. Although they could trim their lamps and light them, there was insufficient oil in the lamp to keep the flame alive.

Perhaps the Lord  wants to prevent us being locked out of the wedding feast. Preparation means vigilance and practice. If we are distracted and not paying attention, all sorts of misfortunes can happen and we will be caught off guard. That is all He asks of us; He wishes us to go into the wedding feast with Him, not be caught off guard unready.

The Gospel speaks about the day the Kingdom of Heaven appears and the old world passes away. "passes away" sounds peaceful and serene, but that day may not be tranquil, as we can see in nature, that changes in things is often accompanied by great violence. The way to stay awake is to distract ourselves, strangely enough. We should not be resting, taking our ease, but working and praying and caring for our brothers and sisters.

If He comes in the middle of the night, we should be ready to spring into action and use our preparations to make ourselves presentable and ready to receive the Bridegroom. The lamps are the symbol of our light, which as humans, is not great; far greater is the light of God which shines whether we see it or not. Blessed are those who believe even if they have not seen, and have prepared themselves with holy exercises to be ready so we know what to do. The purpose of the lamps is for us to see, since God sees whether He has a lamp lit or not. The truth is, that He loves us very much and would rather we not be locked out. Those who strive to keep their hearts open will always be welcome, and their minds will be at ease, because of the peace that surrounds the Lord.

The wedding feast is a participation in divine delights, and the wedding night is for the enjoyment of the Bridegroom and the Bride. The bride knows there is light whether she can see it or not, for the privations and griefs that have gone before have purified her to receive the Groom. She has known of the coming of a great darkness, but she knows it is preparation for union, and is not unduly disturbed. It is penitential to be unable to participate sensibly in the presence of the Lord, but one can grow used to it and because of faith, unconcerned, because there is a certainty of His mastery of our existence that instills peace in us, in other words, the presence of God. And when it comes, the soul has been prepared and it is not painful anymore, and suddenly the light awakens the soul that has waited so long and so anxiously for union.

Yet, that is not the perfection of His charity toward us, since Heaven is the perfect presence and possession of the beloved. Thus, even though the possession of the bliss of His presence is immense, it is not the utmost degree, and the soul gladly waits for the gift of that union in heaven which surpasses anything the soul has encountered before.

Thus, the soul deals with deprivations for a greater good it cannot see but of which it is convinced and is happy to anticipate. The anticipation is sufficient for the soul that loves perfectly; it does not thirst for something unobtainable any more.

Now is the time to prepare. Now is the time to sacrifice what will please the Lord to forsake in order to possess Him. The soul is restless until it is finally fulfilled, and that moment is when the soul enters heaven.

St. John of the Cross spoke about the union he experienced which was overwhelming, so that in order to attend to earthly business, he was wont to rap his knuckles hard enough to distract himself so he could devote attention to those with whom he had to deal. And still, there was more, and he knew it was better, and he was anxious to consummate the union completely. 

Wise people are not rattled by the threat of wars and invasions and mass destruction, for God is present to those He loves and who love Him, and for them the love is enough and more than enough to put up with a little unpleasantness, for they are not the ones going to perdition.

Life is our preparation grounds. Let us make the most of that gift to prepare ourselves to belong to God and to be in union with Him. We may be unprepared at the moment, but if we make a start, it will be enough to become prepared. 

I have pain enough to remember the cross and the passion of a Lord who loved me enough the allow Himself to be stripped naked and be fastened to a piece of wood with nails. He loved me enough so that I can deny myself; He has not yet asked me to die, but I die for Him every day in a thousand ways, all of which are sufficient so that I may merit some of His pain and suffering. He does not ask the overwhelming, but He frequently overwhelms because He is good and He is love. I have no doubt the source of the pain, for the cross is plain enough, surrounded by such love as surrounds it and washes us thoroughly of sin and unites us in a pristine way to become one by He who must unite us. The end is not in doubt, and the ends are the means of becoming ready, so that the brutality of the nails is not lost on me and can satisfy my love of Him.