[from my parish bulletin]
Many have posed the following question regarding today’s parable, “why did the five wise virgins not share their oil with the foolish ones who ran out? Perhaps all ten could have entered the banquet hall if they had shared.”
The fact is that certain things, even if they are very good and we would love to give them to others, we cannot give. Our personal faith in Christ is one of these things we cannot automatically give to others as a gift because the other must desire it, seek it and be given it by God. We can share our faith with others, speak about it, but we cannot give it.
Each person must reach out to Jesus Christ so that together we may enter the banquet hall of heaven, yet if someone fails to gather enough oil throughout his life, he will be responsible for that before God.
We are called to collect enough oil throughout our lives by loving God and neighbor and to help those with a weaker faith seek Christ. At the same time we must recognize that we each have our own lamp before God and we are each responsible for having our own filled by the time we meet Christ the Lord.
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