A new look at charity

Friday-Saturday, August 26-27

At Mass today we heard the parable of the wise and foolish virgins (Matthew 25:1-13). As usual, this parable turns reality on its head and causes us to think in different ways than we’re normally used to.

The story is this: There are ten wise and ten foolish virgins who are awaiting the bridegroom. The wait, apparently, might take them through the night, so the wise ones, being well prepared, brought extra oil for their lamps; the foolish ones didn’t think to make any preparations and just brought their lamps with whatever oil they had in them. Finally, at midnight, someone announced the groom’s arriving. The foolish virgins needed more oil for their lamps and so asked the wise ones to share what they had.

Now at this point, one might think that it would be proper Christian charity for the wise ones to share their oil with the foolish ones. That is the expected result. But the wise ones refuse to share because if they did they wouldn’t have enough for their own lamps. “How selfish!” one might think.

But Jesus surprises his listeners and calls the “selfish” ones wise for not sharing. They tell the other ones to go out and buy more oil from the merchants. (I find this detail puzzling, because I wonder where they would find an oil-shop open at that time of night.) Anyway, the foolish ones miss the bridegroom’s arrival and once the door is shut he refuses to let them in.

So what do you make of this?

Jesus uses this example as a call for us to “Stay awake!” because we don’t know the hour of His visitation. But I would like to suggest that there are even more lessons to be learned from the parable. Yes, wisdom requires us to be prepared at all times, and I would suggest that it means we should always be open to a visitation from the Lord, when we least expect it, and that visitation might be in forms and ways that we couldn’t predict.

Another possible lesson is—and I dare to say this--that there might be a limit to charity. Sometimes we have to take care of ourselves, especially in matters regarding our spiritual preparation for the coming of the Lord. I like to think of the safety instructions people are given at the beginning of a flight: if the oxygen masks drop down, it is essential that we put our own on first, and this message goes especially to parents of small children, whose impulse would be to reach out to the children first. Put your own mask on first and then you will be able to help others. That is the wise way of behaving.

What do you think wisdom is requiring you to do, or how might it be inspiring you to think. My explanation might not be useful to you today; what matters is the sense you make of the whole matter, and what ways the parable might inspire you to think differently. That is the  main point.

God bless you!