Commentary on Hosea 2:16-17,21-22; Psalm 44; Matthew 25:1-13

The Gospel reading for the feast is the parable of the Ten Bridesmaids from Matthew. It is one of three parables from near the end of Jesus’ public life in a section which deals mainly with the Second Coming of Christ and what is known as the General Judgement. The main theme of the three parables is the importance of being ready to meet Christ at the end of our lives.

The parable of the Ten Bridesmaids (or in some translations, the Ten Virgins) speaks of ten young women who go out to meet the bridegroom as he comes for the wedding ceremony. In our society, it is the groom who waits for the bride, but here it is the other way round. And though, in our time, traditionally brides have had the reputation for unpunctuality, here it is the man who causes the delay.

Each of the bridesmaids was carrying an oil lamp to greet the groom when he arrived. We are told that five of them were ‘wise’ and five were ‘foolish’. The foolish ones neglected to take extra oil with them, but the wise had brought flasks of oil in case of running short.

The bridegroom was long delayed and the young women became drowsy and even fell asleep. Then, at midnight, the cry went up:

Look! Here is the bridegroom! Come out to meet him.

By now, the lamps had all gone out and the foolish young women asked the wise to give them some oil for their lamps. The wise ones refused, saying that they did not have enough for all of them. They told the foolish ones to go and buy some for themselves.

While they were away, the bridegroom arrived and:

…those who were ready went with him into the wedding banquet, and the door was shut.

When the foolish young women came back, they asked for the locked door to be opened: 

Lord, Lord, lord, open to us.

They then hear what are perhaps the most terrible words in the Gospels:

…I do not know you.

The message of the parable is clear. It is an image of our lives. Our life is a journey to our final goal – to be fully united with our Creator and Lord. But on the way we need to prepare ourselves, we need to be ready.

Jesus had said earlier in Matthew’s Gospel that we are to be the light of the world. But there is a danger that our light will go out. What is the oil we need to keep our light shining? The ‘oil’ is our maintaining a close relationship with Christ through steadfast prayer and living our lives in a constantly loving and caring relationship with those around us, especially those in greatest need, whatever that need may be.  As long as we live in this way, there will be oil to keep our light shining. And we will know Jesus because we will recognise, love and serve him in our brothers and sisters. And, at the end, he too will know us. It will be a meeting of old friends.

But if we live our lives in self-seeking ways, Jesus will not be part of it, and at the end, he will not know us. Edith Stein, in the earlier part of her life, led a life where God had little or no part.  But after her conversion and discovery of Christ, then she was indeed a “wise bridesmaid” in living faithfully her Carmelite vocation. And when the final trial came, she was ready to go in and meet her Lord, to whom she was already well known. Let us learn some of her wisdom.

The First Reading consists of verses from the prophet Hosea. This book uses the prophet’s own unfortunate marriage (where his wife Gomer was unfaithful to him) as an image of the relationship of the faithless Israel with Yahweh. And, just as Hosea felt he could not desert his wife because of her adultery, so Yahweh cannot abandon Israel. In today’s reading, Yahweh speaks of his loving relationship with Israel:

Therefore, I will now allure her
and bring her into the wilderness
and speak tenderly to her…she shall respond
as in the days of her youth,
as at the time when she came out of the land of Egypt.
(NRSVue Translation*: Hosea 2:14-15)

Here the text speaks of the Exodus, of Yahweh leading out his people from the slavery of Egypt when they were more faithful to him than now. Then the prophet writes:

I will take you for my wife in righteousness and in justice, in steadfast love and in mercy. I will take you for my wife in faithfulness, and you shall know the Lord.
(NRSVue Translation: Hosea 2:19-20)

This is the promise Yahweh makes, in spite of Israel’s unfaithfulness. Despite her conversion to Christianity, Edith remained a Jew all her life. She could not be otherwise. But as a Carmelite Sister, Edith had become betrothed to the Lord and became the bride of Christ. And she remained unwaveringly faithful, even to the sacrifice of her life for her Spouse.
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*The verses in the Book of the Prophet Hosea are arranged slightly differently in different translations. The First Reading verses cited in the two quotations above are from the NRSVue Translation.