“Take care not to let the flame go out.” Mt. 25:1-13

The parable that is proposed to us to pray today describes the situation of those who live in hope of the coming of the Kingdom of God, assimilated here with the celebration of a wedding. The center of the message is the need for preparation, to be attentive, vigilant. The foolishness of the young women is not that they had fallen asleep, but that they were not prepared “for what we came for”. The refusal of the sensible to share their oil is a way of making us understand that the preparation required is personal. It is not worth relying on the fidelity of another. And what is oil? Perhaps it is not possible to generalize, or to say a priori, it is this or that. The parable is simply a call to live one’s relationship with God responsibly and lucidly, and to live it now, before it is too late. It is not enough to be a member of a community. Each one must ask themselves, ask God in prayer, what it is that they must care for and nourish, in preparation for the encounter with God.