This
is a crucial question that we hardly address, while the Lord Himself, in the Gospel, urges us to address a very close issue: in Matthew, chapter 25:1-13 the
Lord tells us a parable, the so called parable of the 10 virgins. The
lesson of this parable is given in the end of the parable: “Therefore
keep watch, because you do not know the day or the hour”.
The frame
of the parable is: “meeting the Bridegroom” when He comes back.
In order to “be there” when He comes back, one has to “keep
watch”, to remain alert, to be ready (the oil), in order to “enter
with Him”.
“At that time the kingdom of heaven will be like ten
virgins who took their lamps and went out to meet the Bridegroom. 2
Five of them were foolish and five were wise. 3 The foolish ones took
their lamps but did not take any oil with them. 4 The wise ones,
however, took oil in jars along with their lamps. 5 The bridegroom
was a long time in coming, and they all became drowsy and fell
asleep.
6 “At midnight the cry rang out: ‘Here’s the
bridegroom! Come out to meet him!’
7 “Then all the virgins woke
up and trimmed their lamps. 8 The foolish ones said to the wise,
‘Give us some of your oil; our lamps are going out.’ 9 “‘No,’
they replied, ‘there may not be enough for both us and you.
Instead, go to those who sell oil and buy some for yourselves.’
10
“But while they were on their way to buy the oil, the Bridegroom
arrived. The virgins who were ready went in with him to the wedding
banquet. And the door was shut. 11 “Later the others also came.
‘Lord, Lord,’ they said, ‘open the door for us!’ 12 “But he
replied, ‘Truly I tell you, I don’t know you.’
13 “Therefore
keep watch, because you do not know the day or the hour.” (Mt
25:1-13)
I am not intending at all to comment or interpret this
parable, this is not my aim. To me, on top of its proper intended meaning ("keep watch"), this parable
sheds an intense light on the very moment of the Resurrection of the
Lord, seen as a “coming back”, “from far” (from death, and
hell), “victorious of death” and on the necessity to wait for Him, and be ready when He comes.
I see the Resurrection as a
"meeting moment", and an "entering in the Kingdom".
Let us just appreciate the intense Light it sheds on the
Resurrection. Please don't hesitate to re-read this Parable thinking of these hours after Jesus' Death, and if there is anybody "waiting" for Him, when He rises.
This is why I ask insistingly: "is anybody there to greet Him, to
meet Him, to “enter with Him” in the Eternal Joy of the
Resurrection? Is anybody there, ready, waiting for Him until He
Rises?"
I see the fact of meeting the Lord at His Resurrection as a vital fact for the future of Christianity. It is the vital and necessary bridge that reunites what happened before His Death, and what unfolded after His Resurrection. Otherwise, there is a gap, an abyss, a missing link between these two blocks. We take His Resurrection for granted. We think: "oh well, He had to rise anyway". But in fact, it is not true. If there is no flowing communication between the realities of the Kingdom before the Resurrection and what can happen after His Resurrection, we are facing a disconnection, a very dangerous hiatus.
Therefore, I do consider the presence of somebody who waits for Him, desires his Resurrection, wants it, pray for it, the presence of somebody to greet
Him at His Resurrection and “enter with Him to the Wedding Banquet” as crucial as the
lesson told by the parable, if not more.
In oder to “be part of”
the eternal “Wedding Banquet”, the Kingdom of God, it is
important to “be there”, in order to greet the Bridegroom.
The two
Annunciations
In order to answer to this question we will go back to
the beginning of saint Luke's Gospel.
The structure of saint Luke's
Gospel opening chapter is fundamental. Saint Luke offers us two
annunciations made by the same very High Messenger of God: the
ArchAngel Gabriel.
First, to Zachariah, priest, who represents the
people of Israel, praying and waiting for the Messiah,
 |
| Annunciation to Zachariah |
Second, to Mary, young girl, who prays as well, and
awaits for the coming of the Messiah, God announces the "good
news", by sending His Angel, carrying the Sacred Message.
Who
is ready to receive the Messiah? Both are praying, Zachariah (the
whole people of Israel) and Mary. Who can believe? Who can open his
heart and his whole being to the coming of God-amongst-us?
Saint Luke
here is not giving us just an account, or telling a story. He is
giving us a crucial element for our future: how can be we believe?
The
two annunciations are put in parallel, in order to help us
contemplate the difference between Zachariah and Mary. At the core we
have the “capacity to believe”. Not only that, but Zachariah's
failed annunciation is redeemed by Mary's double act: she believes
“for herself”, and “for Zachariah” who didn't believe. In the
sense that she had to believe as well that her cousin, Elisabeth, is
as well pregnant by the action of God who healed her infertility, at
a very old age.
This diptych (twofold parallel story) is fundamental
to help us understand that Mary is really the first fruit of the
Redemption. She is “full of grace” by a grace of God, a grace
totally coming from “Her Saviour” (as she states it in Luke
1:47), from His Salvation realised on the Cross. It is true that the
Salvation on the Cross happens, in the stream of time, after Mary's
birth, but the Cross transcends time, covers all the times.
Foreseeing the Salvation of the Cross, God extracts Mary from Jesus'
side, as the "New Eve". Dante rightly calls Mary: “daughter
of your son”.
Without Mary's faith, we wouldn't have had Jesus, this
is true. But without Mary's faith, Elisabeth and Zachariah wouldn't
be able to believe in Jesus. Both Mary's fruits are important.
Are you
with me here?
It is not enough to have "the Redeemer", "the
Divine Seed", "the Heavenly Wine", we need as well
"the capacity to receive Him". This is why Mary is called
the “one who believed” (Luke 1:45), the “Good earth” (Mt 13),
the “New Skin” for the new wine. She is as well called “Jacob's
ladder” (see John 1:51), because in Cana she is the one who can
believe in Jesus, and she is the one who leads us, in her faith, to
Him. We do “climb” on that Divine Ladder, given by God to us, in
order to believe in Jesus, and reach his Side, and say again with
Thomas: “My Lord and My God” (John 20).
In our Baptism, God gives
us two things then: the "object" of our Faith: Jesus, who is everything
for us, our “All”; and the “subject” of our Faith, Mary's
capacity to “believe” and follow Jesus.
Mary continues to believe
throughout her life, and reaches the point, at 3 pm, Good Friday,
where again and again, she is alone, and having to believe in the
Core of Jesus Message: “I will die and will rise, the third day”
(see previous post). She is the one who carries the “Fire” of
that Promise, protects it, against the stormy attacks of death, hell,
and so forth... and keeps it intact, waiting, praying, fighting,
aspiring, desiring to meet the Risen Lord, when He comes back from
the land of death.
And what happens at the early hours of Sunday? “At
the Third Day, there was a Wedding” (John 2:1). Do you see what I
see?
Do you see the wedding? Who is the Bridegroom, the
Bride?
Contemplation
I'll leave you with these thoughts now. Just go
back to John 2:1-11 and try to see it under the light of what was
unveiled above.
"On the third day a wedding took place at Cana in
Galilee. Jesus’ mother was there, 2 and Jesus and his disciples had
also been invited to the wedding. 3 When the wine was gone, Jesus’
mother said to him, “They have no more wine.”4 “Woman, what is
between you and me?” Jesus replied. “My hour has not yet come.”5
His mother said to the servants, “Do whatever he tells you.”6
Nearby stood six stone water jars, the kind used by the Jews for
ceremonial washing, each holding from twenty to thirty gallons.7
Jesus said to the servants, “Fill the jars with water”; so they
filled them to the brim.8 Then he told them, “Now draw some out and
take it to the master of the banquet.”They did so, 9 and the master
of the banquet tasted the water that had been turned into wine.He did
not realise where it had come from, though the servants who had drawn
the water knew. Then he called the bridegroom aside 10 and said,
“Everyone brings out the choice wine first and then the cheaper
wine after the guests have had too much to drink; but you have saved
the best till now.”11 What Jesus did here in Cana of Galilee was
the first of the signs through which he revealed his glory; and his
disciples believed in him." (John 2:1-11)
(To
be continued ...)
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