Some time back, I was visiting the home of America’s beloved President, Abraham Lincoln, in Springfield, Illinois. I admired much about his modest home, but one thing, especially, impressed me and that was the President’s handwritten note on a simple piece of paper, lying on his desk:

” I WILL PREPARE AND SOME DAY MY CHANCE WILL COME.”

Lincoln was a failure most of his life, but when his chance came he was prepared.

Jesus too talks about being prepared in order to enter His kingdom. He relates the parable of the ten Bridesmaids in which five of them (the wise ones) were prepared for His coming whereas the other five (the foolish ones) were not prepared (Matthew 25:1–13).

The point of the parable is that we, as Christians, are summoned to take responsible action, like the five wise Bridesmaids with “their lamps” trimmed, in order to enter His kingdom. We are cautioned, not to be like the five foolish Bridesmaids, who “brought no oil with them” for their lamps, and found themselves locked out of the Lord’s kingdom.

This story of the five wise and five foolish Bridesmaids is actually amusing. To catch the humor of the story, you have to appreciate the circumstances surrounding a wedding. In Jesus’s time, the circumstances surrounding a wedding were not that different from the circumstances of weddings today. Only the manifestations were different.

Weddings, as you know, seldom start on time. In the gospel account, this was the case. The bridegroom was delayed. And, why not! There’s always delays at weddings. Cars transporting the Bridegroom or the Bride often get caught in traffic. Before the wedding, buttons pop off at the last minute. Flowers sometimes wilt. Soloists contract laryngitis. The groom or the bride might forget to bring the marriage license with them which makes the priest or minister very nervous because he is obligated to sign the license before witnesses at the wedding.

The only reasonable approach to a wedding is to be prepared, and submit to Murphy’s law that if something can go wrong it probably will. Jesus tells this amusing, wedding story to encourage us to be prepared and to expect the unexpected. That is the way of life. The wise Bridesmaids know that unexpected things can happen, indeed are bound to happen, and when they do they are prepared. The foolish Bridesmaids, on the other hand, lose their place in God’s kingdom by not being prepared for the unexpected.

The message of today’s wedding story is to be prepared for the Lord’s coming no matter what is going on, no matter what challenges you are facing in life.

Look around you and see how you can prepare yourself today.

Do you listen to the word of the Lord in Scripture? Do you put time aside to meditate on His word each day? Are you open to the needs of others, especially the least of your brothers and sisters? Are you responsive to the needs of the stranger or the immigrant, knowing that, in welcoming him or her, you are welcoming Christ? Are you attentive to the needs of your own household, and are you receptive to the gifts and insights of each member?

Above all, are you prepared for the many surprises sprung upon you by life’s vicissitudes, such as the fallout from this year’s Presidential election? Can you put your politics aside and, in the spirit of Christ, be a friend to your neighbors whether they voted for Trump or for Biden? Are you prepared to put God’s kingdom first in your allegiance ahead of the politics of this world?

This is an enormous challenge for all of us right now, and it is a challenge we can only face if we are prepared to put God’s kingdom first in our lives.

Pray to the Lord to prepare your heart to love one another, and to accept the people’s choice in this Presidential election, when the dust has settled, for the sake of His kingdom.

The Lord asks us to be prepared for the coming of His kingdom, no matter what else might happen, and to “stay awake for you know neither the day nor the hour” (Matthew 25:13).

—Fr. Hugh Duffy