{"id":6441,"date":"2023-08-31T14:15:35","date_gmt":"2023-08-31T12:15:35","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/predication.net\/?p=6441"},"modified":"2023-08-31T14:15:37","modified_gmt":"2023-08-31T12:15:37","slug":"wise-and-foolish-virgins","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/predication.net\/?p=6441","title":{"rendered":"Wise and foolish virgins."},"content":{"rendered":"

Symbol of oil<\/span>\u25aa The lamp does not burn without oil.\u00a0So, it is a symbol of death. When does death occur? Even doctors distinguish between so-called clinical death and the natural end of life. There are sure signs that life in the body is ending. Is it over? But with death, we don’t even know the beginning. According to a Spanish song, one begins to die at birth.\u00a0But this is about natural bodily life.\u00a0We Christians believe in eternal life but also the eternal death of sinners. When do they start?\u00a0Life here is equated with grace, symbolized by the lamp’s oil. So when does a person die?\u00a0He loses energy in the truest sense the moment he loses sanctifying dignity. That is why grave sins are also called “mortal sins.” Although the sinner continues to live on earth, it is only like the flickering of the last remaining oil. Bodily death will reveal what was inside.\u00a0So there is a big difference between people.\u00a0Wolves are all wolves; sheep\u00a0are sheep, writes Pseudo-Makarius.\u00a0They look the same and are the same.\u00a0However, people only look the same on the outside.\u00a0There are sheep or wolves inside; they carry life or death.<\/span><\/p>\n

Arrival in the middle of the night<\/span>\u25aa The oil is stored in the lamp but lit when it gets dark. That is why all lamps look the same during the day, whether they have oil or not.\u00a0When does it get dark?\u00a0In the complete sense, only at physical death. But already in this life, there are many moments in which it seems to us that it is getting late, that we are in a fog, that we have lost our way. In these moments, one already recognizes that someone has or does not have the light of grace. It is a light that does not burn brightly but still enough so we do not lose the right direction. Even great saints sometimes experience periods of anxiety. It seemed to them that heaven was closed to them.\u00a0Theresa of Lisieux also had such an impression before her death. But she had one certainty, and all believers have it: the certainty of faith, of trust.\u00a0We cannot see ahead, but we still feel that our path is the right one and that we cannot leave it. Pseudo-Macarius, who we just quoted, explains these states by using the example of someone walking with a lamp against the wind.\u00a0The fire blazes in all directions, but it does not go out.\u00a0That’s why we value it all the more and are sure it will flare up thoroughly when the wind dies down and there is calm.<\/span><\/p>\n

I expect a groom<\/span>. \u25aa Faith is like a leap into the dark. At least, that’s how it seems to the great converts when they finally decide to accept the faith. But why does he finally leap? One of them explained it nicely.\u00a0We don’t understand anything at that point. The darkness is complete.\u00a0But we feel that it is not empty.\u00a0Someone is standing there, and we know that they will catch us, that we will not fall or hit each other. Oil is a symbol of eternal light.\u00a0But what would be the use of lighting the house if it was empty and no one was waiting for us there? The comparison to the virgins and the bridegroom is appropriate in the biblical tradition. Scripture is the message of the living God.\u00a0His life is not in time, not in place.\u00a0However, there is an eternal meeting of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, three persons in unity, in an inaccessible light. Nevertheless, we have been given access to this. Therefore, we await the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ in blessed hope.<\/span><\/h2>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Symbol of oil\u25aa The lamp does not burn without oil.\u00a0So, it is a symbol of death. When does death occur? Even doctors distinguish between so-called clinical death and the natural end of life. There are sure signs that life in … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6441","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-nezaradene"],"yoast_head":"\nWise and foolish virgins. - predication.net<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/predication.net\/?p=6441\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_GB\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Wise and foolish virgins. - predication.net\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Symbol of oil\u25aa The lamp does not burn without oil.\u00a0So, it is a symbol of death. 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