Brief synopsis of the readings: From the apocryphal book of Wisdom we read about, well, wisdom. Here wisdom is seen as being available for those who seek her. “Whoever watches for her at dawn shall not be disappointed.” In Matthew’s Gospel Jesus tells another parable. Here ten bridesmaids go out to meet a returning bridegroom. They all carried torches but only five of them brought oil to light them. The bridegroom was late and by the time he arrived it was dark and the bridesmaids had fallen asleep. Those who thought to bring oil lit their torches but those who didn’t tried in vain to get some oil. By the time they had gotten enough oil to light their lamps the reception had already begun and they were denied entrance.

There’s an old joke where a man is in his home but the city is flooding and being evacuated. As the waters rise a man in a large pickup truck drives down the waterlogged street and offers a ride to the man but he replies: “No need for a rescue. God will provide” and the truck drives off. After a while the water level has risen to the point where the man has to escape to the second floor; he’s on his porch when another man in a motorboat comes by and also offers to rescue him. Again the man turns him down by saying that God will provide for him. Eventually the water has risen to the point where the man is standing on his roof. A helicopter comes by and the pilot shouts down that he needs to be rescued lest he drown. And again the man waves him off and promises that God will provide. Eventually the man drowns and goes to Heaven where he hunts down God. “You were supposed to provide for me!” Exasperated, God replies: “What do you want with me? I sent you a truck, a boat, and a helicopter and you waved them all off.”

Dad jokes aside this is a troubling Gospel. We normally think of God’s mercy as limitless and there’s no such thing as “too late” when it comes to redemption. But here half the bridesmaids are shut out for only having been foolish and not prepared. Frankly this is an easy sermon if we’re teaching children to be responsible but it doesn’t age well to adults.

Or perhaps not… If we think of our faith as a journey there is something to be said for keeping on the correct path. It’s worth asking why the foolish bridesmaids didn’t bring enough oil, why they weren’t prepared for the possibility that the groom would be late. Perhaps they were careless or forgetful. But maybe, just maybe, they took their relationship with the groom for granted. Perhaps they thought they were important enough that the groom would never exclude them. Perhaps they excluded themselves.

In our journey with God we may be aware of the need to stay on the path but we don’t always act like it. No child who wanders away from his parents intends to get lost or fall into harm’s way. He normally just sees something shiny or interesting and assumes his parents will follow him. By the time he recognizes that he’s lost his parents are out of sight.

We stumble when we think of our faith just with our head (a good concept) or our heart (a good feeling) and we stumble when we think enough of ourselves that God will follow our lead. Our faith must be with our whole mind and our whole heart but also with our whole being.

The problem isn’t so much that we have the ability to wander far from God, it’s the reality that it can begin with such subtlety. It begins when we take a shortcut to something we want (no matter how noble), certain that nobody will notice. It begins when we snub a new coworker because he doesn’t look like us or isn’t accepted by the people whose approval we want. It begins when we let our fear overpower our faith. And then one day we realize that we’ve become someone we thought we’d never be. Because the second time we take that shortcut or snub the new coworker it’s just that much easier. And the third time is easier still. One day we realize that we’re missing the reception not because the groom bolted the door but because we thought we had found a door that was shinier or more interesting.

Please understand that this isn’t about a belief in the “rapture.” The idea that at a specific point in time God will take the righteous directly to Heaven and leave the rest in a place of darkness and judgement has never been a Catholic doctrine. The thought that we may be able to avoid death can be, and often is, that shinier, more interesting door. I once had a hospice patient who refused to do any advance planning because she was absolutely convinced that she would be “raptured.” When she finally realized she would die she fell into a deep depression.

But we do believe that how we live our lives matters. And in our best selves I like to think we live well and follow God completely not to avoid having something bad happen to us but because the God who created us and created the universe also created a path that allows us to live our most fulfilling life. Bringing enough oil means that we stay attentive enough that we recognize that shortcuts cut both ways and welcoming an unpopular coworker allows him also to live his best life.

Bringing enough oil means recognizing that while pyrite (fool’s gold) may look shiny it’s not real gold. Problem is that fool’s gold looks enough like real gold to pass at first glance. The ability to tell the difference comes only through a commitment to follow true gold and not swayed by an easier, cheaper look alike. That comes with wisdom.