Name : Aeron Josh D.

Cerezo Date: April 15, 2024

Subject : CLVED II. Reflection on a

Parable

The Parable of the Ten Virgins

1“At that time the kingdom of heaven will be like ten virgins who took their lamps and went
out to meet the bridegroom. 2Five of them were foolish and five were wise. 3The foolish ones
took their lamps but did not take any oil with them. 4The wise ones, however, took oil in jars
along with their lamps. 5The 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. 8The 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.”

To summarize the Parable of the Ten Virgins; it is said that the kingdom of Heaven
will be like the ten virgins with their lamps and the bridegroom. In the ten virgins, five were
wise while five were foolish for all of them has their lamps but only the wise five brought
their oil. The ten anticipated the coming of the bridegroom before the banquet only to wait
for a long period of time, dusk came and so the midnight. Then the ten fell into sleep only to
be awoken by a call to the coming of the bridegroom. Their lamps which was lighted
through the whole night came to be weaker and fortunately the wise five was with their oil
leaving the other five unfortunate, though they tried to bargain to the other, they were left
with no choice but to go out and buy their own. Time arrived and they were left out of the
banquet, they sought to the door only to be rejected by the bridegroom himself.

This exerts that even the ready and prepared is very different than those who are
wise. The parable talks about the preparedness of the ten virgins to the coming of the
bridegroom then further draws their difference as 5 fools and 5 wise. Where even if the 5
fools did prepare for the event, the wise only thought about preparedness. But, the question
would be is what preparedness truly is. In a simple tense, the concept of preparedness
refers about the state where one is ready for what will come such as being prepared for the
exam, being prepared for the quiz, the performance, and even in tackling an activity, and
many more. But when you think about it deeper, it only talks about something that you
know that ‘will’ come and not something that ‘would’ come. I say to you that preparedness
does not only refer to being ready for what will come but also being ready for what would
come after it. Like always, we must be prepared for what we know will happen and act for
what would happen but truly, being prepared says that you must be totally ready to
problems that would come after in a sense that you must be ready to have oil for your light
for it to continue because life only lights opportunities and opportunities aren’t open for all
times, turn around then it would close out, but then wisdom also plays a role whilst being
ready, it prepares you truthfully and ethically. Wisdom acts like you never expected it like
when you think someone who was once a robber will twice be a criminal; he would be a
thief of a property and a thief of his own freedom, and when once a candle is lit in the dark
will it never be turned off? ; a flame that provides light for many will never be turned off as
it would turn away the many. This way of thinking also shall come in the idea of
preparedness thus the preparation physically and mentally. In the parable, the distinction
between the fools and the wise were made by the idea that the wise knew not of how long
their lamps will light and stood to bring their oils whilst the fools knew how to be prepared
for who will come but instead thought of it rather than what they would need to maintain
their lamp thus, the incident of them being left out.

The parable not only talks about how even the ready would be with flaws but it also
give clues as to how the kingdom of Heaven will come to like, more apparently, how the
faithful will receive the kingdom and how others will be left. In any case, we must be ready
to what will and would come as we might know it just like how sudden each problems
occur, just how sudden life will be taken, and just how sudden He would come. Jesus Christ
and the Kingdom of heaven will come and we know it will come sooner or later as the time
of His arrival and of His judgement is not known and lest must we only level to be ready, in
other words must we be prepared and as I say to be prepared; mentally and physically, with
wisdom and certainty, and for what will come and what would come. But, does the
generation nowadays know of what’s coming? Jesus Christ? The Kingdom of Heaven? In a
short answer; No, in a long answer; maaayyybeeee. Many youth knows how to enjoy life
when with this I say, enjoy (addiction, drugs, clubs, alcohols) life (sacrilege, immoral love,
manipulation, corruption). In my long answer ‘maaayyybeeee’ ma stands for maybe, y for
yes, b for before, and e for everything makes up ‘maybe yes before everything’ and certainly
this says that if you think of the 2 nd coming before everything else will make you think
deeper of it, thinking deeper of it means you learn more about it, learning more about it
means you it would come, knowing that they would come means to a more effective and
reliable preparation but, you don’t really need to think of it that hard because you’ll learn of
it once you go in a mass.

Anyways. Is this generation ready and prepared for what is coming, i.e. the 2 nd
coming of Jesus Christ and the Kingdom of Heaven? The truth is… I don’t know, what I know
is to prepare for it; the 2 nd coming of Jesus Christ and the Kingdom of Heaven via
repentance and everything the church teaches you to do. With this would maybe raise the
uncertainty to ‘maaayyybeeee’, to maybe, but what I would love the most would be
Absolutely because remember that God is with us but with freedom we chose to hide Him,
He is with us but would you be with Him?