Friday, August 27 : Saint Augustine

There has come a shout at midnight. What can this shout be, if not what the apostle talks of: in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will rise up imperishable, and as for us, we shall be changed (1 Cor 15:52)? Once the shout has been raised at midnight what happens next? They all arose. What’s the meaning of “They all arose”? The hour is coming, says the Lord himself, when all who are in the tombs will hear his voice, and come forth (Jn 5:28-29). (…) What’s the meaning of “They didn’t take oil in their flasks”? In their hearts (…) I mean, look at these foolish virgins who didn’t carry oil with them; by their self-denial which earns them the name of virgins, and by their good works represented by the lamps they bring,’ they are intent on pleasing other people. And if they are intent on pleasing other people, and that’s why they do these admirable things, they are not carrying oil with them. So you, then, mind you carry it with you, carry it inside, where God can see; carry the testimony of your conscience there. (…) So if you refrain from unlawful things and perform good works in order to be admired by other people, there is no oil inside you (…) Before those virgins went to sleep it doesn’t say that their lamps were going out. The wise ones’ lamps were burning from the oil inside them, from the assurance of their consciences, from their inner boast, from their deepest charity. But those of the foolish ones were also burning. Why were they burning then? Because there was no dearth of admiration from other people. But after they had risen, that is to say, in the resurrection from the dead, they began to trim their lamps, that is, to prepare to give God an account of their works. And because there is nobody then expressing admiration (…) they were asking for what they had always been used to, that is to say, to shine with someone else’s oil, to live in dependence on other people’s admiration. Give us some of your oil, because our lamps are going out.

Roman Catholic Ordinary Calendar – rosary,team