At midnight, there was a cry, ‘Behold, the bridegroom! Come out to meet him!’

9 AUGUST (Mt 25,1-13)

Jesus is the Bridegroom of mankind. This is his truth. He is bridegroom by redemption, conversion, faith, justification, and sanctification. Every man is called to become his body, his life, and his breath. When does this occur? When man, after having listened to the Word of the Gospel, gets converted, lets himself be submerged in water and Holy Spirit, becomes a new creature, the body of Christ, and living temple of the Holy Spirit. It is at this moment that he becomes Church and therefore bride of Christ the Lord.

After this, Jesus and his disciples went into the region of Judea, where he spent some time with them baptizing. John was also baptizing in Aenon near Salim, because there was an abundance of water there, and people came to be baptized, for John had not yet been imprisoned. Now a dispute arose between the disciples of John and a Jew about ceremonial washings. So they came to John and said to him, “Rabbi, the one who was with you across the Jordan, to whom you testified, here he is baptizing and everyone is coming to him.” John answered and said, “No one can receive anything except what has been given him from heaven. You yourselves can testify that I said (that) I am not the Messiah, but that I was sent before him. The one who has the bride is the bridegroom; the best man, who stands and listens for him, rejoices greatly at the bridegroom’s voice. So this joy of mine has been made complete. He must increase; I must decrease.” The one who comes from above is above all. The one who is of the earth is earthly and speaks of earthly things. But the one who comes from heaven (is above all). He testifies to what he has seen and heard, but no one accepts his testimony. Whoever does accept his testimony certifies that God is trustworthy. For the one whom God sent speaks the words of God. He does not ration his gift of the Spirit. The Father loves the Son and has given everything over to him. Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life, but whoever disobeys the Son will not see life, but the wrath of God remains upon him. (Jn 3,22-35).

The Book of Revelation also proclaims this truth. Jesus Christ wants to celebrate the eternal wedding with his Bride. But this is first purified in the crucible of suffering, pain, and martyrdom. She becomes this way an only blood shed in Christ.
“I, Jesus, sent my angel to give you this testimony for the churches. I am the root and offspring of David, the bright morning star.” The Spirit and the bride say, “Come.” Let the hearer say, “Come.” Let the one who thirsts come forward, and the one who wants it receive the gift of life-giving water. I warn everyone who hears the prophetic words in this book: if anyone adds to them, God will add to him the plagues described in this book, and if anyone takes away from the words in this prophetic book, God will take away his share in the tree of life and in the holy city described in this book. The one who gives this testimony says, “Yes, I am coming soon.” Amen! Come, Lord Jesus! The grace of the Lord Jesus be with all. (Rev 22,16-21).
The Bridegroom will come for sure. The eternal wedding will be celebrated. But how does one wait for the bridegroom? With a faith full of charity, mercy, piety, compassion, and every good work. He it awaited with a faith that is bright, because it is transformation into life of every Word of the Gospel. Without this faith we cannot celebrate the eternal wedding.

“Then the kingdom of heaven will be like ten virgins who took their lamps and went out to meet the bridegroom. Five of them were foolish and five were wise. The foolish ones, when taking their lamps, brought no oil with them, but the wise brought flasks of oil with their lamps. Since the bridegroom was long delayed, they all became drowsy and fell asleep. At midnight, there was a cry, ‘Behold, the bridegroom! Come out to meet him!’ Then all those virgins got up and trimmed their lamps. The foolish ones said to the wise, ‘Give us some of your oil, for our lamps are going out.’ But the wise ones replied, ‘No, for there may not be enough for us and you. Go instead to the merchants and buy some for yourselves.’ While they went off to buy it, the bridegroom came and those who were ready went into the wedding feast with him. Then the door was locked. Afterwards the other virgins came and said, ‘Lord, Lord, open the door for us!’ But he said in reply, ‘Amen, I say to you, I do not know you.’ Therefore, stay awake, for you know neither the day nor the hour.

If we are in darkness, that is not luminous, Jesus will not be able to recognize us. He is eternal, divine, and perennial light. He cannot celebrate the celestial wedding with a man made of darkness, who has not brought to fulfillment his transformation into real light.

Virgin Mary, Mother of the Redemption, Angels, and Saints make us light in Christ Jesus.