Behold, the bridegroom! Come out to meet him!

9 AUGUST (Mt 25,1-13)

I cannot, despite my efforts to understand how can one read the Gospel and then say things that are the exact opposite of what the letter of the Holy Scripture says, teaches, proclaims and cries out. It is true. Many think it is urgent to go beyond the letter. According to the saying of St. Paul: the letter kills, while the Spirit gives life. The Spirit of the Lord is the one that gives life to the letter of Scripture. For this reason never might one go beyond the letter as never might one go beyond the flesh of Christ, if he wants to know who exactly and perfectly the Father is.

As from the flesh of Lord Christ one knows the Father, in the same way from the letter of the Gospel he knows Christ Lord and through Christ knows the Father, the Holy Spirit, the Church and every other truth and grace of which he is the bearer on our earth. The letter is essential to the truth, as the flesh is essential, fundamental to God to give us his full revelation. Who were to exclude the letter, let him know that he might never possess the Spirit, because the Spirit that formed the flesh of Jesus Christ in the womb of the Virgin Mary is the same that forms the truth of God in the womb of Holy Scripture. As the womb of Mary is necessary to form the flesh of Christ, to give the Son of God a true body, so the letter of Scripture is required to give the truth its outer body, that body that must make it arrive intact to every man, of every time, until the consummation of history, until the advent of the new heavens and the new earth. Until that day, the letter of Scripture will always be needed to the Holy Spirit to reveal us the whole eternal and divine truth as the foundation of our salvation.

Spirit and letter must walk together. Neither the Spirit without the letter nor the letter without the Spirit. Spirit and letter of Scripture are one thing. If you do not have the letter you do not even have the Spirit. If you do not have the Spirit you do not even have the letter of Scripture and never might you have without it the eternal and divine truth. Spirit and letter must forever remain one. Since the disciple of the Lord brings the Spirit, while the paper brings the letter, as the soaked letter, is imprinted on paper, so the Holy Spirit must be imbued, impressed upon the disciple of Jesus, in order to be one in the same way that paper and letter are one thing. If they are not one, the disciple of Jesus is without the Spirit, and if he is without him, he does not even possess the letter of Scripture. Without the Spirit we read words, but never might we read the letter of Scripture.

“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.

Who reads the letter of Scripture in the Holy Spirit must necessarily have to agree that there is a truth that Jesus wants to affirm: faith without works is in all similar to a lamp without oil. As the lamp without oil might never illuminate, so it is of the. If his faith is without works will never might it shine in the world. Through him never might thanks be given to our heavenly Father. Without his works the world remains without light. Faith without works does not lead into the banquet hall. It excludes us from it for eternity. Jesus will not recognize us as his own and will not open us any door. Outside we are and outside we remain. This everlasting exclusion is the Gospel.

Virgin Mary, Mother of the Redemption, Angels and Saints fill us of the Holy Spirit.