in. We simply struggle with feeling motivated to serve usefully, doing even
simple acts of kindness. These are times when we are experiencing a spiritual
famine.
What is really going on is that we are experiencing states when heavenly
loves that normally motivate us are shut down by a welling up of falsity because
of states of temptation. The Writings point out: “When falsities are present,
no truths can remain.” (Arcana Coelestia 5217) At its core this is caused by
a welling up of selfish feelings inspired by hell. Such temptations can be
precipitated by all sorts of things in the course of our daily lives.
Jesus told the parable of the virgins to help us build up the reserves to bridge
these states, lifting us up, helping us cope and deepening the breadth and reach
of our spirituality. But at first glance there seems to be something harsh about
the parable of the 10 virgins. They were probably very young women. They all
had lamps, and the lamps were complete. They all slept when the bridegroom
didn’t show up as expected. The only evidence of the five virgin’s foolishness
was the simple fact they did not have enough reserves. Wasn’t this excusable in
light of their age and lack of experience?
The reality is that the Lord gave this parable in order to help. It seems that
the shock value is simply to help us wake up and notice that the process of
building our reserves is a necessary and important part of our daily routines.
The warning is imbedded in the story because it is important to build spiritual
reserves when we are experiencing times of spiritual abundance and plenty.
The reality is that when things are going great, we are most likely to neglect to
attend to the routines needed to prepare for and ensure that we do well when
things aren’t so great.
In stories like this it is always helpful to remember that the Divine Author
was born on earth not to condemn or punish, but rather to save us. We are
taught that the end of Divine providence is a heaven from the human race
and that He is unceasingly operating for the sole purpose of leading people to
heavenly happiness. There is nothing of Divine Love that seeks anything other
than conferring the blessings of heavenly happiness to all the Lord’s children.
Key to understanding how to build our spiritual reserves is knowing
what those reserves are. In the story of the 10 virgins each had a lamp that
was complete. In the spiritual sense each virgin symbolizes a person who is a
member of a church a