The strange allegory of the foolish and wise bridesmaids is the focus of today’s gospel reading. The bridegroom is coming, and at night, but where is the bride? She is ever waiting for his late arrival. The mysterious sense of time and place, and the feelings of anticipation and tension, colour this story. The Kingdom of God is near but we never know when the call to enter the Heavenly Banquet will come. Summer is near. At last it feels as if the season of light and heat has returned. We approach the end of another Church Year. Our gospels look ahead to the end of time. We are invited to ponder the mystery and place of wisdom, the focus of our first reading, in our journey through time. Like a dry weary land without water, do we thirst for God, as the Responsorial Psalm confidently proclaims? Do we have enough oil in our lamps to welcome the Lord when he comes?