In Jesus' day, after a bride's betrothal she still continued to live with her family for a time.

"Then, at the appointed hour, some months later, the groom would come to claim her, leading her family and bridal party to the wedding feast that would celebrate and inaugurate their new life together," St. Maximilian Kolbe Catholic Church in Pembroke Pines said in its Nov. 8 bulletin. "This is the background to the parable of the last judgment."

The bulletin notes that there is symbolism in the story in Mark 2:19 with Jesus the Bridegroom.

"In this, He fulfills God's ancient promise to join Himself forever to His chosen people as a husband cleaves to his bride (see Hosea 2:16–20)," the bulletin said. "The virgins of the bridal party represent us, the members of the Church."

The bulletin encouraged Catholics to seek God in love and meditate on His kindness.

"If we do this, we will be counted as wise and the oil for our lamps will not run dry (see 1 Kings 17:16)," the bulletin said. "We will perceive the Bridegroom, the Wisdom of God (see Proverbs 8:22–31, 35; 9:1–5), hastening toward us, beckoning us to the table He has prepared, the rich banquet which will satisfy our souls."