8909. Verse 17 You shall not covet your neighbour's house; you shall not covet your neighbour's wife, nor his male slave nor his female slave, nor his ox nor his ass, nor anything that is your neighbour's means that one must be on one's guard against self-love and love of the world, and so one must take care to prevent the evils contained in the preceding commandments from becoming present in the will and consequently going out of it.

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This is the third week of our "Mindful Communication Challenge" series. We're going to take 5 different parables that Jesus gives which describe an aspect of heaven. This week, it's the parable of the wise and foolish virgins. Key to this story is understanding the symbolic meaning of "oil." The wise virgins have it, and the foolish ones don't. Essentially oil represents the highest types of love, and when we look at the Bible we see oil everywhere! It's used in food, it's used for annointing kings, for skin care... and many many other things. This is because we need "oil" in all parts of our life. Therefore love, aka kindness, is also needed everywhere. Do you have enough oil in your life?

(References: Arcana Coelestia 886 [1-2]; Heaven and Hell 238; Matthew 15:10-20, 25:1-13; Psalms 133)