Oil And Praise

Etenim ecce istae virgines stultae, quae non portaverunt oleum secum, abstinentia sua qua virgines appellantur, et bonis operibus suis, quando lampades ferre videntur, hominibus volunt placere. Et si hominibus volunt placere, et ideo omnia ista laudabilia faciunt, oleum secum non portant. Tu ergo tecum porta, intus porta, ubi videt Deus: ibi porta testimonium conscientiae tuae. Qui autem ambulat ad testimonium alienum, oleum non portat secum. Si ideo abstines ab illicitis, et facis bona opera, ut ab hominibus lauderis; non est intus oleum. Denique cum coeperint homines non laudare, deficiunt lampades. Intendat itaque Caritas vestra. Antequam dormirent illae virgines, non est dictum quia exstinguebantur lampades illarum. Sapientium lampades ardebant de oleo interno, de conscientiae securitate, de interiore gloria, de intima caritate. Ardebant tamen et illarum fatuarum. Quare tunc ardebant? Quia non deerant laudes hominum. Postea vero quam surrexerunt, id est, in resurrectione a mortuis, coeperunt aptare lampades suas, id est praeparare Deo operum suorum reddere rationem. Et quia tunc nemo est qui laudet, omnis homo causae suae vacat, nemo est tunc qui non de se cogitet: non ergo erant qui oleum venderent; coeperunt deficere lampades, et converterunt se fatuae ad quinque prudentes: Date nobis de oleo vestro, quia lampades nostrae exstinguuntur. Hoc quaerebant quod consueverant, id est, alieno oleo lucere, ad alienas laudes ambulare. Date nobis de oleo vestro, quia lampades nostrae exstinguuntur. Sanctus Augustinus Hipponensis,Sermo XCIII, De Verbis Evangelii 'Simile Erit Regnum Coelorum Decem Virginibus' Source: Migne PL 38.577-578

For, behold, those foolish virgins, who brought no oil with them, 1 by that abstinence of theirs whereby they are called virgins, and by their good works, when they seem to carry lamps, wish to please men. And if they wish to please men, and because of that do all these laudable works, they do not carry oil with them. You, then, carry it with you, carry it within where God sees, there carry the testimony of your conscience. For he who walks for the testimony of another, does not carry oil with him. If you abstain from things unlawful and do good works to be praised by men, there is no oil within. And so when men begin to cease their praise, the lamps fail. Let your love be attentive. Before those virgins slept, it was not said that their lamps were extinguished. The lamps of the wise ones burned with an inward oil, with the assurance of a good conscience, with an inner glory, with an inmost charity. And yet the lamps of the foolish ones also burned. Why did they burn at that time? Because then there was no lack of men's praise. But after that they arose, that is, in the resurrection from the dead, and they began to trim their lamps, that is, they began to prepare to give an account of their works to God. And because then there is no one to praise, with every man attending to his own cause, because then there is no one who is not thinking of himself, therefore there were was no one to sell them oil, so their lamps began to fail, and the foolish ones took themselves to the five wise ones, 'Give us some of your oil, for our lamps are going out.' They sought for what they had been accustomed to seek, that is, to shine with the oil of others, to walk after the praises of others. 'Give us some of your oil, for our lamps are going out.' Saint Augustine of Hippo, from Sermon 93, On the Words of the Gospel: 'The Kingdom of Heaven Shall Be Like Ten Virgins' 1 Mt 25.1-12