Waiting on Your Beloved
Sep 20, 2025 • Fr Elijah Estafanous
This sermon reflects on the Parable of the Ten Virgins (Matthew 25:1–13) and the midnight call, “Behold, the Bridegroom is coming.” Abouna Elijah invites us to prepare our hearts, not in fear, but in joyful expectation of Christ’s return. Drawing from the Midnight Prayers of the Agpeya, the Desert Fathers’ practice of memento mori (“remember your death”), and the cry of the early church—Maranatha, Come Lord Jesus—this message challenges us to stay spiritually awake, filled with the oil of joy, and to live heaven now.
We are reminded that our anxieties and distractions often lull us into spiritual sleep, but the wise live each day as though eternity begins today. Practical applications include reconciling relationships, deepening prayer, forgiving freely, and letting the Eucharist renew us as a true encounter with the Bridegroom. If tomorrow scares us, we are living wrong. The prepared soul welcomes Christ with eagerness, hearing His sweet voice: “Come, blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you.”
We are reminded that our anxieties and distractions often lull us into spiritual sleep, but the wise live each day as though eternity begins today. Practical applications include reconciling relationships, deepening prayer, forgiving freely, and letting the Eucharist renew us as a true encounter with the Bridegroom. If tomorrow scares us, we are living wrong. The prepared soul welcomes Christ with eagerness, hearing His sweet voice: “Come, blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you.”