I’ve always heard that we are living in the end times, but never, at any moment, have I felt it in my skin like in the present day. My aunt recently passed away, and I was happy for her, because she is far from here. Every day we hear about what is going on in the world; it’s as if we’re living in Sodom and Gomorrah and we don’t even know it.

People are not listening like they used to. Their ears only hear what they want to hear. They say they have faith, but they have no time for God, just to sin.

We are living in the end times and evening is approaching, like the Lord Jesus described in the parable of the virgins, in Matthew 25:

Then the kingdom of heaven shall be likened to ten virgins who took their lamps and went out to meet the Bridegroom.

He is not referring to ten women who have never been with a man, but to His Church, who through His Blood became virgin and pure, and who, as a bride, eagerly awaits Him.

Now five of them were wise, and five were foolish.

Here we see two kinds of Christians. This means you and I are in one of these two groups. The wise and the foolish. The wise are those who look ahead, protect themselves, avoid evil, do not need to make mistakes to learn from them; instead, they learn from other people’s mistakes. Every time a believer backslides in the faith it is a valuable lesson for the wise, who keeps watching over his spiritual life even more.

On the other hand, the imprudent, like Jesus said, are foolish. They do not think about tomorrow, they do not avoid evil; they like to play with fire, because they think they’re unbreakable. This is the type of person that knows something is inappropriate, but does anyway. He uses his freedom to do what he wants, without the slightest consideration of how it can affect him later. He does not think about the consequences of his decisions and actions. He lives his life as he sees fit. Then he could just ask for forgiveness, right?

Those who were foolish took their lamps and took no oil with them.

And like fools, they did not think about tomorrow – the TIME factor. They did not know when the Bridegroom would arrive, and yet they did not bother to prepare themselves. This is normal for people who think they have done many things by faith, so now they can rest a little, take a vacation and not carry their cross all the time. The lamp is enough.

But the wise took oil in their vessels with their lamps.

We do not know when our Lord will come so we must have spiritual reserves, and this is what the oil represents, spiritual investment. The Holy Spirit is one of the greatest spiritual investments, but He is not the only one. Once we receive Him, we need to continue investing in this oil every day, valuing the Altar, submerging ourselves in the Word of God, exercising our faith, turning away from evil and gaining souls for our Lord.

But while the Bridegroom was delayed, they all slumbered and slept.

This is the moment that I believe we are living. We’re getting sleepy, we’re tired of all the filth in this world, so we want the Lord to come soon! And the longer He takes, the worse things get out there. We can’t find pleasure in anything, except remaining quietly in the secret place of the Most High.

And at midnight a cry was heard: “Behold, the Bridegroom is coming; go out to meet him!”

Oh, how I long for this moment! When we are called by our Lord! ‘At midnight’, in other words, He will come when we least expect it, this is why it is so important to invest in the oil.

Then all the virgins arose and trimmed their lamps. And the foolish said to the wise, ‘Give us some of your oil, for our lamps are going out.’ But the wise answered, saying, ‘No, lest there should not be enough for us and you; but go rather to those who sell, and buy for yourselves.’

At that moment, the wise were ready because they had made their spiritual investments, even though they were sleepy, they were prepared for the arrival of the Bridegroom. But the foolish ones… wanted to run around and do everything at the same time, as if this investment could be done like this, at a moment’s notice…

And while they went to buy, the Bridegroom came, and those who were ready went in with Him to the wedding; and the door was shut. Afterward the other virgins came also, saying, ‘Lord, Lord, open to us!’ But He answered and said, ‘Assuredly, I say to you, I do not know you.’

Some will say, but couldn’t Jesus have waited for them? No. He shouldn’t be the One waiting.

Maybe you have invested in the clothes you wear, in the house you live in, in the body you expose, in the career you will use to show off, in the boyfriend you will envy, but I ask, how is your oil? None of these things will save you!

Watch therefore, for you know neither the day nor the hour in which the Son of man is coming.

In faith.