We are all temporary here

Today I am reading Revelation. “He that is unjust, let him be unjust still: and he that is filthy, let him be filthy still: and he that is righteous, let him be righteous still: and he that is holy, let him be holy still” (Revelation 22:11).

Here and now we are changeable; the actions and words and thoughts we permit to grow in us will shape what we become. But a time is coming when we will only ever become more of what we are. Now, before the end, let us pray for the grace of repentance — and do repentance. So that on that Day we may “be holy still” and not “be filthy still.”

Schema-Archimandrite Zosima (Sokur) wrote:

“Remember that we are all temporary here! We were in our mother’s womb for nine months, we were born in great pain into this earthly life, into these torments. Now we are going through a segment of temporary earthly life – our torments and sufferings – so that, having been cleansed through suffering and through patience, we may enter into Eternal Life.

We must always remember this, about Eternal Life. We are temporary people here. I always remind you: when you confess, feel that maybe this is the last time you are standing at confession, maybe you will never confess again, death will overtake you. When you leave the temple of God, always remember that maybe this is the last time you are present in the temple; by the next Sunday you will already be buried. As we had Konstantin, a parishioner, a young man: that Sunday he was in church, this Sunday he is already in the ground, he is gone; he was swimming in the river, drowned, and that’s it. This is our life. Stupid, vain, nothing is enough for us, we are all fussing, and everything is absolutely ─ emptiness, sleep.

So, there is nothing to be proud of; everything is dust. This morning we are alive ─ in the evening they will put us in the coffin. We must remember this, there should always be a feeling of contrition, a feeling of repentance, and there should always be readiness to leave for Eternity, to meet the Lord with dignity! Think about this, reflect.

There should not be a terrible fear of death: “Oh, I’m going to die!” (this is the natural end of our life – death), but joy: “Lord, let my suffering end, let me enter Eternal Life. Only forgive my sins, Lord, do not condemn me a sinner at Your Judgment, but have mercy on me according to Your mercy.” This is the calm, quiet, peaceful prayer that each of us should have. “Remember your end, and you will never sin!”