When I lived in the world, I believed in God, but rarely went to church and did not always fast; basically, I lived negligently.

"When I lived in the world, I believed in God, but rarely went to church and did not always fast; basically, I lived negligently. But the Lord willed that the Angel appeared and led me somewhere in the dark, stinking tunnels; I heard moans, shouting, screams of people. With each step they grew louder. And suddenly we went out to an open place, where huge fire stoves stood, from which these screams came forth. The fire swirled around the furnaces.

Suddenly, the Angel entered one of them and pulled out a man, fixed in chains. He was black, from head to foot; The angel touched his burning fetters, and the chains immediately fell from his hands and feet. And when he touched the body, the fumes, like husks, all flew away from him; The Angel put on him white clothes, and his face started to shine with heavenly joy. 

I asked why this change occurred with him, and the Angel said: "This man went to church only 2-3 times a year, he kept fasts, but not constantly, only the first and last week, he did not read the morning and evening prayers, he did not bear the crucifix, he did not pray before and after meals, he drank, smoked, practiced fornication, and did not openly confess his sins to the priest, only saying I sinned ‘by words, deeds, and thoughts’, he communed in his own condemnation of the Body and Blood of Christ, - he died without repentance. And now he has received according to his deeds. 

But his relatives are of a purely Orthodox spirit: after his death they prayed intensely about him, they asked prayers for him every day on the Liturgy, they also ordered memorial services for him, they read the Psalter about the repose of his soul, they gave alms to the poor for his sake, and by the prayers of the Church the Lord sent me to release this soul from hell. So know, - the Angel addressed me, - that your place is also here, in these furnaces, if you do not repent and change your life."

-- From the Letters of a Russian Athonite, Monk Seraphim.

Reflection on this story: 

Take the above story as though it were written for you. If we do not repent and change this is what awaits us, no doubt.

But one may say ‘change what, don't I already repent?’. 

If we live a life where we properly prepare to partake of the Holy Sacraments, especially of Holy Body and blood of our Lord Jesus Christ, then we can be sure we are on the correct path of repentance and change. 

What does it mean to ‘properly prepare’? 

First and foremost it means to confess. To do this we must first be honest and sincere with our priest and in turn we must be obedient to the advice we hear in our confessions. 

We must confess courageously our inner secrets, our persistent thoughts. It means confessing our judgement of others, jealousy, lust, greed, gluttony, our anxiety over material things, our worry for our bodies more than our souls, our desire to impress, look good, seek attention, our anger when chastised, our irritation when criticized, our own righteous opinions even though we are not an expert in anything. Our lukewarm spirit and laziness towards holy services, towards our faith. Our fear of death, viruses, our cold hearts towards others in Church, judging and speaking behind people's back's, hypocrisy, regularly judging the priest from whose hands we receive Holy Communion. 

If this constitutes our confessions, we are opening our hearts to the grace of God which visits the contrite and humble. We are on the path of repentance and change. We are in the process being freed from the darkness and chains. We are not risking our eternal salvation on the chance that a righteous person will pay our debts. 

Giving alms with joy, attending memorial services, commemorating names are the things we can and should be doing for our departed love ones. But above all is the spiritual labour we exert to heal ourselves through the sacraments of the Church. More than anything it is this that will bear power in the lives of our loved ones both living and departed.  

-- Fr. Veselin Svorcan