One day, time will run out. Our eyes will not be able to look upon the holy icons or the life-creating mysteries of Christ, our ears will grow deaf to the beautiful chant of the Liturgy, our hands will not be able to make the sign of the cross anymore nor touch holy things, our tongue will not taste the body and blood of Christ, our lips will not kiss the saints. No, we will grow cold, and our muscles will contract, and we will stiffen, we will be laid in the casket with our faces covered before we are covered by the ground from which we came.
On that day, the Apostle Paul says, “we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ; that every one may receive the things done in his body, according to that he hath done, whether it be good or bad.” (5:10).
“Prepare your heart for your departure,” St. Isaac says. “If you are wise, you will expect it every hour. Each day say to yourself, ‘See, the messenger who comes to fetch me is already at the door. Why am I sitting idle? I must depart forever. I cannot come back again.’ Go to sleep with these thoughts every night, and reflect on them throughout the day. And when the time for departure comes, go joyfully to meet it, saying, ‘Come in peace. I knew you would come, and I have not neglected anything that could help me on the journey.”
—/St.Isaac the syrian.
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