Remains of the Day…

Our life in this world will end far sooner than we expect, and then what will become of us? I am not here thinking of the end of “the” world, but rather the end of your world – when you will die and face the light of eternity. Today, this moment, you are on the way, going someplace; your “latter days” are already come… If you are not prepared today, how will you be better prepared tomorrow? Today is the day of salvation, the hour that matters most (Psalm 95:7; Heb. 3:13). Learn to die to the world now, to let go of what presently holds you captive, so that you are free to meet that which forever shall come. Don’t put off genuine teshuvah: turn while there is still time (Eph. 5:15-16). And may God give us mercy to say from the heart: “For me to live is Messiah, and to die is gain” (Phil. 1:21).

As philosopher Blaise Pascal (1623-1662) once wisely observed: “Let each of us examine his thoughts; he will find them wholly concerned with the past or the future. We almost never think of the present, and if we do think of it, it is only to see what light is throws on our plans for the future. The present is never our end. The past and the present are our means, the future alone our end. Thus we never actually live, but hope to live, and since we are always planning how to be happy, it is inevitable that we should never be so” (Pensees). Amen, may God help us “remember the future” and live in the light of his great promises! Shalom chaverim.