...is not to enjoy it.
The purpose of life is to have a share in God's own life, to be healed and glorified and deified, to be gods with God forever, rejoicing in Him (and also in all His works).
We can still do that when we can no longer play golf or bridge, can no longer knit or keep up our stamp collecting. We can still do that when we are confined to one room, or to one bed. We can still do that if our bodies are paralyzed, or even if they are burning at the stake. We can still do that when all else is taken away. Even if memory fails and language itself is taken from us and we find no words, the sweet communion of His Life remains at a level deeper than thoughts or words - the level where its seat always was anyway.
It is the Holy Spirit Who gives life, Who maintains life, Who makes life always worth living - up to the very moment when, in His own good time, He gives us a different, purer Life.
Tuesday, August 5, 2008
The Purpose of Life...
Posted by Anastasia Theodoridis at 8:58 AM
Labels: Life and Death, Orthodoxy
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
3 comments:
Thank you for posting this.
A wonderful reminder, Anastasia. Thank you!
Great post, Anastasia. The first time this really hit home for me was in reading Sister Synkletiki’s survival of the Hyatt Regency Skywalk disaster which involved the bilocation of a Mt. Athos monk. She writes:
I remember no particular anxiety, then, about whether I would be able to walk again eventually or not, if my spinal cord would heal, before the muscles died. It was enough, the work of just living through each moment, finding Christ through the pain and overcoming the fear. But this was a big question for the ones on whom I depended, my family and friends. I remember thinking, “Well, what is the purpose of life? To unite with God. One way to do this is by being paralyzed, another is walking. So it doesn't matter very much."
And related to other recent posts...prayers for your father during this most difficult time.
Post a Comment