THE DAY IS AT HAND

In his Epistle to the Romans, St. Paul commands the Romans, "You shall love your neighbor as yourself."  (This quote, by the way, is from the Old Testament book of Leviticus--one indication among many of the continuity between the Old and the New.  In Christ, the Law of Moses is not set aside, but fulfilled.)    St. Paul then goes on to add "And do this, knowing the time, that now it is high time to awake out of sleep....The night is far spent, the day is at hand."

Truly time is God's great gift, given that we might work out our own salvation with "fear and trembling."  But do we, in fact, fear God in the biblical sense (for He is awesome)--according to the true meaning of the word--trembling before His presence as we contemplate the Final Judgment that awaits us all?  And are we seriously striving to work out our own salvation?

Ah! but no, my friends--is it not rather the case that we allow ourselves to be carried along upon the relentless flow of time while we slumber--mostly unaware that the night is well spent and the day of God's judgment is at hand?  But now the season of Great Lent is suddenly upon us, and we are about to embark upon a perilous journey upon the vast sea of the Fast.  It is, therefore, high time that we awake from our lethargy, setting aside our egotistic thoughts and desires for the sake of the heavenly Kingdom.  Let us, then, at least make a beginning at storing up for ourselves riches in heaven, which neither moth nor rust can corrupt.

Let us put on the armor of light and wage war against the forces of darkness that lurk within us all, seeking to destroy us in a hell of our own making.  But the truth is, we cannot even take the first step toward the light of salvation until we have sincerely forgiven, from the bottom of our hearts, all those who have offended us--even our worst enemies.  For truly love is the fulfillment of the Law.