Everything will pass and will end as if
had never existed, whereas works done in God will remain with the soul
that worked them so that the worker may reap eternal life from them.
Blessed are the spiritual philosophers of God, who give away transient
things and store up eternal things, so that when they depart, they will
find their treasures in God’s treasury with accrued interest. Blessed
are they who clean their hearts from the weeds of sin and cultivate the
good seed, for the time will come for them to reap sheaves of eternal
life! Blessed are they who sow tears with spiritual fasting, that is,
always hungering and thirsting for good works, for they will reap
eternal joy!
All the labor, toil, and temptations in
this life, my blessed child, cannot be compared with that blessed life.
Even if we had thousands of lives and sacrificed them all, we would not
have done anything significant in comparison with the future glory in
which Christ the Master longs to establish us through
His precious and life-giving Blood! This
is why the Apostle Paul says, “The sufferings of this present time are
not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us
(Rom. 8:18).”
Furthermore, reflect that man “withers
like a flower and passes like a dream (Is. 40:6-8),” and that “when the
trumpet sounds, all the dead will rise as if in an earthquake (2 Thes.
4:16)” to meet Christ.
When the door of the age to come opens,
and when the present world is destroyed, then our nature will be
restored to its original state. The Lord “will transform our lowly body
that it may be conformed to His glorious body (Phil. 3:21).” Our nature,
which groans and travails together with all of creation (Rom 8:22),
awaits the glorious revealing of the children of God with an intense
yearning. “For the earnest expectation of the creation eagerly waits for
the revealing of the sons of God (Rom 8:19).”
The grandeur of man, whom God raises to such heights and glory, is unrivaled! Yet we passionate*
sinners are unaware of and indifferent to these great riches, and our
way of thinking is completely earthly. Just think: this body which is
fetid dirt is counted worthy to be conformed to God’s glory, to become
angelic (Phil. 3:21)!
Now, men are material in comparison to
the angels, which are purely spiritual beings. Angels in comparison to
God are somewhat “material.” They are not purely spiritual as God is,
Who is unapproachable light. In this manner men will also become angelic
then. Then, a single unity of the fullness of the Church, of the
faithful with Christ will occur. How tenderly and paternally our Lord
puts it: “Father,” He said to His Father, “I desire that they also whom
Thou hast given Me may be with Me where I am, that they may behold My
glory which Thou hast given Me (Jn. 17:24).”
Can worldly riches compare with these
words of God? If only we were there where our Lord is—where angels
shudder and tremble to approach! O hidden wisdom and infinite wealth of
God!
*Passionate
The word
“passionate” in this text is not used in any of the secular senses of
the word, but is used to describe someone or something subject to the passions*.
*Passion
A passion
is a spiritual disease that dominates that soul. When one repeatedly
falls into a certain sin, it becomes second nature—a passion—for him to
keep falling into this sin. Thus, one who misuses the God-given powers
of the soul of desire and anger, or one who continually succumbs to
temptations of lust, hate, malice, or jealousy, or one who succumbs to
pride and vainglory acquires those passions. It is primarily through
obedience to an experienced elder that one is cleansed or healed of the
passions and reachesdispassion*.
*Dispassion
Dispassion
is achieved when all three aspects of the soul (i.e., the intelligent,
appetitive, and incensive aspects) are directed towards God. It is the
transfiguration of the passionate aspect of the soul (i.e., the aspect
of the soul which is more vulnerable to passion, namely, the appetitive
and incensive aspects), rather than its mortification. Thus dispassion
in this context does not signify a stoic indifference, but rather, a
transfiguration and sanctification of the powers of the soul and
eventually of the body also.
On Salvation and Paradise
Part 4
Source : From Counsels from the Holy Mountain: Selected from the Letters and Homilies of Elder Ephraim of Arizona
http://www.orthodoxpath.org/saints-and-elders-counsels/%CF%84he-future-glory/
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