If one person were to say to another, “I will continue to be disloyal to You until death, but at the hour of death, I will stop being disloyal”, would you consider this acceptable? Can one person say to another, “I am still young; I will continue to be unfaithful to you, but when I am older, I will stop being unfaithful”? What does this mean? It means, “It is still early days- do not disturb us by talking about the hour of death”. But what about your relationship with God? Let us leave the hour of death aside. Suppose you will live for a hundred years. Would you betray the Lord now, challenge Him now, grieve the Holy Spirit now?
—H.H. Pope Shenouda III, Before the Just Judge
Category: JUDGMENT
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Now, you have an opportunity to repent, but when you reach the dust, there will be no opportunity.
If you reach Hades, there will be no chance. After death, there is no chance. After death, the Holy Bible says that
“the door was shut” (Mt.25:10) and the foolish virgins stood outside- they had lost the chance.
All the inhabitants of Hades long to have one minute of your lifetime, in which to offer repentance, but they cannot find it. All the inhabitants of Hades yearn for just one minute of your lifetime in which they would offer repentance, yet they cannot find that minute- that one minute they cannot find. And you have a lifetime granted you by God in which to offer repentance. So do not be negligent.
—H.H. Pope Shenouda III, Before the Just Judge
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It is true that repentance leads to forgiveness of sin if the person confesses in regret and obtains absolution and forgiveness, yet the sensitive heart, even after it has repented, weeps over its sin. David Prophet wept over his sin after it had been forgiven, and not before.
—H.H. Pope Shenouda III, Before the Just Judge
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Repent before the time comes when your sorrow will not make a difference. You have the opportunity now as long as you live.
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Even at the Hour of Death! There was a very devout woman who was ill with cancer. She turned to God with prayers, and Communion and fasts were held for her. The cancer entered a very critical stage and when her final hour approached she called for me. At that time I was a bishop, and was able to visit people more than I can now, so I went to her and stood beside her bed listening to her complaints. She told me, “I am very sad because many doubts are going round in my thoughts about whether prayer, fasting and Communion are of any value, and where is God’s mercy and response?! So often I have prayed for these thoughts to leave me but they persist and I get anxious and say, ‘Shall I lose my life now, and lose my chance of eternal life too, because of these doubts?… So I said to her, “Do not be anxious, for they are not your thoughts. They are just doubts which the Devil casts into your mind. Your prayers prove that you do not accept them and that these thoughts are not from you. God will not allow a good woman like you to suffer here and in eternity as well. You are like Lazarus who received his full share of misfortunes on earth, but was deemed worthy to go to the arms of Abraham on his way to a happy eternity with God… If God wants to take you to Him, this is not against His mercy nor against prayer, for eternity is a delight which the Saints eagerly desire.” Then I read an absolution for her and she relaxed and departed, to the amazement of the devils who fight the Saints even at the hour of death!
—H.H. Pope Shenouda III, Experiences in Life
SO GOOD QUOTES 