A Thief in the Night
Translated from a sermon by Fr Boulos George
Life is the greatest sermon. If I cannot learn the lesson of sin leading to death, I will not be affected by any sermon given throughout the whole world. If I cannot understand a teaching about death, no other sermon will make sense to me. For the lesson of death during our own lives teaches us that so many people had power, so many people had voices that were heard. We hear of people that were among the richest in this life, but where are they now? Who is their king? Where is there power? Where did the man go whose voice was heard in all his authority?
Learn from this lesson of life. Some people went to work and never came home. One person had a pain in his shoulder and wasn’t quick enough. Learn from this even. The first lesson I learnt is that I observe the events of life that happen around me. I learn from others’ lives and I learn from my own personal experience.
I learn from the simple and poor family that radiates joyous laughter from within. I learn that people might have three or four households, and still force a smile. Learn from these. Learn from the sermon of life.
We all know and we all preach to others that if someone loses money, we tell them that money isn’t everything. Money is not the source of joy. Joy obviously comes from within, and if they knew this, they would not be upset by the loss of money. Little do they know that in my own heart, I get saddened if I don’t have money. I don’t practice what I preach. If I want to get ahead, I need to take my own advice before I start preaching to others. We don’t need to wait for someone to say to us, “But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night” (2 Peter 3:10).
This verse should be my own personal daily reminder, and not something that comes as a shock. I must learn to preach to myself before I attempt to preach to anyone around me. So many people will say that a certain person was with us all day, laughing, joking, and later they were taken away. It is morbid and we don’t like to talk about it, but this is reality. Nothing in this life is for certain, but we look to the One who is above certainty.
I learn to chastise and hold myself accountable for my own actions. If I know I have a problem with anger, then I must learn to be accountable to myself. I say to myself, “When? When am I going to change?” Repent and pray for change, for the time is now.
How long will I have the disease of expecting the worst in those around me? How long will I have the disease of being unable to trust those around me? How long will I get so defensive and unable to learn from my previous mistakes? How long will my judgement of those around me be flawed? I need to learn from these mistakes.
The Bible tell us that we don’t need to preach to anyone, but we preach to ourselves, from what we have seen and experienced.
The first step is to learn from the events of life, and then to learn to be accountable. There is another way the church teaches us to chastise and be accountable for our own thoughts and action. The prayers of the Agpia teach us. These are greater than any sermon we can preach to anyone else.
What does it mean to pray the Agpia as a means of chastisement? We pray, “Behold, I am about to stand before the just judge in fear because of my numerous sins for the life spent in pleasures deserves condemnation. Repent therefore, O my soul…” (twelfth hour litany).
Here we learn to chastise ourselves. If the faithful must strive to be saved, what must I do as a sinner to be saved? When we pray that in death no one remembers, this is the Apgia teaching us. “Rise up from your laziness and implore the Saviour in repentance.”
Through the Apgia, we teach ourselves the means of accountability. We teach ourselves to be ready and to chastise ourselves. For in the final hours, it is I who will stand before the Just Judge, and give account for the life I lived. We must live like each day could be our last, and this is the path to internal joy day by day.