Of Compunction
From Book III of the Vitae Patrum
Of Compunction
V. The archbishop Theophilus of holy memory when he was dying said "Blessed art thou abbot Arsenius, who hadst ever this hour before thine eyes."
So often I think of how carelessly we live our lives without considering the hour of our death, or the nearness of such. How I would love to keep the thought of my impending death, and dreadful judgment to come uppermost in my thoughts, yet I seldom act, or live as if I believed I would ever die. How we delude ourselves to think that it is always far away, that is death, therefore we can live as we are wont to live, yet this impending, imminent moment approaches us swiftly, and how we fail to correct our lives, and humble ourselves before that most high and terrible Judge of the universe.
Of Compunction
V. The archbishop Theophilus of holy memory when he was dying said "Blessed art thou abbot Arsenius, who hadst ever this hour before thine eyes."
So often I think of how carelessly we live our lives without considering the hour of our death, or the nearness of such. How I would love to keep the thought of my impending death, and dreadful judgment to come uppermost in my thoughts, yet I seldom act, or live as if I believed I would ever die. How we delude ourselves to think that it is always far away, that is death, therefore we can live as we are wont to live, yet this impending, imminent moment approaches us swiftly, and how we fail to correct our lives, and humble ourselves before that most high and terrible Judge of the universe.