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Home > Sacraments > Eucharist > Communion reflections > 07 11 2004 - What is really important in life? |
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What is really important in life? Do not pursue what is illusory – property and position. Live with a steady superiority over life. Don’t be afraid of misfortune, and do not yearn after happiness; it is, after all, all the same: the bitter doesn’t last for ever, and the sweet never fills the cup to overflowing It is enough that you don’t freeze in the cold, and if thirst and hunger don’t claw at your insides. If your back isn’t broken, if your feet can walk, if both arms can bend, if both eyes can see, and if both ears can hear, then whom should you envy? And why? Our envy of others devours us most of all. Rub your eyes and purify your heart – and prize above all else in the world those who love you and who wish you well. Do not hurt them or scold them, and never part from any of them in anger; after all, you simply do not know but it might be your last act, and that will be how you are imprinted in their memory. (Alexander Solzhenitsyn, Gulag Archipelgo, Vol. I, p.591) |
