You have asked me three questions and those were: What is a person’s greatest thought?

What is a person’s greatest care?

What is a person’s greatest anticipation?

A person’s greatest thought is the thought of God’s care for our life.

A person’s greatest care is the care for the salvation of the soul.

A person’s greatest anticipation is the anticipation of death.

How should you think about God’s care for our life? You need to take as measure God’s moral law. Following this measure you have to see what happens in the life of the people you know and you have a connection with. This is not an easy thing, because sometimes the reasons are hidden in a person’s past, and other times can be found in their parent’s life.

Christian confession is founded on the discovery of these reasons. The Psalmist said to God “I will meditate in thy precepts, and have respect unto thy ways” (Psalms 119:15). God’s commandments are the fundament of everything that happens with the sons of Adam and the law of God is the light of everything that lights one’s life.

How do you have to take care of the salvation of your soul? In order for me to spare some space, read the Gospel and ask the Church. A person has no other treasure in his life than the soul. This is the only gift we have that we can save from death. The rest, a person’s possessions so much treasured, cannot be saved, they die. Man’s soul is in the eyes of God something more valuable than the entire material world, according to Christ’s word: “For what is a man profited, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul”. Thus, there is no bigger concern for a person than the salvation of the soul.

How shall we wait for death? As the enemy in battle. Or the student that prepares carefully, waiting for the teacher to call his name. Christ has told us about the incessant thinking about the hour of death in the proverb of the rich man who was preparing to live many years on earth “Thou fool, this night thy soul shall be required of thee: then whose shall those things be, which thou hast provided?”

Why is the thought about God’s caring for the life of people the most important one? Because it brings happiness and wisdom to man.

Why is the care of soul’s salvation the most important one? Because the soul is the greatest treasure there is and it is natural to want to protect it.

Why is the anticipation of death the most important one? Because the anticipation of death purifies the conscience and encourages us towards the good deeds. When a good man was asked what was the biggest motivation towards struggle and a rightful life his answer was: “death.”

These three things cannot be found in animals. They are characteristics only of people, of the highest people if I may say. The rest is common to people and animals.

May God bless you!

(Translatoin from Bishop Nicolae Velimirovici, Răspunsuri la întrebări ale lumii de astăzi, Vol. I, Ed. Sofia, Bucureşti, 2002)