Be watchful and strengthen the things which remain, that are ready to die. (Rev. 3:2)

When your grief is ready to turn to despair, into inconsolable sorrow over the loss of a close one, remember what it is that you still have. Remembrance of the departed should not be effaced from our hearts. Our love for them should not cease, but this love is transformed into a love for the living and encourages us to serve them, all the while remembering the departed.

      When we lose our dose ones, almost inevitably we are struck by feelings of regret and remorse that while they were yet alive we did not esteem them enough, we did not express our love for them enough, we were not affectionate enough; it is painful to acknowledge that we did not give them all that we could have — and now it is too late to make amends! But we must not give in too much to such feelings. Rather, they must serve only as a lesson to us, spurring us to action in the days and year still ahead. In recalling all that we neglected to do in the past, let us begin to act with greater diligence and zeal. Then our regrets will not be fruitless. They will be transformed into a living energy, into love, into a burning desire to expend ourselves in serving our neighbor — those still with us here on earth. You have perhaps suffered a great loss, but there are many that still need you. How many tears you can still wipe away, how much sorrow you can relieve, how many lonely hearts you can warm with your love. The night cometh when no man can work (John 4:9); strengthen the things, which remain.

Den’ za Dnyom, St. Petersburg, 1908