Question: How can a person who is unable to fully appreciate church worship and joy during his earthly life be able to appreciate it after he dies?
Answer: St Justin Martyr quoted God as saying, “In whatsoever things I shall take you, in these I shall judge you.” (Dialogue with Trypho, Chapter 47, cf. Matthew 24: 42). Right now, we see things as if through a dim glass. We can’t experience the depth and fullness of the spiritual realm but the small pieces that we can grasp really change our lives. Although we lose God’s grace time and time again, some grace is left inside our souls. It makes us hope that our souls, which have already tasted the grace and seen the love of God, will be able to contain everything the Lord has to reveal to them when they enter the eternal bliss. There is a battle going on right now. Sin desensitises us and separates us from the most essential things. We keep losing that battle. We don’t know, we don’t see, we don’t hear… Notwithstanding this fact, if our souls move forward and do not want to stay in the darkness of sin; if we yearn for God, come to church and participate in worship; if we partake of the Blood and the Body of Christ — that’s when we may hope that we will ultimately be able to taste the delight of love, which the Lord has prepared for those who love him (See 1 Cor. 2: 9).
