At the End of the Day

Let not the sun go down upon your wrath (Ephes.4, 26)

The end of every day must be a reminder for us about the end of our own life, the dusk, after which sun will not rise for us any more. Evening stops our activities for a known period of time. We lay aside our work and let our thoughts and even feelings rest. The labor of the day is over, and who knows, maybe forever.

Therefore, finishing up the day we must check ourselves, if everything in our internal world is in order, as if before the end of the life itself. Especially, in the hour of our evening prayer we must cleanse our heart from everything sinful and evil what has collected in it within the day: from every bitterness, disappointment, every burst of anger, from everything what distances us from God. Our life is short and we do not know if we will ever see dawn again and if we will ever have a chance to correct and smoothen anything. Before God and our conscience let us not allow ourselves to keep any anger or sinful thought in our heart when we retire for night.

“Let not the sun go down upon your wrath” – is a piece of advice from the highest wisdom.

(Translated by Tatiana Rozzell from “Every Day is a Gift from God. Diaries of an Orthodox Priest” (1905), author unknown)