Although I’m only thirty-three years old, I’ve aged enough for sufficient maladies to appear that at least one health insurance company will not cover me. Each day has its own pain, and I know that with age this will only get worse.
It made me wonder why God has ordained old age to be a time of much loneliness and pain. Then this thought occurred to me: perhaps He does this so that each soul will have a final, convincing reason for renouncing this world and turning to God, before he passes on.
If our whole life were spent in the condition of youth it would be too easy for people to ignore the spiritual life. Then heedless souls would have a just complaint in the next world, claiming that this life was simply too attractive for them.