Preparation for Death - Consideration XVI

The Mercy of God.

“Mercy exalteth itself above judgment.” – St. James, ii. 13.

FIRST POINT.
God Waits for the Sinner.

Good is naturally diffusive—that is, inclined to communicate its good even to others. But God, who is by nature infinite goodness, as St. Leo expresses himself,¹ has an infinite desire to impart his own felicity to us; and therefore his inclination is, not to chastise, but to show mercy to all. To punish is, according to Isaias, a work opposed to the inclination of God. He shall be angry . . . that he may do His work, His strange work: His work is strange to Him.² And when the Lord chastises in this life, he does it in order to show mercy in the next. O God . . . Thou hast been angry, and hast had mercy on us.³ He appears angry that we may enter into ourselves and detest our sins. Thou hast shown Thy people hard things; Thou hast made us drink the wine of sorrow.⁴ And when he sends us any chastisement, he does it because he loves us, and wishes to deliver us from eternal punishment. Thou hast given a warning to them that fear Thee, that they may flee from before Me bow, that Thy beloved may be delivered.⁵ And who can sufficiently admire and praise the mercy of God toward sinners in waiting for them, in calling them, and in receiving them when they return Oh! how great is the mercy of God in waiting for our repentance! My brother, when you offended God, he could have struck you dead; but he waited for you, and instead of chastising you, he conferred favors upon you, he preserved your life, and provided for you. He pretended not to see your sins, that you might repent. Thou overlookest the sins of men for the sake of penance.⁶ But, O Lord, how does it happen that Thou canst not bear to behold a single sin, and beholdest so many of them in silence? Thou canst, not look on iniquity; why lookest Thou upon them that do unjust things, and holdest Thy peace?⁷ Thou beholdest the blasphemer, the unchaste, the vindictive man, multiplying iniquities from day to day; and Thou dost not chastise him: and why so much patience. Therefore the Lord waiteth that He may have mercy on thee.⁸ God waits for sinners, that they may amend, and that thus he may pardon and save them.

St. Thomas says, that all creatures, fire, the earth, air, water, by a natural instinct, would wish to punish and to take vengeance on the injuries done to their Creator.⁹ But God in his mercy restrains them. But, O Lord! Thou waitest for these impious wretches, that they may see their wickedness: but dost not Thou see that they ungratefully take advantage of Thy mercy to offend Thee still more? Thou hast been favorable to the nation: Thou hast been favorable to the nation: art Thou glorified?¹⁰ And why so much patience? Because God wills not the death of the sinner, but that he be converted and live.¹¹ O patience of God! St. Augustine goes so far as to say that God, were he not God, would be unjust on account of his excessive patience toward sinners.¹² To wait for those who abuse patience to become more insolent, appears to be an injustice to the divine honor. “We sin,” continues the holy Doctor, “we adhere to sin.”¹³ Some make peace with sin, and sleep in sin for months and years. “Gaudemus de peccato”—We rejoice at sin; others go so far as to boast of their wickedness; and Thou art appeased.¹⁴ We provoke Thee to anger—Thou invitest us to mercy.¹⁵ We appear to be engaged with God in a contest in which we labor to provoke him to chastise our guilt; and he invites us to pardon.

Affections and Prayers.

Ah, my Lord! I know that I deserve to be at this moment in hell. Hell is my house.¹⁶ But through Thy mercy, I am not now in that place of woe, but I am here at Thy feet, and feel that Thou wishest and commandest me to love Thee. Thou shalt love the Lord thy God.¹⁷ I hear Thee tell me that Thou wilt pardon me if I repent of the injuries I have done Thee. Yes, my God: since Thou wishest me, a miserable rebel against Thy majesty, to love Thee, I love Thee with my whole heart, and I feel more regret for the outrages I have offered to Thee, than for any evil that could have befallen me. Ah! enlighten me, O infinite Goodness; make me sensible of the wrongs I have done Thee. I will no longer resist Thy calls. I will give no more displeasure to a God who has loved me so tenderly, who has pardoned me so often and with so much love. Ah! that I had never offended Thee, my Jesus; pardon me, and grant that, from this day forward, I may love nothing but Thee: that I may live only for Thee, who didst die for me; that I may suffer for Thy love, since Thou hast suffered so much for the love of me. Thou hast loved me from eternity; Grant that for eternity I may burn with Thy love. I hope for all things, O my Saviour, through Thy merits; I trust also in thee, O Mary; save me by thy intercession.

SECOND POINT.
God Calls the Sinner.

Consider, moreover, the mercy of God in calling the sinner to repentance. When Adam rebelled against the Lord, and hid himself from his face, behold, God, having lost Adam, goes in search of him, and calls him as it were with tears. Adam, where art thou?¹⁸ “These,” says Father Pereira in his commentary on this passage, “are the words of a father seeking a lost son.”¹⁹ My brother, God has often done the same to you. You fled from God, and he sought after you, calling you at one time by his inspiration, at another by remorse of conscience, now by sermons, again by tribulations, and by the death of your friends. Speaking of you, Jesus appears to say: I have labored with crying: my jaws are become hoarse.²⁰ My son, I have almost lost my voice in calling you to repentance. Remember, O sinners, says St. Teresa, that that Lord who will one day be your judge, is now calling you to return to him.

Dearly beloved Christian, how often have you been deaf to the calls of God? You deserved that he should call you no more; but your God has not ceased to call you, because he wishes to make peace with you, and to save you. Who was it that called you? A God of infinite majesty. And what were you but a miserable fetid worm! Why did he call you? For no other purpose than to restore to you the life of grace which you had lost? Return ye and live.²¹ To acquire the divine grace, it would be but little to live in a desert during your entire life. God offered to give you his grace at each moment, if you wished to obtain it by making an act of contrition, and you refused. And after all this, God has not abandoned you, he has gone in search of you, as it were weeping, and saying: Son, why will you bring yourself to perdition? And why will you die, O house of Israel?²² When man commits a mortal sin, he banishes God from his soul. The wicked have said to God, Depart from us.²³ But what does God do? He places himself at the door of that ungrateful heart. Behold, I stand at the gate and knock.²⁴ He even appears to entreat the soul to allow him to enter. Open to Me, my sister.²⁵ He grows weary praying for admission. I am weary of entreating thee.²⁶ Yes, says St. Denis, the Areopagite, God follows sinners like a despised lover, entreating them not to destroy their souls.²⁷ And this precisely the Apostle meant when he wrote to his disciples. For Christ, I beseech you to be reconciled to God.²⁸ In explaining this passage, St. John Chrysostom makes a beautiful reflection “Christ himself entreats you; but what does he entreat you to do? To be reconciled to God; for it is not God that acts like an enemy, but you.”²⁹ The saint’s meaning is, that the sinner has not to labor in order to move God to make peace with him; for he, and not God, refuses peace.

Ah! this good Lord goes every day in search of so many sinners, continually saying to them: Ungrateful souls, do not fly away any longer; tell me why you fly away from me? I love your welfare, and desire nothing else than to make you happy. Why will you destroy yourselves? But, O Lord, what is it Thou dost? Why so much patience and so much love toward these rebels? What good dost Thou expect from them? It redounds but little to Thy honor to show such an excess of love for the miserable worms that fly away from Thee. What is a man, that Thou shouldst magnify him? or why dost Thou set Thy heart upon him.³⁰

Affections and Prayers.

Behold, O Lord! at Thy feet an ungrateful soul, imploring mercy. Father, forgive me. I call Thee Father, because Thou wishest me thus to call Thee. My Father, pardon me. I do not deserve pity, for I have treated Thee with ingratitude because Thou bast been bountiful to me. Ah, my God! through that goodness which did not allow Thee to abandon me when I fled from Thee, receive me, now that I return to Thee. Give me, O my Jesus! a great sorrow for the offences I have offered to Thee, and give me the kiss of peace. I am sorry above all things for the injuries I have done Thee; I detest and abhor them, and I unite this hatred and abhorrence to that which Thou, O my Redeemer! didst feel for them in the garden of Gethsemane. Ah! pardon me through the merits of that blood which Thou hast shed for me in the garden. I promise firmly never more to depart from Thee, and to banish from my heart every affection which is not for Thee. My Jesus, my love! I love Thee above all things: I wish always to love Thee, and love Thee alone: give me strength to execute this good will, make me all Thine. O Mary, my hope after Jesus! thou art the Mother of mercy: pray to God for me, and have pity on me.

THIRD POINT.
God Receives the Sinner with Kindness.

The princes of the earth disdain even to look at the rebel who comes to ask pardon; but God acts not in this manner with us: He will not turn away His face from you, if you return to Him.³¹ God cannot turn away his face from those who return and cast themselves at his feet: no; for he himself invites them, and promises to receive them as soon as they come. Return to Me, saith the Lord, and I will receive thee.³² Turn to Me . . . and I will turn to you, saith the Lord of Hosts.³³ Oh! with what love and tenderness does God embrace the sinner that returns to him. This love and tenderness Jesus Christ wished to give us to understand by the parable of the sheep, which the shepherd, when he found it, placed on his shoulders. Doth he not lay it upon his shoulders, rejoicing; and coming home, call together his friends and neighbors, saying to them: Rejoice with me, because I have found my sheep that was lost.³⁴ The Redeemer adds: There shall be joy in heaven upon one sinner that doth penance.³⁵ This tenderness the Saviour declared more fully in the parable of the prodigal son; in which he tells us that he is the father who, when he saw his lost son returning, runs to meet him, and before his son utters a word, embraces and kisses him, and in embracing him, almost swoons away through tenderness of consolation. And running to him he fell upon his neck and kissed him.³⁶

The Lord promises that, if sinners repent, he will even forget their sins, as if they had never offended him. If the wicked do penance . . . living he shall live. . . . I will not remember all his iniquities that he hath done.³⁷ He even goes so far as to say, Come and accuse Me, saith the Lord; if your sins be as scarlet, they shall be made as white as snow.³⁸ As if he said: Sinners, come and accuse Me; if I do not pardon you, reprove me, upbraid me with having been unfaithful to my promises. But no; God knows not how to despise an humble and contrite heart.

The Lord glories in showing mercy and granting pardon to sinners. And therefore shall He be exalted sparing you.³⁹ And how long does he defer pardon? Not an instant: he grants it immediately. Weeping, says the Prophet Isaias, thou shalt not weep; He will surely have pity on thee.⁴⁰ Sinners, exclaims the prophet, you have not long to weep; at the first tear the Lord will be moved to pity: At the voice of thy cry, as soon as He shall hear, He will answer thee.⁴¹ God does not treat us as we treat him: we are deaf to the calls of God: but as soon as he shall hear, he will answer thee; the very instant you repent and ask forgiveness, God answers and grants your pardon.

Affections and Prayers.

O my God! against whom have I rebelled? Against Thee, who art so good, against Thee that hast created me, and died for me. After so many acts of treason, Thee hast borne with me. Ah! the thought of the patience Thou hast had with me ought to make me live always on fire with Thy love. And who would have borne so long as Thou hast the injuries which I have done Thee? Miserable shall I be, should I ever again offend Thee, and condemn myself to hell! I already see that Thy mercy can bear with me no longer. I am sorry, O Sovereign Good! for having offended Thee. I love Thee with my whole heart: I am resolved to give Thee all the remainder of my life. Hear me, O Eternal Father! through the merits of Jesus Christ: give me holy perseverance and Thy love: hear me, O my Jesus! for the sake of the blood which Thou hast shed for me. We therefore beseech Thee, assist Thy servants whom Thou hast redeemed with Thy precious blood.⁴² O Mary, my Mother look upon me, “turn thy eyes of mercy to us,” and draw me entirely to God.

1Deus cujus natura bonitas.

2“Irascetur, ut faciat opus suum, alienum opus ejus . . . peregrinum est opus ejus ab eo.” – Isa. xxviii. 21.

3Deus, iratus es, et misertus es nobis.” – Ps. lix. 3.

4“Ostendisti populo tuo dura; potasti nos vino compunctionis.” – Ps. lix. 5.

5“Dedisti metuentibus te significationem, ut fugiant a facie arcus, ut liberentur dilecti tui.” – Ps. lix. 6.

6“Dissimulas peccata hominum propter pœnitentiam.” – Wis. xi. 24.

7“Respicere ad iniquitatem non poteris; quare respicis super iniqua agentes, et taces?” – Habac. i. 13.

8“Propterea expectat Dominus, ut misereatur vestri.” – Isa. xxx. 18.

9“Creatura enim tibi Factori deserviens, exardescit in tormentum adversus injustos.” – Wisd. xvi. 24.

10“Indulsisti genti, Domine, indulsisti genti; numquid glorificatus es?” – Isa. xxvi. 15.

11“Nolo mortem impii, sed ut convertatur et vivat.” – Ezek. xxxiii. 11.

12“Deus meus, pace tua dicam: nisi quia Deus es, injustus esses.” – De Vis. inf. l. 1. c. 5.

13Nos peccavimus, inhæremus peccato.

14Et tu placatus es?

15Nos te provocamus ad iram, tu autem conducis nos ad misericordiam.

16“Infernus domus mea est.” – Job, xvii. 13.

17“Diliges Dominum Deum tuum.” – Deut. vi. 5.

18“Adam, ubi es?” – Gen. iii. 9.

19Sunt verba patris quærentis filium suum perditum.

20“Laboravi clamans, raucæ factæ sunt fauces meæ.” – Ps. lxviii. 4.

21“Revertimini, et vivite.” – Ezek. xviii. 32.

22“Et quare tnoriemini, domus Israel?” – Ezek. xviii. 31.

23“Dixerunt Deo: Recede a nobis.” – Job, xxi. 14.

24“Ecce sto ad ostium, et pulso.” – Apoc. iii. 20.

25“Aperi mihi, soror mea.” – Cant. v. 2.

26“Laboravi rogans.” – Jer. xv. 6.

27“Deus etiam a se aversos amatorie sequitur, et deprecatur ne pereant,” – Ad Demoph.

28“Obsecramus pro Christo, reconciliamini Deo.” – 2 Cor. v. 20.

29Ipse Christus vos obsecrat. Quid autem obsecrat? Reconciliamini Deo. Non enim ipse inimicitias gent, sed vos.

30“Quid est home qua magnificas eum? aut quid apponis erga eum cor tuum?” – Job, vii. 17.

31“Non avertet faciem suam a vobis, si reversi fueritis ad eum.” – 2 Par. xxx. 9.

32“Revertere ad me, dicit Dominus, et ego suscipiam te.” – Jer. iii. 1.

33“Convertimini ad me, . . et convertar ad vos, dicit Dominus.” – Zac. i. 3.

34“Imponit in humeros suos gaudens. Congratulamini mihi, quia inveni ovem meam quæ perierat.” – Luke, xv. 5.

35Gaudium erit in cœlo super uno peccatore pœnitentiam agente.

36“Accurrens cecidit super collum ejus et osculatus est eum.” – Luke, xv. 20.

37“Si impius egerit pœnitentiam . . . vita vivet . . . omnium iniquitatum ejus . . . non recordabor.” – Ezek. xviii. 21.

38“Venite et arguite me, dicit Dominus: si fuerint peccata vestra ut coccinum, quasi nix dealbabuntur.” – Isa. i. 18.

39“Exaltabitur parcens vobis.” – Isa. xxx. 18.

40“Plorans nequaquam plorabis; miserans miserebitur tui,” – Isa. xxx. 19.

41“Ad vocem clamoris tui, statim ut audierit, respondebit tibi.” – Ibid.

42Te ergo quæsumus, tuis famulis subveni, quos pretioso sanguine redemisti.

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Preparation for Death - Consideration XV

The Malice of Mortal Sin.

“I have brought up children and exalted them; but they have despised me.” – Isaias, i. 2.

FIRST POINT.
The Sinner Insults God.

What does the sinner do when he commits mortal sin? He insults God, he dishonors him, he afflicts him. In the first place, mortal sin is an insult offered to God. The malice of an insult is, as St. Thomas says; estimated from the condition of the person who receives, and of the person who offers, the insult. It is sinful to offend a peasant; it is more criminal to insult a nobleman; but to treat a monarch with contempt and insolence, is a still greater crime. Who is God? He is Lord of lords, and King of kings.¹ He is a being of infinite majesty, before whom all the princes of the earth and all the saints and angels are less than an atom of sand. As a drop of a bucket. . . as a little dust.² The Prophet Osee adds, that compared with the greatness of God, all creatures are as insignificant as if they did not exist. All nations, he says, are before Him as if they had no being at all.³ Such is God; and what is man? He is, according to St. Bernard, a heap of worms, the food of worms, by which he shall be soon devoured. He is miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked.⁴ Man is a miserable worm, that can do nothing: he is so blind that he knows nothing, and so poor and naked that he possesses nothing. And this miserable worm voluntarily insults a God! “Vile dust,” says the same St. Bernard, “dares to provoke such tremendous majesty.”⁵ The angelic Doctor, then, had just reason to say that the sin of man contains, as it were, an infinite malice. And St. Augustine calls sin “an infinite evil.”⁶ Hence, were all men and angels to offer themselves to death and annihilation, such an offering would not satisfy for a single sin. God punishes sin with the pains of hell; but all theologians teach that this chastisement is less than sin deserves.⁷

And what punishment can be sufficient for a worm who assails his Lord? God is the Lord of all, because he has created all. All things are in Thy power . . . Thou hast made heaven and earth and all things.⁸ All creatures obey God. The winds, says St. Matthew, and the sea obey Him. Fire, hail, snow, ice, stormy winds, which fulfil His will.⁹ But when man sins, what does he do? He says to God, Lord, I will not serve Thee. Thou hast broken My yoke; thou hast burst My bonds; thou saidst: I will not serve.¹⁰ The Lord says to him: Seek not revenge; take not that property which belongs to another; abstain from that unchaste gratification. But man answers: I will have revenge; I will take possession of that property; I will indulge in that forbidden pleasure. Like Pharaoh, when Moses, on the part of God, commanded him to allow the people to go into the desert, the sinner answers: Who is the Lord, that I should hear His voice, and let Israel go?¹¹ The sinner says the same—Lord, I know Thee not, I will do what I please; in a word, he insults the Lord to his face, and turns his back upon him. Mortal sin is precisely a turning away from God. Of this the Lord himself complains. Thou hast forsaken me, saith the Lord; thou art gone backward.¹² You have, says God, been ungrateful to me; you have turned back upon me; you are gone backward. God has declared that he hates sin. Hence, he cannot but hate the sinner who commits it. But to God the wicked and his wickedness are hateful alike.¹³ In committing sin, man dares to declare himself the enemy Of God, and to contend single-handed with the Lord. He hath, says Job, strengthened himself against the Almighty.¹⁴ What would you say if you saw an insect attack an armed soldier? God is the Omnipotent Being, who, by a nod, has created heaven and earth out of nothing. And if he wishes, he can, by another act of his will, destroy all creatures. The Almighty Lord, who, at a beck, can utterly destroy . . . the whole world.¹⁵ In consenting to sin, the sinner stretches out his arms against the Lord. He hath, says Job, stretched out his hand against God. He hath run against Him with his neck raised up and is armed with a fat neck.¹⁶ He raises his neck, that is, he swells with pride, and runs to insult God; he arms himself with a fat neck, that is, with ignorance; for a fat neck is the symbol of ignorance—of that ignorance which makes the sinner say, What harm have I done? What great evil is that sin which I have committed? God is merciful—he pardons sinners. What an insult! What temerity! What blindness!

Affections and Prayers.

Behold, O my God! at Thy feet the rash and daring rebel who has had the temerity and the audacity to insult Thee so often to Thy very face, and to turn his back upon Thee. Thou hast said: Cry to me, and I will hear.¹⁷ Hell is too little for me; this I already know. But, remember, O Lord! that I am more sorry for having offended Thee, who art infinite goodness, than I would be for the loss of all my property and of my life. Ah, Lord! pardon me, and do not permit me ever to offend Thee more. Thou hast waited for me that I may forever bless Thy mercy and love Thee. Yes, I bless Thee, I love Thee, and I hope, through the merits of Jesus Christ, that I shall never again be separated from Thy love; Thy love has rescued me from hell: it is by Thy love that I am to be preserved from sin for the future. I thank Thee, my Lord! for the light And the desire Thou givest me to love Thee forever. Ah! take possession of my whole being—of my soul and body—of my powers and senses—of my will and liberty. I am Thine—save me. Thou art my only good; Thou art alone amiable: may Thou also be my only love. Give me fervor in loving Thee. I have offended Thee grievously. Hence, it is not enough for me to love Thee. I wish to love Thee ardently, in order to compensate for the injuries I have done Thee. From Thee, who art omnipotent, I hope for this love. I also hope for it through thy prayers, O Mary! which are powerful before God.

SECOND POINT.
The Sinner Dishonors God.

The sinner not only insults, but he also dishonors God. By the transgression of the law thou dishonorest God.¹⁸ Yes; for he renounces God’s grace, and for a miserable pleasure he tramples on the friendship of God. Were man to forfeit the divine friendship in order to gain a kingdom, or even the entire world, he should do a great evil; for the friendship of God is more valuable than the world and even a thousand worlds. But for what does the sinner insult the Lord? Wherefore hath the wicked provoked God?¹⁹ For a little earth, for the gratification of revenge, for a beastly pleasure, for the indulgence of vanity or caprice. They violated Me among My people for a handful of barley and a piece of bread.²⁰ When the sinner deliberates whether he will give or refuse his consent to sin, he, as it were, takes in his hand a balance and examines whether the grace of God has more or less weight than the indulgence of his passion, vanity, or pleasure; and when he consents to sin, he declares that his passion, vanity, or pleasure is of greater value than the friendship of God. Behold the Lord covered with shame by the sinner!

Contemplating the greatness and majesty of God, David said, Lord, who is like to Thee?²¹ But seeing sinners compare and prefer a miserable gratification to his friendship, the Lord exclaimed, To whom have you likened Me, or made Me equal?²² Then, he says, was that vile pleasure of greater value than my grace?—Thou hast cast Me of behind thy back.²³ Were you to forfeit a hand, or ten dollars, or even a much smaller sum, you would not have committed that sin. Then, says Salvian, is God alone so contemptible in your eyes, that he deserves to be despised for the indulgence of a passion, or for a miserable gratification?

Moreover, by offending God for the sake of his pleasure, the sinner makes that pleasure his god, by making it his last end. St. Jerome says: “What a person desires, if he worships it, is to him a god. A vice in the heart is an idol on the altar.”²⁴ Hence St. Thomas says: “If you love delights, delights are your god.”²⁵ And according to St. Cyprian, “Whatever man prefers to God, that he makes a god to himself.”²⁶ When Jeroboam rebelled against the Lord, he endeavored to draw the people with him into idolatry. Hence, he placed before them his idols, saying: Behold thy gods, O Israel.²⁷ It is thus the devil acts; he represents a certain pleasure to the sinner, and says: “Make this your god: behold this pleasure, this revenge is your god: adhere to them and forsake the Lord.” And in consenting to sin, the sinner obeys the devil, and in his heart adores as his god the pleasure in which he indulges.²⁸

If the sinner dishonors God he surely does not dishonor him in his presence! Oh! he insults and dishonors God to his very face; for God is present in all places. Do I not fill heaven and earth, saith the Lord?²⁹ This, sinners know, and still they dare to provoke God before his eyes. They provoke Me to anger before My face.³⁰

Affections and Prayers.

Thou, then, my God! art an infinite good, and I have frequently exchanged Thee for a miserable pleasure, which I had scarcely indulged when it vanished. But Thou, though despised by me, now offerest me pardon if I wish for it, and Thou promisest to give me Thy grace, if I repent of having offended Thee. Yes, my Lord! I repent with my whole heart of having outraged Thee so grievously: I detest my sins above all things. Behold! I already return to Thee, as I hope, and Thou already receivest me, and embracest me as Thy child. I thank Thee, O infinite Goodness! but assist me now, and do not permit me ever again to banish Thee from my heart. Hell will not cease to tempt me; but Thou art more powerful than hell. I know that I shall never more abandon Thee, if I always recommend myself to Thee. The grace, then, which I ask is, that I may always recommend myself to Thee, and that I may always say to Thee, as I now do, Lord, assist me; give me light, give me strength, give me perseverance, give me paradise; but above all, give me Thy love, which is the true paradise of souls. I love Thee, O infinite Goodness! and I wish always to love Thee. Hear me for the love of Jesus Christ. Mary, thou art the refuge of sinners: assist, by thy prayers, a sinner who wishes to love thy God.

THIRD POINT.
The Sinner Afflicts God.

The sinner insults God, he dishonors God, and fills the heart of God with grief and bitterness. There is nothing more galling than to be treated with ingratitude by a person tenderly loved and highly favored. Whom does the sinner assail? He insults a God who has created him, and has loved him so as to give his blood and his life for his salvation; and by committing mortal sin he banishes God from his heart. God comes to dwell in the soul that loves him. If any one love Me . . . My Father will love him, and We will come to him, and will make Our abode with him.³¹ Mark the words—We will make Our abode with him. God comes to dwell forever in the soul; he never departs from it, unless he is driven away. According to the Council of Trent, “He deserts not the soul, unless he is deserted.”³² But, O Lord! Thou knowest that the ungrateful sinner will, in a few moments, banish Thee: why dost Thou not instantly depart from him? Wilt Thou wait until he expels Thee? Abandon him; depart from him before he offers Thee this great insult. “No,” says the Lord, “I will not depart until he himself chases Me away.”

Then, in consenting to sin, the soul says to God: Lord, depart from me. The wicked, says Job, have said to God, Depart from us.³³ The sinner, according to St. Gregory, says the same, not in words, but by acts. The sinner knows that God cannot dwell with sin; in yielding to sin, he sees that God must depart; hence, by his conduct he says to God: Since Thou canst not remain in me along with my sin, depart—farewell. And through the very door by which God leaves the soul, the devil enters. Then he goeth and taketh with him seven other spirits more wicked than himself, and they enter in and dwell there.³⁴ In baptizing an infant, the priest commands the devil to depart. “Go out from him, unclean spirit, and make room for the Holy Ghost.”³⁵ Yes; for the soul, by receiving the grace of God, becomes his temple. Know you not, says St. Paul, that you are the temple of God?³⁶ But, in consenting to sin, man does the very contrary: he says to God, who is in his soul: “Go out from me, O Lord, make room for the devil.”³⁷ Of this the Lord complained to St. Bridget, saying, that he is treated by the sinner as a king expelled from his throne. “I am like a monarch banished from his own dominions: and in my place the worst of plunderers is chosen.”³⁸

What pain should you feel if you received a grievous insult from a person on whom you had lavished favors? This is the pain which you have given to your God who laid down his life for your salvation. The Lord calls heaven and earth to pity him on account of the ingratitude of sinners. Hear, O ye heavens, and give ear, O earth. . . . I have brought up children and exalted them, but they have despised Me.³⁹ In a word, by their iniquities sinners afflict the heart of God. But they provoked to wrath and afflicted the Spirit of the Holy One.⁴⁰ God is not susceptible of pain; but were he capable of sorrow, a single mortal sin should, as Father Medina teaches, be sufficient to make him die through pure grief. “Mortal sin would, were it possible, destroy God himself, because it would be the cause of infinite sadness in God.”⁴¹ Thus, as St. Bernard says, “Sin, as far as in it lies, destroys God.”⁴² In committing mortal sin, the sinner, as it were, gives poison to God, and does all in his power to deprive him of life. The sinner, says David, hath provoked the Lord.⁴³ And according to St. Paul, he tramples on the Son of God. For he despises all that Jesus Christ has done and suffered in order to take away the sins of the world.

Affections and Prayers.

Then, my Redeemer, as often as I have sinned, I have banished Thee from my soul, and have done what would, were it possible for Thee to die, have taken away Thy life. I now hear Thee ask: What evil have I done Thee? Tell Me. What displeasure have I given Thee that thou shouldst offer Me so many insults? Lord, Thou hast given me existence, and hast died for me. Behold the evil Thou hast done me. What answer then can I make? I say that I have deserved a thousand hells; Thou hast just ground for sending me to everlasting torments. But remember the love which made Thee die on the cross for my salvation: remember the blood which Thou hast shed for my sake, and have mercy on me. But I know that Thou dost not wish that I despair; on the contrary Thou makest me feel that Thou standest at the door of my heart, and that by Thine inspirations Thou knockest for admission. I stand at the gate and knock. Thou tellest me to open—Open to Me, my sister. Yes, my Jesus: I banish sin from my soul; I am sorry for it with my whole heart, and I love Thee above all things. Enter, O my love! the gate is open; enter, and never more depart from me. Bind me to Thyself by Thy love, and do not permit me to be ever separated from Thee. No, my God! we will never again be disunited; I embrace Thee and unite Thee to my heart; give me holy perseverance. “Ne permittas me separari a Te.” Mary, my Mother, assist me always; pray to Jesus for me; obtain for me this favor, that I may never more lose his grace.

1“Dominus dominorum est, et Rex regum.” – Apoc. xvii. 14.

2“Quasi stilla situlæ . . . pulvis exiguus.” – Isa. xl. 15.

3“Omnes gentes, quasi non sint, sic sunt coram eo.” – Isa. xl. 17.

4“Miser, et pauper, et cæcus, et nudus.” – Apoc. iii. 17.

5“Tam tremendam majestatem audet irritare pulvisculus.” – In Cant. s. 16.

6“Peccatum quamdam infinitatem habet ex infinitate divinæ majestatis.” – P. 3. q. 1, a. 2.

7Citra condignum.

8“In ditione tua cuncta sunt posita. . . . Tu fecisti cœlum et terram.” – Esth. xiii. 9.

9“Venti et mare obediunt ei.” – Matt. viii. 27. “Ignis, grando, nix, glacies . . . faciunt verbum ejus.” – Ps. cxlviii. 8.

10“Confregisti jugum meum . . et dixisti: non serviam.” – Jer. ii. 20.

11“Quis est Dominus, ut audiam vocem ejus? . . . Nescio Dominum.” – Exod. v. 2.

12“Tu dereliquisti me, dicit Dominus; retrorsum abiisti.” – Jer. xv. 6.

13“Similiter autem odio sunt Deo impius et impietas ejus.” – Wis. xiv. 9.

14“Contra Omnipotentem roboratus est.” – Job, xv. 25.

15“Ex nihilo fecit illa Deus.” – 2 Mach. vii. 28. “Potest . . . et universum mundum uno nutu delere.” – Ibid. viii. 18.

16“Tetendit adversus Deum manum suam. . . . Cucurrit adversus eun erecto collo et pingui cervice armatus est.” – Job, xv. 25.

17“Clama ad me, et exaudiam te.” – Jer. xxxiii. 3.

18“Per prævaricationem legis Deum inhonoras.” – Rom. ii. 23.

19“Propter quid irritavit impius Deum?” – Ps. x. 13.

20“Violabant me . . . propter pugillum hordei et fragmen panis.” – Ezek. xiii. 19.

21“Domine, quis similis tibi?” – Ps. xxxiv. 10.

22“Cui assimilastis me, et adæquastis? dicit Sanctus.” – Isa. xl. 25.

23“Projecisti me post corpus tuum.” – Ezek. xxiii. 35.

24“Unusquisque quod cupit et veneratur, hoc illi deus est.” – In Ps. lxxx.

25Si amas delicias. deliciæ dicuntur deus tuus.

26“Quidquid homo Deo anteponit, sibi deum facit.” – De Dup. Mart.

27“Ecce dii tui, Israel.” – 3 Kings, xii. 28.

28Vitium in corde, est idolum in altari.

29“Cœlum et terram ego impleo.” – Jer. xxiii. 24.

30“Ad iracundiam provocat me ante faciem meam semper.” – Isa. lxv. 3.

31“Si quis diligit me . . . Pater meus diliget eum, et ad eum veniemus, et mansionem apud eum faciemus.” – John, xiv. 23.

32“Non deserit, nisi deseratur.” – Sess. 6, cap. 11.

33“Dixerunt Deo: Recede a nobis.” – Job, xxi. 14.

34“Tunc vadit, et assumit septem alios spiritus secum nequiores se, et intrantes habitant ibi.” – Matt. xii. 45.

35Exi ab eo, immunde spiritus, et da locum Spiritui Sancto.

36“Nescitis quia templum Dei estis?” – 1 Cor. iii. 16.

37Exi a me, Domine, da locum diabolo.

38“Sum tamquam rex a proprio regno expulsus, in cujus loco latro pessimus electus est.” – Rev. l. 1. c. 1.

39“Audite, cœli; auribus percipe, terra: Filios enutrivi, et exaltavi; ipsi autem spreverunt me.” – Isa. i. 2.

40“Ipsi autem ad iracundiam provocaverunt, et afflixerunt spiritum Sancti ejus.” – Isa. lxiii. 10.

41“Peccatum mortale, si possibile esset, destrueret ipsum Deum, eo quod causa esset tristitiæ in Deo infinitæ.” – De Satisf. q. 1.

42“Peccatum, quantum in se est Deum perimit.” – In temp. Pasch. s. 3.

43“Exacerbavit Dominum peccator.” – Ps. x. 4. “Qui Filium Dei conculcaverit.” – Heb. x. 29.

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Preparation for Death - Consideration XIV

Life is a Journey to Eternity.

“Man shall go into the house of his eternity.” – Eccl. xii. 5.

FIRST POINT.
Man is a Traveller on Earth.

Seeing that on this earth so many miscreants live in prosperity, and that so many saints live in tribulations, the very Gentiles, by the sole aid of the light of nature, have known this truth,—that, since there is a just God, there must be another life, in which the wicked are punished and the good rewarded. But what the Gentiles learned by the light of reason, we Christians know by faith. We have not here a lasting city, but we seek one that is to come.¹ This earth is not our country; it is for us a place of passage, from which we shall soon go to the house of eternity. “Man shall go into the house of his eternity.” The house, then, dear reader, which you inhabit, is not your house; it is a hospital, from which you will soon, and when you least expect, be dislodged. Remember that when the time of death has arrived, your dearest relatives will be the first to banish you from it; and what will be your true house? The house of your body will be a grave, in which it will remain till the day of judgment; but your soul will go to the house of eternity—either to heaven or to hell. St. Augustine tells you that you are a stranger, a traveller, a spectator.² It would be foolishness in a traveller to spend all his patrimony in purchasing a villa or a house in a country through which he merely passes, and which he must leave in a few days. Reflect, says the saint, that in this world you are only on a journey; fix not your affections on what you see; look and pass on, and labor to procure a good house, in which you will have to dwell forever.

Happy you, if you save your soul! Oh! how delightful is heaven! All the princely palaces of this world are but stables compared with the city of paradise, which alone can be called the city of perfect beauty. There you will have nothing to desire; for you will be in the society of the saints, of the divine Mother, and of Jesus Christ, and will be free from all fear of evil; in a word, you will live in a sea of delights, and in unceasing joy, which will last forever. Everlasting joy shall be upon their heads.³ This joy shall be so great, that at every moment for all eternity it will appear new. But unhappy you, if you are lost! You will be confined in a sea of fire and of torments, in despair, abandoned by all, and without God. And for how long? Perhaps, after the lapse of a hundred thousand years, your pains will have an end? A hundred and a thousand millions of years and ages will pass by, and your hell will always be at its commencement. What are a thousand years compared with eternity? Less than a day which is gone by. A thousand years in thy sight are as yesterday, which is past.⁴ Would you wish to know the house which will be your dwelling for eternity? It will be that which you merit, and which you choose for yourself by your works.

Affections and Prayers.

Then, O Lord! behold the house which I have deserved by the life which I led. Alas! it is hell, in which, from the first sin I have committed, I ought to dwell, abandoned by Thee, and without having it ever in my power to love Thee. Blessed forever be Thy mercy, which has waited for me, and which now gives me time to repair the evil I have done. O my God! I will no longer abuse Thy patience. I am sorry above all things for having offended Thee, not so much because I have merited hell, as because I have outraged Thy infinite goodness. Never more, my God! never more will I rebel against Thee; I desire death rather than offend Thee. O my Sovereign Good! were I now in hell, I could never love Thee, nor couldst Thou love me. I love Thee, and wish to be loved by Thee; this I do not deserve, but Jesus merits it, because he has offered himself to Thee in sacrifice on the cross, that Thou mightest be able to pardon and love me. Eternal Father! give me, then, for the sake of Thy Son, the grace to love Thee, and to love Thee intensely. I love Thee, O my Father! who hast given me Thy Son. I love Thee, O Son of God! who didst die for me. I love thee, O Mother of Jesus! who, by thy intercession, bast obtained for me time for repentance. O Mary! obtain for me sorrow for my sins, the love of God, and holy perseverance.

SECOND POINT.
Man can Secure Eternal Happiness.

If the tree fall to the south or to the worth, in what place soever it shall fall there it shall be.⁵ Wheresoever the tree of your soul will fall at death, there will it remain forever. There is no medium; you will be forever a king in heaven, or a slave in hell; forever in bliss, in an ocean of delights, or forever in despair in a pit of torments. In contemplating the fate of the rich glutton, who was esteemed happy in this world because he was rich, but was afterward confined in hell; and the condition of Lazarus, who was regarded to be miserable because he was poor, but was afterward raised to the glory of heaven, St. John Chrysostom exclaimed: “O unhappy felicity, which dragged the rich man to eternal misery! O happy infelicity, which brought the poor Lazarus to the happiness of eternity!”⁶

Of what use is it to torture yourself, as some do, saying; Who knows whether I am among the predestined or not? When the tree is cut down, where does it fall? It falls on the side to which it inclines. Brother, to what side do you incline? What sort of life do you lead? Labor always to incline to the south; preserve your soul in the grace of God; fly from sin; and thus you will save your soul, and will be predestined. And in order to avoid sin, keep always before your eyes the thought of eternity, which St. Augustine calls “the great thought.”⁷ This thought has led so many young men to abandon the world, and to live in deserts, in order to attend only to the care of the soul; and they have secured eternal life. And, now that they are saved, they will rejoice for all eternity at having sought during life nothing but the salvation of their souls.

Father M. Avila converted a certain lady, who lived at a distance from God, by saying to her: “Madam, reflect on these two words—always and never.” In consequence of a thought which be had one day of eternity, Father Paul Segneri could not sleep for several nights; and from that day forward gave himself up to a more rigorous life. Drexelius relates that a certain bishop was encouraged to lead a holy life by the thought of eternity, and by repeating within himself, “I stand every moment at the gate of eternity.”⁸ A certain monk shut himself up in a cave, and did nothing else but exclaim, O eternity! O eternity! “He. who believes in eternity,” said Father Avila. “and does not become a saint, should be confined in a madhouse.”

Affections and Prayers.

Ah, my God! have mercy on me. I know that in committing sin I condemned myself to an eternity of torments; and I have been content to resist Thy will, and to incur this punishment. Ah, my Lord! pardon me; I am sorry for my sins from the bottom of my heart. I do not wish ever more to oppose Thy holy will. How miserable should I be, hadst Thou taken me out of life during my career of sin! I should at this moment be condemned to remain forever in hell, to hate Thy will. But now I love it, and wish forever to love it. Teach me and give me strength henceforth to do Thy will. I will no longer resist Thee, O infinite Goodness! This grace only do I ask; Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Enable me to do Thy will perfectly; and I ask nothing more. And what, O my God! dost Thou desire, but my welfare and my salvation? Ah, eternal Father! hear my prayer, for the love of Jesus Christ, who has taught me to pray continually to Thee. In his name I ask this grace—thy will be done, thy will be done. Happy me if I spend the remainder of my life and if I end my days doing Thy will. O Mary! happy thou, who hast always done the will of God perfectly! obtain for me, through thy intercession, the grace to do his will during the remainder of my life.

THIRD POINT.
Man shall go into the House of his Eternity.

“Man shall go into the house of his eternity.”⁹ The prophet says man shall go, to show that each shall go to the house to which he wishes to go: he shall not be carried to it, but will go of his own accord. It is certain that God wills the salvation of all men, but he will not save us by force. He has placed before each of us life and death; whichsoever we choose, will be given us.¹⁰ That which he shall choose, shall be given him.¹¹ Jeremias likewise says, that the Lord has given us two ways in which to walk; one the way of heaven, the other the way of hell. Behold, I set before you the way of life and the way of death.¹² The choice rests with us. But, how will he who wishes to walk in the way of hell, be able to reach heaven? All sinners wish for salvation, and in the mean time they, by their own choice, condemn themselves to hell, with the hope of being afterward saved. But who, says St. Augustine, can be found so foolish as to take poison with the hope of escaping death?¹³ And still so many Christians, so many fools, kill their souls by sin, saying: I will hereafter think of a remedy. O delusion, which has sent so many souls to hell!

Let us not be so foolish; let us reflect that eternity is at stake. In erecting a house in which he expects to live for the remainder of his life, a man spares no trouble in seeking a healthful site, and submits to great toil and fatigue in endeavoring to make the house commodious and airy. And why are men so careless when there is question of the house in which they must dwell for eternity? The business for which we labor, says St. Eucherius, is eternity; there is not question of a house more or less commodious, more or less airy; but there is question of being in a place full of delights, among the friends of God, or in a pit of all torments, in the midst of an infamous crowd of abandoned miscreants. And for how long? Not for twenty nor forty years, but for all eternity. This is a great point; it is not a business of little moment; it is an affair of infinite importance. When Thomas More was condemned to die by Henry VIII, his wife Louisa went to him for the purpose of prevailing on him to yield to the wishes of the king. He said to her: “Tell me, Louisa, how many years could I, who am now so old, expect to live?” “You might,” answered Louisa, “live for twenty years, more.” “O foolish woman,” rejoined the holy man, “do you want me, for twenty years of life on this earth, to forfeit an eternity of happiness, and to condemn myself to an eternity of torments?” (Sander, Schism. angl.)

O God! give me light. If eternity were a doubtful matter, or only resting on a probable opinion, we ought to make every effort in our power to lead a good life, lest, should the doctrine of eternity be true, we should expose ourselves to the danger of being eternally miserable; but it is not doubtful, but infallibly certain; not a mere opinion, but a truth of faith. “Man shall go into the house of his eternity.” “Alas!” says St. Teresa, “the want of faith is the cause of so many sins, and of the damnation of so many Christians.” Let us then always enliven our faith, saying: “Credo in vitam æternam.” I believe that after this life there is another which never ends. And with this thought always before our eyes, let us adopt the means of securing eternal salvation. Let us frequent the sacraments; let us make meditation every day; and let us reflect on eternal life; let us fly from dangerous occasions. And, if necessary, let us leave the world; for, to make ourselves sure of eternal life, no security can be too great.

Affections and Prayers.

There is, then, my God! no medium; I must be forever happy, or forever miserable; either in a sea of joys. or in a sea of torments; either forever with Thee in heaven, or forever separated at a distance from Thee in hell. And this hell I know for certain I have so often deserved; but I also know for certain that Thou dost pardon all who repent, and that Thou rescuest from hell all who hope in Thee. Of this Thou assurest me. He shall cry to me . . . I will deliver him, and will glorify him.¹⁴ Pardon me, then. O Lord! pardon me immediately, and deliver me from hell. O Sovereign Good! I am sorry above all things for having offended Thee. Restore to me Thy grace as soon as possible, and give me Thy holy love. Were I now in hell, I could never more love Thee; I should have to hate Thee forever. Ah, my God! what evil hast Thou done to me that I should hate Thee? Thou hast loved me unto death. Thou art worthy of infinite love. O Lord! do not permit me to be ever separated from Thee. I love Thee, and will always love Thee. Who shall separate me from the charity of Christ?¹⁵ Ah, my Jesus! sin alone can separate me from Thee. Ah! through the blood which Thou didst shed for me, do not permit me to be ever separated from Thee. Strike me dead, rather than suffer me to lose Thy love. “Ne permittas me separari a te.” Mary, my queen and my Mother! assist me by thy prayers; obtain for me death and a thousand deaths, rather than that I should be separated from the love of thy Son.

1“Non habemus hic manentem civitatem, sed futuram inquirimus.” – Heb. xiii. 14.

2Hospes es, transis et vides.

3“Lætitia sempiterna super caput eorum.” – Isa. xxxv. 10.

4“Mille anni ante oculos tuos, tamquam dies hesterna quæ præteriit.” – Ps. lxxxix. 4.

5“Si ceciderit lignum ad austrum aut ad aquilonem, in quocumque loco ceciderit, ibi erit.” – Eccles. xi. 3.

6O infelix felicitas, quæ divitem ad æternam infelicitatem traxit! O felix infelicitas, quæ pauperem ad æternitatis felicitatem perduxit.

7Magna cogitatio.

8“Omni momento ad ostium æternitatis sto.” – De Damn. Rog. c. 10 § 3.

9“Ibit homo in domum æternitatis suæ.”

10Ante hominem vita et mors.

11“Quod placuerit ei, dabitur illi.” – Ecclus. xv. 18.

12“Ecce ego do coram vobis viam vitæ et viam mortis.” – Jer. xxi. 8.

13“Nemo vult sub spe salutis ægrotare.” – Ad Petr. De fid. c. 3.

14“Clamabit ad me . . . eripiam cum et glorificabo eum.” – Ps. xc. 15.

15“Quis ergo nos separabit a charitate Christi?” – Rom. viii. 35.

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Preparation for Death - Consideration XIII

The Vanity of the World.

“What doth it profit a man, if he gain the whole world, and suffer the loss of his own soul?” – Matt. xvi. 26.

FIRST POINT.
The Goods of this World are Useless.

An ancient philosopher called Aristippus was once shipwrecked, and lost all his goods. When he reached the shore, the people, through respect for his great learning, presented him with an equivalent of all he had lost. He wrote to his friends, exhorting them to imitate his example, and to seek only the goods which cannot be wrested from them by shipwreck. Now, our relatives and friends who are in eternity exhort us from the other world to attend only to the acquisition of goods which even death cannot take from us. Death is called the day of destruction.¹ It is the day of destruction, because on that day we shall lose all the goods of this earth—its honors, riches, and pleasures. Hence, according to St. Ambrose, we cannot call the things of this life our goods, because we cannot take them with us to eternity. Our virtues alone accompany us to the next life.²

What then, says Jesus Christ, does it profit us to gain the whole world, if, at death, by losing the soul, we lose all? Ah! how many young men has this great maxim sent into the cloister! how many anchorets has it sent to the desert! and how many martyrs has it encouraged to give their life for Jesus Christ! By this maxim St. Ignatius of Loyola drew many souls to God, particularly the soul of St. Francis Xavier, who was then in Paris, attached to the things of the world. “Francis,” said the saint one day, “reflect that the world is a traitor, which promises but does not perform. And though it should fulfil all its promises, it can never content your heart. But let us grant that it did make you happy, how long will this happiness last? Can it last longer than your life; and after death what will you take with you to eternity? Where is the rich man that has ever brought with him a piece of money, or a servant to attend him? What king has ever carried with him a shred of the purple as a badge of royalty?” At these words St. Francis abandoned the world, followed St. Ignatius, and became a saint.

Solomon confessed that whatsoever his eyes desired he refused them not;³ but, after having indulged in all the pleasures of this earth, he called all the goods of the world vanity of vanities—“vanitas vanitatum.” Sister Margaret of St. Anne, a Discalced Carmelite, and daughter of the Emperor Rudolph the Second, used to say: “Of what use are kingdoms at the hour of death?” The saints tremble at the thought of the uncertainty of their eternal salvation. Father Paul Segneri trembled, and, full of terror, said to his confessor: “Father, what do you think—shall I be saved?” St. Andrew Avellino trembled, and, with a torrent of tears, said: “Who knows whether I shall be saved or lost?” St. Louis Bertrand was so much terrified by this thought, that, during the night, in a fit of terror, he sprang out of bed, saying: “Perhaps I shall be lost! And sinners, while they live in a state of damnation, sleep, and jest, and laugh!”

Affections and Prayers.

Ah, Jesus, my Redeemer! I thank Thee for making me see my folly and the evil I have done in turning my back on Thee who hast given Thy blood and Thy life for me. Thou didst not deserve to be treated by me as I have treated Thee. Behold! if death now came upon me, what should I find but sins and remorse of conscience, which would make me die with great disquietude! My Saviour! I confess that I have done evil, and committed a great error in leaving Thee, my Sovereign Good! for the miserable pleasures of this world. I am sorry from the bottom of my heart. Ah! through the sorrow which killed Thee on the Cross, give me a sorrow for my sins, which will make me weep during the remainder of my life over the injuries I have done Thee. My Jesus! pardon me; I promise to displease Thee no more, and to love Thee forever. I am not worthy of Thy love, which I have hitherto so much despised. But Thou hast said that Thou lovest him who loves Thee. I love Thee; love me, then, O Lord! I do not wish to be any longer in enmity with Thee. I renounce all the grandeurs and pleasures of the world, provided Thou lovest me. Hear me, O my God! for the love of Jesus Christ. He entreats Thee not to banish me from Thy heart. To Thee I consecrate my whole being; to Thee I consecrate my life, my pleasures, my senses, my soul, my body, my will, and my liberty. Accept me; reject not my offering, as I have deserved for having so often refused Thy friendship; cast me not away from Thy face. Most holy Virgin, my Mother, Mary! pray to Jesus for me. In thy intercession I place unbounded confidence.

SECOND POINT.
The Goods of this World are Contemptible.

There is a deceitful balance in his hand.⁴ We must weigh things in the balance of God, and not in the deceitful balance of the world. The goods of this life are miserable goods; they do not content the heart; they soon end. My days have been swifter than a post: they have passed by as ships carrying fruits.⁵ The days of our life pass and fly away; and of all the pleasures of this earth, what remains? They have passed like a ship, which leaves no trace behind. As a ship that passeth through the waters, whereof, when it is gone by, the trace cannot be found.⁶ Ask so many of the rich and learned of the world, so many princes and emperors who are now in eternity, what they possess of all the pomps, and delights, and grandeur which they enjoyed in this life? They all answer, Nothing, nothing. “O man,” says St. Augustine, “you attend to what he had here; but attend to what he brings with him.”⁷ “You,” says the saint, “regard only the goods which the rich man possessed; but observe what he takes with him at death—a fetid body and a rag of a garment to rot with him.”

After death the great ones of the world are spoken of for a little while; but they are soon forgotten. Their memory hath perished with a noise.⁸ And if they have gone to hell, what do they do and say in that place of woe? They weep and say, What hath pride profited us, or what advantage hath the boasting of riches brought us? all those things are passed away like a shadow.⁹ What have our pomps and riches profited us, now that they are passed away like a shadow, and for us nothing remains but eternal torments, wailing and despair?

The children of this world are wiser in their generation than the children of light.¹⁰ How prudent are worldlings in earthly affairs! What toil do they endure in order to obtain a situation, or to acquire an estate? With what care do they attend to the preservation of bodily health! They adopt the safest means; they select the best physicians, the best remedies, and the purest air. But how careless are they about the concerns of the soul! And it is certain that health, situations, and possessions will one day end; but the soul and eternity are everlasting. What do not the unjust, the vindictive, and voluptuous endure in order to attain their wicked objects? And will they refuse to suffer anything for the soul? O God! by the light of the death-candle, at that time of truth, worldlings know and confess their folly. Then they say, Oh, that I had left the world and led a life of sanctity! Pope Leo XI said at the hour of death, It were better for me to have been porter in my convent than to be Pope.” Honorius III also said in his last illness, “It would have been better for me to have remained in the kitchen of my monastery to wash the plates than to be chosen head of the Church.” In his dying moments, Philip II, King of Spain, sent for his son, and throwing off his royal robes, showed him his breast eaten away by worms, and said to him, “Prince, behold how we die, and how the grandeurs of this world end. Oh,” he exclaimed, “that I had been a lay-brother in some religious community, and had hot been king!” He then ordered a cross to be fastened to his neck by means of a cord, and, having made all his arrangements for death, he said to his son: “I wished you to be present at this scene, that you may see how the world treats monarchs in the end. Their death is like that of the poorest peasant. In short, he who leads the most holy life is in the greatest favor with God.” This same son, who was afterward Philip III., dying at the age of forty-three years, said: “My subjects, in the sermon to be delivered at my funeral, preach nothing but this spectacle which you behold: say that to have been king serves at death but to excite regret and pain.” He then exclaimed, “Oh, that I had never been a king! Oh, that I had lived in a desert to serve God! I should now go with greater confidence to present myself at his tribunal, and should not now find myself in so much danger of being damned forever.” But these desires at the hour of death serve only to increase the anguish and despair of those who have not loved God. Then, says St. Teresa, “we should make no account of what ends with life; the true life consists in living in such a manner as not to have any reason to fear death.” If then we wish to see the true value of earthly things, let us look at them from the bed of death and say, These honors, these amusements, these revenues will one day have an end; we ought then to labor to become saints, and rich in goods which will accompany us to the other world, and which will make us content and happy for all eternity.

Affections and Prayers.

Ah. my Redeemer! Thou hast suffered so many pains and ignominies for my sake; and I have loved the pleasures and vanities of this earth to such an excess, that, for the sake of them. I have often trampled on Thy grace. But, since Thou didst not cease to seek after me when I despised Thee, I cannot, O my Jesus! fear that Thou wilt now cast me away, when I seek and love Thee with my whole heart, and am more sorry for having offended Thee than I should be for having suffered every other misfortune. O God of my soul! from this day forward I wish never to offend Thee, even by a venial fault. Make known to me what is displeasing to Thee. I will not, for any earthly good, do what I know to be offensive to Thee. Make known to me what I must do in order to please Thee. I am ready to do it. I wish to love Thee with a true love. I embrace, O Lord! all the pains and crosses which may come to me from Thy hands give me the resignation I stand in need of: here burn, here cut. Chastise me in this life, that in the next I may be able to love Thee for eternity. Mary, my Mother! to thee I recommend my soul! do not ever cease to pray to Jesus for me.

THIRD POINT.
We must Work for Heaven.

The time is short: it remaineth that . . . they that use this world, be as if they used it not; for the fashion of this world passeth away.¹¹ What is our life on this earth but a scene, which passes away and ends very soon? The fashion of this world passeth away.¹² “The world,” says Cornelius à Lapide,” is like a stage; one generation passes away, another comes.” He who acts the part of a king, takes not the purple with him. Tell me, O villa, O house, how many masters have you had? When the comedy is over, the king is no longer king; the master ceases to be master. You at present are in possession of such a villa and palace; but death will come, and they will pass to other masters.

The affliction of an hour maketh one forget great delights.¹³ The gloomy hour of death brings to an end and makes us forget all the grandeur, nobility, and pomp of the world. Casimir, king of Poland, while he sat at a table with the nobles of his kingdom, died in the act of raising a cup to take a draught; and the scene ended for him. In seven days after his election, the Emperor Celsus was killed, and the scene closed for Celsus. Ladislaus, king of Poland, in his eighteenth year, while he was preparing for the reception of his bride, the daughter of the king of France, was suddenly seized with a violent pain, which soon deprived him of life. Couriers were instantly despatched to announce to her that the scene was over for Ladislaus, and that she might return to France. By meditating on the vanity of the world, Francis Borgia became a saint. At the sight of the Empress Isabella, who had died in the midst of worldly grandeur and in the flower of youth, he, as has been already said, resolved to give himself entirely to God. “Thus, then,” he said, “end the grandeurs and crowns of this world: I will henceforth serve a master who can never die.”

Let us endeavor to live in such a manner that what was said to the fool in the Gospel may not be said to us at the hour of death: Thou fool, this night do they require thy soul of thee: and whose shall those things be which thou hast provided?¹⁴ Hence, the Redeemer adds: So is he that layeth up treasure for himself, and is not rich toward God.¹⁵ Again he tells you to acquire the riches, not of the world, but of God;—of virtues and merits, which are goods which shall remain with you for eternity in heaven. Lay up to yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither the rust nor the moth doth consume.¹⁶ Let us then labor to acquire the great treasure of divine love. “What,” says St. Augustine, “has the rich man, if he has not charity? What does the poor man want, if he has charity?”¹⁷ If a man had all the riches in the world, and has not God, he is the poorest of men. But the poor man who possesses, God, possesses all things. And who are they that possess God? He, says St. John, that abideth in charity, abideth in God, and God in him.¹⁸

Affections and Prayers.

Ah, my God! I do not wish that the devil should have any longer dominion over my soul: I wish that Thou alone be the lord and master of it. I will renounce all things in order to acquire Thy grace. I esteem it more than a thousand thrones and a thousand kingdoms. And whom shall I love but Thee, who art infinitely amiable, who art an infinite good, infinite beauty, bounty, and love? Hitherto I have abandoned Thee for the sake of creatures; this is, and always will be, to me a source of sorrow, which will pierce my heart with grief for having offended Thee, who hast loved me with so much tenderness. But since Thou hast favored me with so many graces, I can no longer bear to see myself without Thy love. O, my Lord! take possession of my whole will, and of all that I possess, and do with me what Thou pleasest. If I have hitherto been impatient under adversity, I ask pardon. O, my Lord! I will never complain of Thy arrangements; I know that they are all holy, all for my welfare. Treat me, O my God! as Thou wishest; I promise to be always content, always to thank Thee. Make me love Thee, and I ask no more. What goods, what honors, what world can I love? O God! O God! I wish only for God. Happy thou, O Mary! who didst love nothing in the world but God. Obtain for me the grace to imitate thee, at least during the remainder of my life. In thee I trust.

1“Dies perditionis.” – Deut. xxxii. 35.

2“Non nostra sunt, quæ non possumus auferre nobiscum; sola virtus comes est defunctorurn.” – in Luc. l. 7.

3“Omnia gum desideraverunt oculi mei, non negavi eis.” – Eccles. ii. 10.

4“In manu ejus statera dolosa.” – Osee, xii. 7.

5“Dies mei velociores fuerunt cursore; pertransierunt quasi naves poma portantes.” – Job, ix. 25.

6“Tanquam navis quæ pertransit fluctuantem aquam, cujus, cum præterierit, non est vestigium invenire.” – Wis. v. 10.

7“Quid hic habebat, attendis; quid secum fert, attende.” – Serm. 13.

8“Periit memoria eorum cum sonitu.” – Ps. ix. 7.

9“Quid nobis profuit superbia? aut divitiarum jactantia quid contulit nobis? transierunt omnia illa tanquam umbra.” – Wis. v. 8.

10“Filii hujus sæculi prudentiores filiis lucis sunt.” – Luke, xvi. 8.

11“Tempus breve est: qui utuntur hoc mundo, tanquam non utantur; præterit enim figura hujus mundi.” – 1 Cor. vii. 29.

12Est mundus instar scenæ: “Generatio præterit, et generatio advenit.”

13“Malitia horæ oblivionem facit luxurim magnæ.” – Ecclus. xi. 29.

14“Stulte, hac nocte animam tuam repetunt a te; quæ autem parasti, cujus erunt?” – Luke, xii. 20.

15“Sic est, qui sibi thesaurizat et non est in Deum dives.” – Ibid. 21.

16“Thesaurizate vobis thesauros in cœlo, ubi neque ærugo neque tinea demolitur.” – Matt. vi. 20.

17“Dives, si charitatem non habet, quid habet? Pauper, si charitatem habet, quid non habet?” – Serm. 112, E. B. app.

18“Qui manet in charitate, in Deo manet, et Deus in eo.” – I John, iv. 16.

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