Consideration X - MEANS TO PREPARE FOR DEATH

"Memorare novissima tua, et in aeternum non peccabis" (Sirach 7:40).

Point I

Everyone confesses that one must die, and die but once; and that nothing is of greater consequence than this, since on the moment of death depends being blessed or in despair forever. Everyone also knows that upon living well or badly depends making a good or a bad death. And yet, how is it that the greater part of Christians live as if they were never to die, or as if it mattered little to die well or badly? We live badly because we do not think of death. "Memorare novissima tua, et in aeternum non peccabis." We must convince ourselves that the time of death is not the proper time to settle accounts in order to secure the great business of eternal salvation. The prudent of this world, in earthly affairs, take in good time all the measures needed to obtain that profit, that position, that marriage; for the health of the body they do not delay the necessary remedies. What would you say of someone who had to go to a duel or a competition, if he waited to prepare himself until the time had already arrived? Would not that captain be mad who reserved the provisioning of food and arms until the time of the siege? Would not that navigator be mad who neglected to provide himself with anchors and cables until the time of the storm? Just so is that Christian who puts off settling his conscience until death has arrived. "Cum interitus quasi tempestas ingruerit... tunc invocabunt me, et non exaudiam; comedent fructus vitae suae" (Prov. 1:27). The time of death is a time of tempest, of confusion; then sinners call upon God for help, but only from fear of the hell they see near, without a true conversion, and therefore God does not hear them. And therefore too they will justly taste nothing then but the bitter fruits of their evil life. "Quae seminaverit homo, haec et metet." It is not enough then simply to receive the Sacraments; one must die hating sin and loving God above all things; but how will he hate illicit pleasures who has loved them until then? How will he love God above all things who until that moment has loved creatures more than God?

The Lord calls foolish those virgins (because such they were) who wished to prepare their lamps when the bridegroom was already coming. Everyone fears a sudden death, because then there is no time to settle accounts. Everyone confesses that the Saints were the truly wise, because they prepared themselves for death before death arrived. And what are we doing? Do we wish to wait to prepare ourselves to die well until death is already near? We must therefore do at present what we would wish to have done at death. Oh, what pain is caused then by the memory of time badly spent! — time given by God for gaining merit, but time that has passed and returns no more. What anguish it will be then to hear: "Iam non poteris amplius villicare." There is no more time for penance, for frequenting the Sacraments, for hearing sermons, for visiting Jesus Christ in the churches, for prayer; what is done is done. A sounder mind would be needed then, a quieter time to make one's confession as it ought to be made, to resolve various points of grave scruple and so quiet the conscience; but "tempus non erit amplius."

Affections and Prayers

Ah, my God, if I had died on those nights You know of, where would I be now? I thank You for having waited for me, and I thank You for all those moments in which I would have had to be in hell from that first moment in which I offended You. Ah, give me light, and make me understand the great wrong I did You in voluntarily losing Your grace — the grace You merited for me by sacrificing Yourself for me on a cross. Ah, my Jesus, pardon me, for I repent with all my heart above every evil for having despised You, infinite Goodness. I hope that You have already pardoned me. Ah, help me, O my Savior, that I may lose You no more. Ah, my Lord, if I were to return to offending You after so many lights and graces received from You, would I not deserve a hell reserved for me alone? Ah, do not permit it, for the sake of the blood You have shed for love of me. Give me holy perseverance; give me Your love. I love You, O supreme Good, and I wish never to cease loving You until death. My God, have pity on me for the love of Jesus Christ.

Have pity on me as well, O Mary, my hope; commend me to God; your commendations are never refused by that Lord who loves you so much.

Point II

Quickly then, my brother, since it is certain that you must die, place yourself at the feet of the Crucifix; thank Him for the time He gives you by His mercy to settle your conscience; and then review all the disorders of your past life, especially those of your youth. Cast a glance over the divine precepts; examine the occupations you have exercised, the company you have kept; and note down in writing your failings, and make a general confession of your whole life, if you have not yet done so. Oh, how much a general confession helps to put the life of a Christian in good order! Remember that these are accounts for eternity, and therefore settle them as if you were at this very moment about to render them to Jesus Christ the Judge. Drive from your heart every evil affection, every grudge. Remove now every scruple concerning the goods of others, reputations destroyed, scandals given, and resolve to flee those occasions in which you may lose God. Consider that what now seems difficult to you will seem impossible at the point of death.

What matters most is that you resolve to put into practice the means for preserving yourself in the grace of God. The means are: Mass every day, meditation on the eternal truths, frequent confession and Communion at least every eight days, a daily visit to the Blessed Sacrament and to the divine Mother, attending a congregation, spiritual reading, examination of conscience every evening, some special devotion to Most Holy Mary such as fasting on Saturdays; and above all, resolve to commend yourself frequently to God and to the Blessed Virgin, often invoking, especially in times of temptation, the most sacred names of Jesus and Mary. These are the means that can obtain for you a good death and eternal salvation.

Doing this will be a great sign of your predestination. And as for the past, trust in the blood of Jesus Christ, who now gives you these lights because He wishes you saved, and trust in the intercession of Mary who obtains these lights for you. With such a rule of life and confidence in Jesus and Mary, oh, how God helps, and what strength the soul acquires! Quickly then, my reader, give yourself entirely to God who calls you, and begin to enjoy that peace of which until now, through your own fault, you have been deprived. And what greater peace can a soul feel than to be able to say, upon going to bed at night: If death comes tonight, I hope to die in the grace of God! What a consolation it is to hear the crash of thunder, to feel the earth tremble, and to await death with resignation, if God so disposes!

Affections and Prayers

Ah, my Lord, how much I thank You for the light You give me. I have left You so many times, I have turned my back on You; but You have not abandoned me. If You had abandoned me, I would have remained blind, as I chose to be in the past; I would be obstinate in my sin, and I would have neither the will to leave it nor the will to love You. Now I feel a great sorrow for having offended You, a great desire to be in Your grace; I feel an abhorrence for those accursed pleasures that made me lose Your friendship. These are all graces that come to me from You, and they make me hope that You wish to pardon me and save me. Since then, with all my sins, You have not abandoned me and You wish me saved, behold, Lord, I give myself entirely to You. I repent above every evil of having offended You, and I resolve to lose my life a thousand times before losing Your grace. I love You, my supreme Good; I love You, my Jesus who died for me; and I trust in Your blood that You will not permit me to be separated from You again. No, my Jesus, I will not lose You. I wish to love You always in life; I wish to love You at death; I wish to love You for all eternity. Preserve me then always and increase my love for You; I ask it of You through Your merits.

Mary, my hope, pray to Jesus for me.

Point III

Furthermore, we must strive to be found at every hour as we wish to be found at death. "Beati mortui, qui in Domino moriuntur" (Rev. 14). St. Ambrose says that those die well who at the time of death are found already dead to the world — that is, detached from those goods from which death will then forcibly separate them. So we must, from now on, accept the stripping of our possessions, the separation from relatives and from all the things of this earth. If we do not do this voluntarily in life, we shall have to do it necessarily at death, but then with extreme pain and with danger to our eternal salvation. And St. Augustine also notes that it greatly helps one to die in peace if, while still living, he settles his temporal affairs, making now the disposition of the goods he must leave behind, so that at death the person may occupy himself only with drawing close to God. Then it is well to speak only of God and of paradise. Those last moments are too precious to be wasted on earthly thoughts. At death the crown of the elect is completed, since it is perhaps then that the best harvest of merits is made, in embracing those pains and that death with resignation and love.

But he will not be able to have these good sentiments at death who has not practiced them in life. To this end, some devout persons, with much profit to themselves, practice renewing every month the Protestation for Death with the Christian acts, after having confessed and received Communion, imagining themselves already at the point of death, about to depart this life. (In our little book, Visits to the Blessed Sacrament, there is this Protestation with the acts, which can be read in a short time, as it is brief.) What is not done in life is very difficult to do at death. The great servant of God Sister Catherine of St. Albert, a Teresian nun, as she lay dying, sighed and said: "Sisters, I do not sigh from fear of death, because for twenty-five years I have been expecting it. I sigh to see so many deceived ones who lead their life in sin and put off making peace with God until death, when I can scarcely pronounce the name of Jesus."

Examine then, my brother, whether you now have your heart attached to any earthly thing — to that person, that honor, that house, that money, that company, those amusements. Remember that you are not eternal. You must leave them one day, and perhaps soon; and why do you remain attached to them, with the risk of making a troubled death? Offer everything now to God, ready to be deprived of it when it pleases Him. If you wish to die resigned, you must from now on resign yourself in all the contrary events that may befall you, and strip yourself of attachments to the things of this earth. Place before yourself the moment of death, and you will despise everything. "Facile contemnit omnia," says St. Jerome, "qui semper se cogitat moriturum."

If you have not yet chosen the state of your life, choose that state which you would wish to have chosen when you are at death, and which will make your death the most contented. If you have already chosen it, do what you would wish to have done then in your state. Act as if every day were the last of your life, and every action the last you perform — the last prayer, the last confession, the last Communion. Imagine that at every hour you find yourself dying, stretched upon a bed, and hear yourself told that "Proficiscere de hoc mundo." This thought — oh, how it will help you to walk well and to detach yourself from the world! "Beatus ille servus, quem, cum venerit Dominus eius, inveniet sic facientem" (Matt. 24:46). He who expects death at every hour, even if he should die suddenly, will not fail to die well.

Affections and Prayers

Every Christian should be prepared to say, at that moment when the news of death is given him, thus: So then, my God, only a few hours remain? I wish in these to love You as much as I can in this present life, in order to love You more in the next. Little remains for me to offer You; I offer You these pains and the sacrifice of my life, in union with the sacrifice that Jesus Christ made for me on the cross. Lord, the sufferings I endure are few and light compared to those I have deserved; such as they are, I embrace them as a sign of the love I bear You. I resign myself to all the punishments You wish to give me in this life and in the next, provided I may love You for eternity. Punish me as You please, but do not deprive me of Your love. I know that I would not deserve to love You any longer, for having so many times despised Your love; but You cannot drive away a repentant soul. I repent, O supreme Good, of having offended You. I love You with all my heart, and I place all my trust in You. Your death, O my Redeemer, is my hope. Into Your pierced hands I commend my soul. "In manus tuas commendo spiritum meum; redemisti me, Domine Deus veritatis." O my Jesus, You have given Your blood to save me; do not permit me to be separated from You. I love You, O eternal God, and I hope to love You eternally.

Mary, my Mother, help me in that great moment. Now I entrust my spirit to you; tell your Son to have pity on me. To you I commend myself; deliver me from hell.