And this being so, how is it possible that we
stop thinking about it, or dedicate such secondary and weak attention to it? ¡Alas,
how many souls are now burning for having rejected that healthy thought! Let us
forget, let us forget the world a little, its riches and its pleasures, to
occupy ourselves in that terrible moment. Let us imitate the saints, who made
this their main occupation; Let us let perish what perishes with time, and let
us take care of what is permanent and eternal. Yes, nothing is as effective as
the thought of death to make us abandon the life of sin, to make kings tremble
on their thrones, judges and libertines in the midst of their pleasures. I will
remind you of an example, which will show you how nothing resists this thought
when it is seriously meditated. Saint Gregory tells us that there was a young
man, in whose soul he was very interested, who was ardently passionate about a
young woman, to the point that, when she died, he became possessed of such
sadness that nothing was able to console him.
Pope Saint Gregory, after many prayers and
penances, went to meet the young man and said to him: "My friend, follow
me, and you will still be able to see the one who makes you breathe out so many
sighs and shed so many tears." And taking him by the hand, he led him to
the young woman's grave. There he had the lid that closed the tomb lifted, and
that young man, upon seeing a body so horrible, so stinking, full of worms,
that is, that it was nothing more than a corrupt mass, retreated full of
horror. «No, no, my friend, Saint Gregory told him, come closer, and focus for
a moment on that spectacle that death offers you. Look, my friend, contemplate
what has become of that despicable beauty to which you were so fond. Don't you
see that fleshless skull, those lifeless eyes, that livid bone, that horrible
amalgam of ashes, rot and worms? Here, my friend, is the object of your
passion, for which you have exhaled so many sighs, sacrificing your soul, your
salvation, your God and your eternity”. Those moving words, that sad spectacle
made such a vivid impression on the young man's heart that, recognizing from
then on the nothingness of this world and the fragility of all perishable
beauty, he immediately renounced earthly vanities, he no longer thought about
anything else. that, to die well, and to this end he fled the world to spend
his life in a monastery and mourn, for the rest of his days, the errors of his
youth, and finally die as a saint. What happiness, that of that young man! Let
us imitate him, since nothing is as effective in uprooting us from this life
and determining us to leave sin as this happy thought of death. ¡Ah! How
different are the thoughts that come to us at the hour of death from those that
occur to us during life! See here another example. It is said in history that
there was a lady adorned with all those qualities that so please the world,
whose pleasures she was very fond of. But oh! This did not prevent her, like
the others, from reaching her final moments, certainly much earlier than she
wanted. At the beginning of his illness they hid from him the danger he was in,
which is customary in most cases. However, the evil was progressing every day
and it was necessary to warn him that the time had come to prepare for
eternity.
Then he had to do what he had never done, and
he had to think about what he had never thought about; of all of which she was
extremely frightened. «I do not believe, she said to those who gave her such a
salutary warning, that my illness is so dangerous, I still have time»; They again
warned her that the doctor believed she was in danger. He began to cry,
regretting that he had to leave life at an age when he could still enjoy many
pleasures. But, despite her crying, they made her aware that in this world
there was no one immortal, and that, if she escaped from that illness, later
another would come and take her from this world; that what he had to do,
therefore, was to put his conscience in order, in order to be able to appear
confidently before the tribunal of God. Little by little she came into herself,
and, as she did not lack education, she soon became convinced of what she was
told; He began to shed tears for his sins; He asked for a confessor, to declare
his faults, which he would never want to have committed. She herself offered the
sacrifice of her life; He confessed his guilt with great pain and abundance of
tears; She begged her companions or friends to visit her before leaving this
world, which they hurried to do. Once he had them around his bed, he told them
crying: «You see, dear friends, in what state I am; I must appear before Jesus
Christ to give an account of all the acts of my life; You are not ignorant how
badly I have served God, and, therefore, how much I now have to fear; However,
I am going to abandon myself in the arms of his mercy. The great advice that I
want to give you at this hour, my good friends, is that, if you really want to
convert, do not wait for that moment when nothing is possible anymore, and
when, despite tears and repentance, you will is in great danger of being lost
for an eternity. As I see you today for the last time, I conjure you not to
waste a moment of the time that God grants you, and that I am so missing right
now. Goodbye, my friends, I am leaving for eternity; "Do not forget me in
your prayers, so that, if I have the good fortune to be forgiven, you can help
me get out of purgatory." Those companions of the dying woman, who
certainly were not expecting such a speech, retired shedding tears and animated
by a great desire to prepare for that moment when they are so tormented by the
regret of having lost such precious time. But, just as these two examples make
us think about the day of our death, there are others that fill us with
indignation.
We read in history that Cardinal Bellarmine,
of the Society of Jesus, was called to the bedside of a sick man who had been a
procurator, and who, during his life, had unfortunately preferred money to the
salvation of the soul. Believing that he was calling him only to settle the
matters of his conscience, he hastened to please him. Upon entering, he began
to speak to her about the state of his soul; Soon the sick man stopped him
saying: «Father, I have not called you for this, but only to console my wife
who is devastated at seeing my imminent death; As for me, I'm going straight to
hell. The Cardinal says that the man was so blind and hardened that he
pronounced those words with the same calmness and freshness as if he had
announced that he was going to have a good time with his friends. "My
son," said the Cardinal, deeply saddened to see that that soul was really
going to go down to hell, "please ask God for forgiveness of your sins,
confess, and the Lord will forgive you." That wretch told him that there
was no reason to waste time, since he did not remember his sins nor did he want
to remember them; I would have time to know them and remember them in hell. In
vain the cardinal begged him, earnestly asked him not to lose his soul for an
entire eternity, when the means of gaining heaven were still in his hand; In
vain he promised him that he would help him satisfy divine justice, adding that
he was certain that God would still have mercy on him.
Nothing was enough to move him to the pain of
his sins and he died without giving any sign of repentance and his soul was
buried in hell.
How pitiful is the damnation of a soul! And, how many souls are condemned every day? Many. If before there was a road to hell, today it is a valley because the road was already short and widened due to the number of souls that are lost every day in the flames of hell.
Without a doubt, we would all like to imitate the first two examples written in these short pages. Will there be anyone among you who prefers the third example? If there is, he is and will be an unfortunate person from now on for whom we must pray so that he repents and lives eternal life after his death.
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