Thought for the Day – 31 August – Meditations with Saint Alphonsus Maria de Liguori (1696-1787) Bishop, Confessor, Most Zealous Doctor of the Church
“Preparation for Death”
By St Alphonsus Maria de Liguori (1696-1787)
CONSIDERATION II
“An end, the end is come.”
(Ezek vii: 2)
FIRST POINT:
BY the worldly, those only are considered happy, who enjoy
the things of this world, its pleasures, its riches, its pomps
but death puts an end to all these joys of earth,
“For what is your life? it is even a vapour which appeareth for a little time.” (St James iv:14).
The vapours which arise from the earth, sometimes when raised in the air and clothed with the light of the sun, cause a beautiful appearance but how long does it last?
It vanishes with a little wind.
Behold that great man, who to-day is courted, feared and almost adored, to-morrow, when he is dead, he will be despised, reviled and scorned.
When death comes, all must be left. The brother of that great servant of God, Thomas à Kempis, boasted of having built a beautiful house but a friend told him one day that there was one great defect. What is it? he demanded. “The defect,” replied the other, “is, that you have had a door made in it.”
“ Indeed!” exclaimed he “is the door a defect?”
“Yes,” replied the friend, “because one day you will have to be carried out of that door dead and thus will you have to leave your house and all which is in it.”
Death, in short, despoils man of all the things in this world.
What a sad sight it is to see a Prince carried forth from his
palace, never more to enter it and to see others take possession of his furniture, his money and of all his other goods! He is left in the grave with a garment on which will scarcely cover his body. There is no-one now to prize and to flatter him, neither are there any who take account of his last commands.
Saladin, who acquired many Kingdoms in Asia, when dying, said, that when his body was taken to be buried, a man should go before it, with his shirt suspended to a pole, crying:
“This is all which Saladin carries to the grave!”
When the body of that Prince is shut up in the grave, the flesh will soon fall off and his skeleton will no longer be distinguished from other skeletons.
St Basil crys:
“Contemplate the sepulchre and see whether you can distinguish who was the servant and who was the lord!?”
Diogenes was one day observed by Alexander the Great to be anxiously seeking for something amidst certain skulls.
“What dost thou seek?” inquired Alexander, with curiosity.
“ I am seeking,” he replied, “the skull of thy father, King Philip and I cannot distinguish it, if thou canst find it, show it to me.”
In this world, men are born of unequal rank but after death all will be equal, observes Seneca. And Horace said, that death makes the spade equal to the sceptre.
Finally, when death comes: “the end comes” everything is ended and everything must be left and nothing is taken to the grave, of all the things of this world.
Affections and Prayers
Since, my dear Lord, Thou dost grant me understanding to know that all that the world esteems, is but vanity and foolishness, give me strength to leave all its allurements before death may come to snatch me from them.
Alas ! wretched me, how often because of the miserable pleasures and possessions of this world, have I not offended and lost Thee.
O Thou Infinite Good, O my Jesus, O my Heavenly Physician, look upon my poor miserable soul and upon the heavy wounds I have made with my sins and do Thou have mercy upon me.
“If Thou wilt, Thou canst make me clean.”
I know Thou wilt make me clean but, in order to cleanse me, Thou desirest that I should repent of all the injuries I have done Thee. I do indeed repent!
AnaStpaul 