Thought for the Day – 14 September – 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 VI
The Death of the Sinner
“Destruction cometh and they shall seek peace and there shall be none. Mischief shall come upon mischief.”
(Ezek vii: 25, 26)
THIRD POINT:
IT IS a marvellous thing that God does nothing but threaten sinners with an unhappy death:
“Then will they call upon Me but I shall not answer.” (Prov i: 28).
“Will God hear his cry, when trouble cometh upon im?” (Job xxvii: 9)
”I also shall laugh at your calamity; I shall mock.” (Prov i: 26).
God laughs when He will not show mercy. “To Me belongeth vengeance and recompense; their foot willl slide in due time.” (Deut xxxii: 35).
In many other places God threatens the same and yet, sinners live in peace and are as secure, as if God had certainly promised to give them pardon when dying and after death, to give them Paradise.
It is quite true that, in whatever hour the sinner is converted, God has promised to pardon him but He has not said that the sinner shall be converted in death.
On the contrary, He has often declared that he who lives in sin shall die in sin: “Ye …. shall die in your sins.” (St John viii: 21). He has said in another place, he who seeks Him in death, will not find Him. “Ye will seek Me and shall not find Me.” (St John vii: 34).
Therefore, it is indeed necessary to seek God when He can be found. “Seek ye the Lord while He may be found. ” (Isa Iv: 6). Yes, there will be a time when He will no longer be found!.
Poor sinners poor blind ones who put off their conversion until the hour of their death, when there will be no more time to be converted!
Geronimo Oleaster OP (Died 1663) well says, “that the wicked will never have learned to do well, save when there is no time in which to do it.”
God wishes all men to be saved but He will punish those who are obstinate in their sins.
If some miserable sinner living in sin should be seized with an apoplectic fit and thus be deprived of his senses, what pity all those would feel, who would see him die thus, without the Sacraments and without any sign of repentance! and, on the contrary, what great joy would not everyone experience, if this poor sinner should recover from his fit, seek for absolution and become repentant? But is not he indeed mad, who, having time to repent, continues in a state of sin, or else returns to sin and so places himself in danger of being surprised by death, at the same time that he is perhaps committing sin?
It is very fearful to see anyone die suddenly and yet, so many put themselves in danger of dying thus and in danger of dying in sin.
“A just weight and balance are the Lord’s.” (Prov xvi: II).
We do not take any account of the favours which the Lord
bestows upon us but the Lord takes the account and measures them and when He sees them despised, up to a certain point, He allows the sinner to remain in his sin and in this state to die.
Miserable indeed is that one who defers his repentance until the day of his death.
St Augustine remarks “the repentance which is demanded of the infirm, is infirm.”
St Jerome says, amongst a hundred thousand sinners who remain in a state of sin until the day of their death, hardly one will be saved!
St Vincent Ferrer declares that it would be a greater miracle, for one who has lived in habitual sin, all his life, to be saved, than it would be to raise one, who is dead, to life!
What sorrow, or what repentance, could be felt at the hour of death, by him who, until that time, has loved sin? St Robert Bellarmine tells us that, having gone to assist a dying person and having exhorted him to make one act of contrition, the dying one answered, he did not understand what contrition meant. Bellarmine tried to explain to him but the sick one said: “I do not understand you, Father. I am not capable of these things.” And thus he died, “leaving clear signs of his condemnation.”
St Augustine observes that it will be a just punishment to that sinner who has been unmindful of God during his life, to be unmindful of himself in death.
The Apostle warns us, saying: “Be not deceived, God is not mocked, for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap: for he who soweth to his flesh, shall of the flesh reap corruption.” (Gal vi: 7, 8).
It would indeed be mocking God for anyone to live, despising His Love and then, to reap a reward and everlasting glory but “God is not mocked.”
That which is sown in this life, shall be reaped in the next. He who loves the forbidden pleasures of this life, shall reap corruption, misery and eternal death in the life to come.
Christian brother, what is said for others is also said for you. Tell me, if you were now at the point of death, despaired of by the doctors and already in great pain, would you not pray to God to grant you one more month, one more week, in order to render your conscience clear in His sight? But God does give you that time now! Return thanks to Him and quickly try to atone for the evil you have done and use every means to be found in a state of grace whenever death shall come because then, there will be no time to atone for past evils.
Affections and Prayers
Ah, my God and who is there who would have had so much
patience with me as Thou hast!
If Thy goodness were not Infinite, I should cease to hope for pardon. But I have a God Who died to pardon me and to save me. Thou dost command me to hope and I will hope. If my sins affright and condemn me, Thy merits and Thy promises give me courage.
Thou hast promised the life of Thy grace to him ho returns to Thee: “Turn yourselves and live ye.” (Ezek xviii:2).
Thou hast promised to embrace him who turns to Thee. “Turn ye unto Me …. and I will turn unto you.” (Zee i: 3).
Thou hast said, Thou wilt not despise him who humbles himself and repents.
“A broken and contrite heart, O God, shalt Thou not despise.” (Ps ci: 17). Behold, O Lord, I return and come to Thee; I confess myself worthy of condemnation and I repent of having offended Thee. I sincerely promise never more to offend Thee willingly and I would wish to love Thee forevermore.
Ah, do not allow me to be anymore ungrateful towards such Goodness. Eternal Father, through the merits of the obedience of Thy Son, Jesus Christ, Who died in obedience to Thy will, let me obey Thee in all things until death. I love Thee, O Thou Highest Good and because of the love I bear for Thee, I would obey Thee in all things. Give me holy perseverance, Thy holy Love and I ask for nothing more.
AnaStpaul 