The Great Thought of Eternity

Thus did St. Augustine designate the thought of eternity: “The great thought” —“magna cogitatio.” It was this thought that induced so many solitaries to retire into deserts; so many religious, even kings and queens, to shut themselves up in cloisters; and so many
martyrs to sacrifice their lives in the midst of torments, in order to acquire a happy eternity in heaven, and to avoid a miserable eternity in hell. The Saint John of Avila converted a certain lady with these two words: “Reflect,” said he to her, “on these two words: Ever and Never.” A certain monk went down into a grave that he might meditate continually on eternity, and constantly repeated, “Oh eternity! eternity!”

How frequently, my God, have I deserved the eternity of hell! Oh, that I had never offended Thee! Grant me sorrow for my sins; have compassion on me.

The same Saint John of Avila says, that he who believes in eternity and becomes not a saint should be confined as one deranged. He who builds a house for himself takes great pains to make it commodious, airy, and handsome, and says: “I labor and give myself a great deal of trouble about this house, because I shall have to live in it all my life.” And yet how little is the house of eternity thought of! When we shall have arrived at eternity there will be no question of our residing in a house more or less commodious, or more or less airy: the question will be of our dwelling in a palace overflowing with delights, or in a gulf of endless torments. And for how long a time? not for forty or fifty years, but forever, as long as God shall be God. The saints, to obtain salvation, thought it little to give their whole lives to prayer, penance, and the practice of good works. And what do we do for the same end?

O my God ! many years of my life are already past, already death is near at hand, and what good have I hitherto done for Thee? Give me light, and Strength, to devote the remainder of my days to Thy service. Too much, alas! have I offended Thee; I desire henceforth to love Thee.

With fear and trembling work out your salvation. (Philippians 2:12) To obtain salvation we must tremble at the thought of being lost, and tremble not so much at the thought of hell, as of sin, which alone can send us thither. He who dreads sin avoids dangerous occasions, frequently recommends himself to God, and has recourse to the means of keeping himself in the state of grace. He who acts thus will be saved; but for him who lives not in this manner it is morally impossible to be saved. Let us attend to that saying of St. Bernard: “We cannot be too secure where eternity is at stake.”

Thy blood, O Jesus, my Redeemer! is my security. I should have been already lost on account of my sins, hadst Thou not offered me Thy pardon, on condition of my repentance for having offended Thee. I am sorry therefore with my whole heart for having offended Thee, who art infinite goodness. I love Thee, O sovereign good! above every other good. I know that Thou willest my salvation, and I will endeavor to secure it by loving Thee forever. O Mary, Mother of God! pray to Jesus for me.

The Loss of all Things in Death

The day of destruction is at hand. (Deuteronomy 32:35) The day of death is called the day of destruction, because then is destroyed all that man has acquired; honors, friends, riches, possessions, kingdoms—all are then no more. What then doth it profit us to gain the whole world if in death we must leave all? All is at an end at the bedside of the dying man. Is there any king, think you,—said St. Ignatius to Xavier when he sought to bring him to God, —who has taken with him into the other world even a thread of purple to mark his sovereignty? Has any rich man taken with him a single coin, or even one servant to attend him ? In death all is left behind. The soul enters eternity alone and unattended, except by its works.

Woe to me! where are my works to accompany me to a blessed eternity? I can discover none but such as render me deserving of eternal torments.

Men come into the world in unequal conditions: one is born rich, another poor, one a noble, another a worker; but all go out of it equal and alike. Consider the graves of the dead: see if you can discover among the bodies which are there interred, who was a master and who a servant, who was a king and who a beggar.

O God! while others amass the fortunes of this world, may my only fortune be Thy holy grace. Thou alone art my only good both in this life and in the next.

In one word everything on earth will come to an end. All greatness will end, all misery will end, honors will end, ignominies will end; pleasures will end, sufferings will end. Blessed in death, therefore, not he who has abounded in riches, honors, and pleasures, but he who has patiently endured poverty, contempt, and sufferings! The possession of temporal goods affords no consolation at the moment of death: that alone consoles us which has been done or suffered for God.

O Jesus! separate my heart from this world, before death entirely takes me from it. Help me with Thy grace; Thou indeed knowest how great is my weakness. Permit me not to be any more unfaithful to Thee, as I have hitherto been. I am sorry, O Lord! for having so often despised Thee. Now will I love Thee above even good, and will die a thousand times rather than forfeit Thy grace. But the infernal one ceases not to temp me: in mercy abandon me not, leave me not to myself, permit me not to be any more separated from Thy love. O Mary, my hope! obtain for me the grace of perseverance.

The Certainty of Death

We must die! How awful is the decree! we must die. The sentence is passed It is appointed for all men once to die. (Hebrews 9:27) Thou art a man and thou must die. St. Cyprian says that we are born with a rope around our necks, and as long as we live on earth we hourly approach the gallows, that is, the sickness that puts an end to our life. It would be madness for any one to delude himself with the idea that he shall not die. A poor man may flatter himself that he may become rich, or a vassal that he may be a king; but who can ever hope to escape death? One dies old, another young, but all at last must come to the grave.

I therefore must one day die and enter eternity. But what will be my lot for eternity? happy or miserable? My Saviour Jesus, be Thou a Saviour to me!

Of all those who were living upon the earth at the beginning of the last century, not one is now alive. The greatest and most renowned princes of this world have exchanged their country; scarcely does there remain any remembrance of them, and their bare bones are hardly preserved in stone monuments.

Make me, O God! more and more sensible of the folly of loving the goods of this world, and for the sake of them renouncing Thee, my sovereign and infinite good. What folly have I not been guilty of; and how much it grieves me ! I give Thee thanks for having made me sensible of it.

A hundred years hence, at most, and neither you nor I will be any longer in this world; both will have gone into the house of eternity. A day, an hour, a moment, is approaching which will be the last both for you and me; and this hour, this moment, is already fixed by Almighty God; how then can we think of anything else but of loving God, who will then be our judge?

Alas! what will my death be? O my Jesus and my judge! what will become of me when I shall have to ap-pear before Thee to give an account of my whole life? Pardon me, I beseech Thee, before that moment arrives which will decide my happiness or misery for eternity. I am sorry for having offended Thee, my sovereign good. Hitherto I have not loved Thee; but now I will love Thee with my whole soul. Grant me the grace of persever-ance. O Mary, refuge of sinners, have pity on me!