Preparation for Death
The Shortness of Life
by St. Alphonsus de Liquori
“What is thy life? It is a vapor, which appeareth for a little while.”
St. James 4,15
First Point - Death Comes Quickly
What is your life? It is vapor, which is dissipated by a blast of
wind, and seen no more. All know that they must die; but the delusion
of many is, that they imagine death as far off as if it were never to
arrive. But Job tells us that the life of man is short.
“Man born of a woman, living a short time … who cometh forth like a flower, and is destroyed.” (Job 14, 1)
This truth the Lord commanded Isaias to preach to the people.
“Cry … All flesh is grass … Indeed, the people is grass. The grass is withered, and the flower is fallen.” (Isa. 40, 6-8)
The life of man is like the life of a blade of grass; death comes,
the grass is dried up: behold, life ends, and the flower of all
greatness and of all worldly goods falls off.
“My days,” says Job, “have been swifter than
a post.” (Job 9, 25) Death runs to meet us more swiftly than a post,
and we at every moment run towards death. Every step, every breath
brings us nearer to our end.
“What I write,” says Jerome, “is so much taken away from life.” “During the time I write, I draw near to death.”
“We all die, and, like the waters that return nor more, we fall into the earth.” (2 Kings 14, 14)
Behold how the stream flows to the sea, and the passing waters never
return! Thus, my brother, your days pass by, and you approach death.
Pleasures, amusements, pomps, praises, and acclamations pass away; and
what remains?
“And only the grave remaineth for me.” (Job 17, 1)
We shall be thrown into a grave, and there we shall remain to rot,
stripped of all things. At the hour of death, the remembrance of the
delights enjoyed, and of all the honors acquired in this life, will
serve only to increase our pain and our diffidence of obtaining eternal
salvation. Then the miserable worldling will say: “My house, my
gardens, my fashionable furniture, my pictures, my garments, will in a
little time be no longer mine, and only the grave remaineth for me.”
Ah! At that hour all earthly goods are viewed only with pain by
those who have had an attachment for them. And this pain will serve
only to increase the danger of their eternal salvation; for we see by
experience, that persons attached to the world wish at death to speak
only of their sickness, of the physicians to be called to attend them,
and of the remedies which may restore their health. When any one speaks
of the state of the soul, they soon grow weary, and beg to be allowed
repose. They complain of headache, and say that it pains them to hear
any one speak. And if they sometimes answer, they are confused, and
know not what to say. It often happens that the confessor gives them
absolution, not because he knows that they are disposed for the
sacrament, but because it is dangerous to defer it. Such is the death
of those who think but little of death.
Second Point - The Lighted Candle at Death
King Ezechias said with tears:
“My life is cut off as by a weaver; while I was yet beginning, He cut me off.” (Isa. 38, 12)
Oh, how many have been overtaken and cut off by death, while they
were executing and arranging worldly projects devised with so much
labor! By the light of the last candle, all things in this world,
applause, diversions, pomps, and greatness vanish. Great secret of
death! It makes us see what the lovers of this world do not see. The
most princely fortunes, the most exalted dignities, and the most superb
triumphs lose all their splendor when viewed from the bed of death.
The ideas that we have formed of certain false happiness are then
changed into indignation against our own folly. The black and gloomy
shade of death then covers and obscures every dignity, even that of
kings and princes.
At present, our passions make the goods of this earth appear
different from what they are in reality. Death takes off the veil, and
makes them appear what they really are - smoke, dirt, vanity, and
wretchedness. O God! Of what use are riches, possessions, or kingdoms
at death, when nothing remains but a wooden coffin, and a simple
garment barely sufficient to cover the body? Of what use are the
honors, when they all end in a funeral procession and pompous
obsequies, which will be unprofitable to the soul if it be in hell? Of
what use is beauty, when after death nothing remains but worms, stench,
and horror, and in the end a little fetid dust?
“He hath made me,” says Job, "as it were a byword of the people, and an example before them.” (Job 17,6)
The rich man, the captain, the minister of state, dies: his death is
the general topic of conversation; but if he has led a bad life he
will become “a byword of the people, and an example before them.” As an
instance of the vanity of the world, and even of the divine justice,
he will serve for the admonition of others. After burial his body will
be mingled with the bodies of the poor.
“The small and great are there.” (Job 3, 19)
What profit has he derived from the beautiful structure of his body,
which is now but a heap of worms? Of what use are the power and
authority which he wielded, when his body is now left to rot in a
grave, and his soul has perhaps, been sent to burn in hell? Oh, what
misery! To be the occasion of such reflections to others, and not to
have them for his own profit! Let us then persuade ourselves that the
proper time for repairing the disorders of the soul is not the hour of
death, but the time of health. Let us hasten to do now what we shall
not be able to do at that hour. “Time is short.” Everything soon passes
away and comes to an end: let us therefore labor to employ all things
for the attainment of eternal life.
Third Point - Importance of the Last Moment
How great, then, the folly of those who, for the miserable and
transitory delights of this short life, exposes themselves to the
danger of an unhappy eternity. Oh! How important is that last moment,
that last gasp, the last closing of the scene! On it depends an
eternity either of all delights or of all torments - a life of eternal
happiness or of everlasting woe
Let us consider that Jesus Christ submitted to a cruel and
ignominious death in order to obtain for us the grace of a good death.
That we may at that last moment die in the grace of God, is the reason
why He gives us so many calls, so many lights, and admonishes us by so
many threats.
Antisthenes, though a pagan, being asked what was the greatest
blessing which man could receive in this world, answered, “A good
death.”
And what will a Catholic say, who knows by faith, that at the
moment of death eternity begins, and that at that moment he lays hold
of one of two wheels, which draws with it either eternal joy or
everlasting torments? If there were two tickets in a lottery, on one of
which might be written
Hell and on the other
Heaven,
what care would you not take to draw that which gives you a right to
Paradise, and to avoid the other, by which you would win a place in
Hell! O God! How the hands of those unhappy men tremble who are
condemned to throw the dice on which their life or death depends! How
great will be your terror at the approach of that last hour, when you
will say: On this moment depends my life or death for eternity; on this
depends whether I shall be forever happy or forever in despair!
St. Bernardine of Sienna relates, that at death a certain prince exclaimed, with trembling and dismay:
“Behold, I have so many kingdoms and palaces in this world; but
if I die this night I know not what apartment shall be assigned to me.
Brother, if you believe that you must die, that there is an
eternity, that you can die only once, and that if you then err, your
error will be forever irreparable, why do you not resolve to begin at
this moment to do all in your power to secure a good death?
St. Andrew Avellino said with trembling:
“Who knows what will be my lot in the next life? Shall I be saved or damned?”
The thought of the uncertainty of being damned or saved filled St.
Louis Bertrand with so much terror, that he could not sleep during the
night, because of this thought which would suggest to him: "Who knows
whether thou wilt be lost?" And will not you, who have committed so
many sins, tremble?
Oh! Hasten to apply a remedy in time. Resolve to give yourself
sincerely to God, and begin from this moment a life which, at the hour
of death, will be to you a source, not of affliction, but of
consolation. Give yourself to prayer, frequent the sacraments, avoid
all dangerous occasions, and, if necessary, leave the world, secure to
yourself eternal salvation, and be persuaded that to secure eternal
life no precaution can be too great.
