Harvesting The Fruits of Contemplation

  O Christian soul, what will be your sentiments at the hour of death with regard to this world and all its perishable goods, vain honors, false riches and cheating pleasures.   Alas! The world must then end in your regard.  It will turn upside down before your eyes, and you will begin to see the nothingness of all those things on which you had here set your heart.  How will you then despise all worldly honors and preferences when you see yourself at the brink of the grave, where the worm will make no distinction between the king and the beggar.  How little account, will you then make of the esteem of men, who then will think no more of you.  How will you undervalue your riches, which now must be left behind you, when six feet of earth and a coffin and a shroud will be all your possession.  How despicable will all worldly pleasures seem to you, which at the best  could never give you any true satisfaction, and now fly from you and dissolve ...

Nothing of eternal value will result from keeping our necks in the sand. Now is the time to ponder what awaits all of us:   (Image Source: Wikimedia Commons ) "Reflect, then, on the sentiments that will be yours when you will stand before the tribunal of God, with no defenders but your good works, with no companion but your own conscience. And if then you will not be able to satisfy your Judge, who will give expression to the bitterness of your anguish?    For the question at issue is not a fleeting temporal life, but an eternity of happiness or an eternity of misery. Whither will you turn? What protection will you seek? Your tears will be powerless to soften your Judge; the time for repentance will be past. Little will honors, dignities, and wealth avail you, for 'Riches,' says the Wise Man, 'shall not profit in the day of vengeance, but justice shall deliver a man from death.' ( Prov.  11:4).   The unhappy soul can only exclaim with the prophet, 'The sorrow...

We must never presume upon God's mercy. Too many of us take His mercy for granted. We do not like to think of His justice. Why Catholics are being told they all have a reasonable hope of being saved.  This is not quite what many of our Saints have concluded. (Image Source: cathopic.com ) Here are two short examples: According to St. Leonard of Port Maurice, Saint Vincent Ferrer reported "that an archdeacon in Lyons gave up his charge and retreated into a desert place to do penance, and that he died the same day and hour as Saint Bernard. After his death, he appeared to his bishop and said to him, ‘Know, Monsignor, that at the very hour I passed away, thirty-three thousand people also died. Out of this number, Bernard and myself went up to heaven without delay, three went to purgatory, and all the others fell into Hell.' "  Saint Jacinta of Fatima warned that “So many people are going to die, and almost all of them are going to Hell! So many people falling into ...

Thank you Allison Gingras  (Reconciled To You) and Elizabeth Riordan ( Theology Is A Verb ) for hosting  Worth Revisiting . Be sure to stop by every Wednesday . You will enjoy your visits. I offer this reflection: As We End This Year, We Would Do Well To Ponder "What Our Sentiments Will Be At The Hour of Death"  (Originally published December 31, 2013) Source: Wikimedia Commons ) We know our God is a God of unlimited mercy. So long as we have breath in our earthly lungs and turn to Him in true repentance, seeking His forgiveness and mercy, we will receive it. But not a single human being can presume upon God’s mercy, since He is also a God of Justice. Presumption is, as the Baltimore Catechism tells us, “a rash expectation of salvation without making proper use of the necessary means to obtain it.” We ignore God, His graces, promptings and teachings at our eternal peril. In order not to b...