Alphonsus Liguori

“ And what ought a Christian to say, who knows by faith, that from the moment of death, eternity begins; so that in that moment he lays hold of one of the two wheels which draws with it, either eternal happiness or eternal suffering? If there were two tickets in a lottery, upon which hell might be written on one, and heaven on the other, with what care would you not try to draw out that one, upon which Paradise was written? O God, how must those unhappy wretches tremble who are condemned to throw the die upon which their life or death depends! ”

“ Great truth! that the children of this world are prudent in the things of the world! What fatigues do they not brave to obtain that post or this inheritance! What diligence do they not expend to preserve the health of the body! They choose the means, the most safe, the best medicines, the best physicians, the best air! And for the soul, then, they are so negligent! Yet it is certain that health, posts, possessions, will one day have an end; but the mind and eternity never end. S. Augustine says, "We observe how much men suffer for the things which they wrongly love." ”

“ How often have I esteemed Thy friendship of less moment than a base pleasure, a passion of anger, a little earth, a vain whim, a vapour? I adore and kiss Thy holy wounds, which I, nevertheless, have inflicted on Thee by my sins, but, through which, however, I hope for pardon and salvation. Make me to feel, O my Jesus, the grievous wrong I have done Thee in leaving Thee Thou Who art the Fountain of all good to drink of waters which are putrid and poisonous. What do I now feel, because of all my many offences against Thee, except remorse of conscience and fruits for hell? ”

“ Ah, my Lord, Thou didst give me the time to spend in loving Thee, and I have spent it in offending Thee. I deserved to be sent to hell from the first moment I turned away from Thee, but Thou hast called me to repentance, and Thou hast pardoned me. I promised never more to offend Thee, but since then, how many times have I not again offended Thee, and Thou hast again pardoned me? for ever blessed be Thy mercy. If it were not infinite, how could it thus have borne with me? Who else would have shown such patience towards me as Thou hast? How much I grieve for having offended a God so good! ”

“ In future, I would rather lose all, even life itself, than Thy grace. And of what use are all the world's treasures to me without Thy grace?
Ah, help me! for Thou knowest how weak I am. Satan will never cease to tempt me; he is now preparing to assault me, in order to make me his slave once more. No, my Jesus, I know Thou wilt not abandon me. I wish to be the slave of Thy love from this day forth. Thou alone art my Lord; Thou hast created me, Thou hast redeemed me, Thou hast loved me beyond all others; Thou alone deservest to be loved ”

“ Ah, my dear Redeemer, purge my heart from every impure affection which may prevent me from loving Thee as I ought. I have not the power to make my heart burn with love towards Thee, and to love no other than Thee; it must be through the strength of Thy grace which can do all that it wishes to do. Separate me from all things, drive away from my soul every affection that is not Thine, and make me wholly Thine. I grieve beyond every evil, because of having so often offended Thee as I have done. I resolve to consecrate the life that remains to me entirely to Thy holy love ”

“ O my God! of what avail are riches, possessions, and kingdoms in death, when nothing is needed but a coffin, and a simple robe to cover the body? Of what avail are honours, when nothing remains of them but a funeral train and a pompous burial, which will assist the soul in no way if it be lost? Of what avail is beauty, if nothing remains of it but worms, corruption, and horror, even before death, and afterwards nothing but a little foul dust? ”

“ I thank Thee for the light which Thou art now giving me, and I promise Thee to change my life, to amend my life. I can see plainly that Thou wilt not bear with me much longer. And shall I wait until Thou wilt be constrained to condemn me to everlasting death? or until Thou wilt give me up to a life utterly lost, which would be a greater punishment to me than death -itself i Look upon me at Thy feet; receive me into Thy favour. I know I do not deserve it; but Thou hast said that " the wickedness of the wicked, he shall not fall thereby in the day that he turneth from his wickedness." ”

“ Imagine to yourself a person, whose soul has just departed. Behold that pale corpse, which is still upon the bed, the head fallen upon the breast; the hair dishevelled and bathed in the sweat of death; the eyes sunken; the cheeks hollow; the face of ashy paleness; the tongue and the lips of a leaden hue; the body cold and heavy. Those who see it grow pale and tremble. How many there are who, upon seeing a relation or friend in this condition, have changed their life, and have left the world! But still more dreadful is it when the body begins to decay. ”

“ Remember, that the world is a traitor; that it promises, but it does not fulfil: if it should perform what it promises, it is not able to fill thy heart. But let us suppose that it could satisfy it, how long would this thy happiness endure? Can it last longer than thy life? and, in short, what canst thou carry into eternity? Is there perchance any rich man who has carried thither either a piece of money or a servant for his convenience? Is there any king who has carried a thread of the purple through his love of it? ”

“ Ah, rather let me die a most painful death, than that I should ever again lose Thy grace. Once I was the slave of hell, but now I am Thy servant, O God of my soul. Thou hast said that Thou wilt love those who love Thee. I love them that love me. I do love Thee, therefore Thou art mine, and I am Thine. I might lose Thee at some time, but this is the grace that I seek, namely, that it would be better for me to die, than to lose Thee again. ”

“ If that hour or that moment in which I sinned against God were to be the last for me, so that there would be no time to implore forgiveness for it, what would become of me in eternity? To how many poor sinners has it not happened, that in the same moment in which they have been yielding to some wicked passion, death has overtaken them suddenly, and they have been cast into hell? "As the fishes that are taken in an evil net, so are the sons of men snared in an evil time." ”

“ Oh! how many who are busy weaving, that is, planning and executing their worldly designs, which they have undertaken with such care, are overtaken by death, which cuts off all. At the hour of death, all the glory of everything that is worldly vanishes away, applause, amusements, pomps, and grandeur. Great secret of death! which makes us see that which the lovers of the world do not see. Fortunes which have been envied, the grandest dignities, the proudest triumphs, lose ail then splendour when they are reviewed from the bed of death. ”

“ O happy he, who in this life knows how to mortify his flesh by refusing to it pleasures that are forbidden; and who, in order to keep it more under control, refuses it even the lawful pleasures of the senses, and ill-treats it as the saints have done! Oh, what happiness will he derive from it at that time!
On the other hand, the bodies of the lost, will appear deformed, black, and offensive. Oh, what anguish will the lost soul feel upon being united to its body! The soul will exclaim, " Accursed body, in order to please thee I am lost." ”

“ Ah! be at peace with me, O God of my soul, not through my merits, to which nothing but punishment and hell belong, but through the merits of Thy Son and my Redeemer, in Whose merits I place my hope. For the love, therefore, of Jesus Christ, receive me into Thy grace, and give me perseverance in Thy love. Take from me every impure affection, and draw me all to Thyself. I love Thee, O Highest God, O Sovereign lover of my soul, Who art worthy of infinite love. ”

“ I promise to choose death rather than to offend Thee more. I may justly fear, thinking upon the sins that I have committed, and the graces which Thou hast bestowed upon me, that should I add another sin, my measure would be filled up, and I should be condemned. Oh, help me by Thy grace: from Thee I look for light and strength to be faithful to Thee, and if ever Thou seest that I should again offend Thee, let me die in this moment, in which I trust that I and in Thy grace. I love Thee, my God, above all things, and I fear more than death itself, to find myself again out of Thy grace ”

“ No, I will no longer abuse Thy patience; neither will I wait to embrace Thee until the hour of death. O my Crucified Love, now will I embrace Thee, now will I commend my soul into Thy keeping. " Into Thy hands I commend my spirit." My soul has been many years in this world without loving Thee; give me light and strength to love Thee during the life that remains to me. I will not wait until the hour of death to love Thee ”

“ Oh what grief and sadness will the dying man feel, when he sees the tears of his household, and the silence of his friends who keep silence, not having the heart to speak in his presence! But the greatest punishment that he will have to bear, will be the dreadful stings of conscience which in that tempest, as it were, will be felt so much more, because of the corrupt life which he has led, up to the hour of his death notwithstanding the seasonable advice of his spiritual fathers, and the many resolutions made, which have been either never performed or else entirely neglected. ”

“ Know that when the time of your death has arrived, those most dear, will be the first to thrust you out. And what will be your real home? A grave will be the home of your body until the day of judgment; and your soul will have to go to its long home, either to paradise or to hell. ”

“ And yet so many Christians, so many who are mad, condemn themselves to death by sinning, with the saying, "Afterwards, I will think of the remedy." O deceit, which has ordered so many to hell!
Let us not be so mad as these; let us remember that it concerns eternity. How great pains do men take, to build themselves a house, convenient, airy, and healthy, considering that they will have to dwell in it all their lives! And why then are they so careless about that home in which they will have to dwell for eternity? " Eternity is the object for which we contend." ”

“ These miserable sinners have fallen into that dark pit, where they can do nothing but sin, speak only of sin, think only of sin, and, at last, they scarcely recognise that there is any evil in sin. S. Augustine observes, that " the habit itself of evil does not suffer sinners to see the evil which they do." So that they live as if they no longer believed in a God, a paradise, a hell, or an eternity.
And, behold, for that sin which, at one time, caused them to feel great horror, through the evil habit, no longer causes them to feel it. ”

“ That gambler will be seen to waste both day and night in play; if he is asked what he is doing, he answers, "We are passing away the time." Another idler will be seen to loiter about the streets, for whole hours together, looking at those who pass by, either speaking of wicked, or else about useless things; if he is asked what he is doing, he answers, " I am passing away the time." Poor, blind ones! who are wasting so many days, but days that will never return.
O despised time, thou wilt be the thing most desired by the worldly at the time of death. ”

“ We die once; the soul lost once, it is lost for ever. Nothing now remains but to weep for ever in hell with those wretched ones, where the greatest punishment which torments them, will be the thought, that for them to remedy their misery, the time of all help has passed by. " The summer is ended, and we are not saved?" (Jer. viii. 20.) Ask the wise ones of this world, who are in that pit of fire, what sentiments they now hold, whether they are contented to have made their future on earth, now that they are condemned to this eternal prison ”

“ Do you not by this sin, place your eternal salvation in great peril and doubt? And is this a matter to be placed in peril? It is not as if it concerned a house, a place; it concerns, says S. Chrysostom, the perishing in an eternity of torments, and the losing of an eternal heaven. And this matter, which signifies your all in all, you jeopardise by a " it is possible." You say, " Perchance, who knows I may not be condemned, I trust that afterwards God will pardon me." But in the meantime? In the meantime already you condemn yourself to hell. ”

“ Give unto Thy servants that peace which the world cannot give." No; the world with all its riches cannot satisfy the heart of man, because man was not created for these riches, but for God alone; therefore it is God alone that can satisfy him. Animals are created for the delights of sense only; these find then: happiness in earthly things. Give a horse a bundle of grass; give a dog a piece of flesh; they are both content they desire nothing more. But the soul which is created to love and to be united to God alone, will never be able to find peace in all the pleasures that sense can give. ”

“ Ah, the soul that loves God, finds that peace which surpasses all the pleasures and satisfactions which the senses and the world can give. "The peace of God that passeth all understanding." (Phil. iv. 7.) It is true that in this life even the saints suffer, for this earth is a place of suffering, and we cannot be saved without it; but S. Bonaventure observes, that Divine love is like unto honey, which makes the bitterest things sweet and lovely. He who loves God, loves the will of God, and therefore rejoices in spirit although in affliction, for, by embracing it, he knows he is pleasing God. ”