Alphonsus Liguori

“ The poor sick man perceives that he is already in a cold sweat, that he can no longer move or speak, that his respiration has begun to fail: in a word, he sees that the moment of death is at hand; he sees his soul defiled with sins; the Judge waiting for him; hell burning under his feet; and in this confusion of darkness and terror he shall enter into eternity. ”

“ If he speaks at all, his words are words of terror or despair. His friends ask why he speaks so despondingly why he is so melancholy. Have courage, they say: your illness is not dangerous. They endeavour to inspire hope and cheerfulness: but he is silent. And how can he be cheerful when he feels his conscience burdened with many sins, sees that he must soon appear before Jesus Christ to give an account of his entire life, and that he has much reason to fear that he shall receive the sentence of eternal death? ”

“ Listen to the words in which the priest that assists you shall tell you to depart from this world: Proficisere anima Christiana de hoc mundo. Go forth, Christian soul, from this world. And where shall you go? To eternity, to eternity. Death respects neither parents nor monarchs; when it comes, it does not wait even for a moment. ” Thou hast appointed his bounds, which cannot be passed." (Job xiv. 5.)
6. Oh! what terror shall the dying man feel at hearing the assisting priest tell him to depart from this world! ”

“ When shall he begin to persuade himself that death is near? Only when he shall be at the very point of death. This is the second reason why that time is unfit for repairing the evils of the soul. At that time the dying man is sick in mind as well as in body. He shall be assailed by pains in the chest, spasms in the head, debility, and delirium. Those shall render him unable to make any effort to excite a true detestation of his past sins, or to apply to the disorders of his past life a remedy which will calm the terrors of his conscience. ”

“ It is necessary to seek the esteem of the world, and to preserve honour." But is it necessary for a man to preserve his honour by trampling on the honour due to God? "We ought to indulge in amusements as often as we can." But is it lawful to indulge in amusements by insulting God? ” Of what use to the world is the man who lives in poverty and has no money? ”

“ Because, during their whole life, they thought only of pleasing God and sanctifying themselves, the saints go with great confidence to meet death, which delivers them from the miseries and dangers of the present life, and unites them perfectly with God. But the man who has thought only of his pleasures and of his own ease, and has neglected to recommend himself to God, or to reflect on the account which he must one day render, cannot meet death with confidence. ”

“ If we do not make a fortune in the world we cannot appear among our equals." Such the maxims of the worldling during life; but at death he shall change his language. He shall then see the truth of that maxim of Jesus Christ: ” "What doth it profit a man, if he gain the whole world and suffer the loss of his own soul." (Matt. xvi. 26.) Unhappy me! the worldling shall exclaim on the bed of death, I have had so much time to tranquillize my conscience, and behold I am now at the point of death, and I find my soul burdened with so many sins? ”

“ A person labouring under a severe headache, which deprives him of sleep for two or three nights, will not even attempt to dictate a letter of ceremony. And at death when he feels but little, understands but little, and sees only a confusion of things which fills him with terror, the careless Christian adjusts a conscience burdened with the sins of thirty or forty years. ”

“ Miserable the man who, at the hour of death, shall see that he has loved creatures, that he has loved his pleasures, and has not loved God. "When distress cometh upon them, they will seek peace, and there will be none." ”

“ When the oil in the lamp is consumed: when he is on the point of entering into eternity. One of the greatest causes of the distress and anguish of the careless Christian at the hour of death, is the remembrance of the bad use he has made of the time in which he ought to have acquired merits for heaven, and in which he has accumulated merits for hell. ”

“ Oh! how important shall judgment, hell, and eternity, which are so much disregarded during life, appear at the time of death. According as these shall begin to put on their true colours, the fears of the dying man shall increase. ”

“ Till this moment the dying man has loved sinful objects: will he now detest them? Perhaps he will then love them with more tenderness; for the objects of our affections become more dear to us when we are afraid of losing them. ”