Franz Hunolt

“ All is grief and lamentation. So shall it be when the end of the world approaches, and the human race, the head of this household of the world is at the last gasp; all nature shall be stricken with fear and consternation; the sky shall lose its luminaries and put on the sable garb of night; the elements shall, as it were, weep, and become quite bewildered, while the atmosphere resounding with thunder and violent hurricanes shall be, so to speak, the death- knell of the dying world. ”

“ Am I not blind and mad to allow myself to be captivated by love for such a mass of corruption, whose deformity and stench will in a short time fill me with horror? Ah, it is evident I have not thought enough of these things before! No, says a holy hermit with reason, "there is no better way of taming the living flesh than by thinking what it will be when dead. Truly, whenever I am tempted to impure love by another's beauty, all I need do to conquer the temptation is to fly for refuge to death, and represent to myself what that beauty will be like in a short time. ”

“ How many chosen souls there are in religious houses, no, even in the world, whose great virtue is utterly unknown, because they conceal it so effectually! How many decent poor suffer the privations of their state with the utmost patience for God's sake! How many a workman offers up his daily toil to God with a pure intention! How many a lowly servant-maid spends her life in the meanest occupations, in the stable of some peasant, and her holiness, patience, and resignation to the divine will are known only to the all-seeing eye of God! ”

“ Would you like death to come for you in that secret place in which you gratify your impure passions? Oh, no, you think; that is certainly not the time nor the place to die in. How then can you dare to continue your wicked ways? Would you, vindictive man, wish to die in the moment when your heart is full of bitterness and hatred, anger, and revenge, and your mouth with curses, oaths, and imprecations against your neighbor, and your whole idea is to have satisfaction from him who, as you imagine, has injured you? ”

“ The mother looking on at the martyrdom of her sons, not like the mothers of to-day who weep and moan if the least accident happens their children, kept on crying out to them full of joy and consolation: Raise your eyes to heaven, my dear children! let them burn and maim you as they will: “The Creator of the world, He will restore to you again in His mercy both breath and life, as now you despise yourselves for the sake of His laws.” ”

“ Does it take much to frighten a child? Let its father only cover his face with a mask, and the child will run off at once crying and screaming to its mother's lap, as if to hide itself from the horrible spectre. But, you little goose, what are you afraid of? It is only your father; see here, and taking off the mask he gives it to the child. At once there is an end to its fear; the child seeing that the mask is harmless, begins to play with it, to turn it around, and cries if some one tries to take it away. ”

“ Come, you demons, and take my soul into everlasting fire! death of the sinner! misery of all miseries! in which there is neither comfort or help from heaven, on earth, from nature, from grace, from God, nor from man! Call out, Prophet! in the ears of all men: " The death of the wicked is very evil; " it is the most terrible of all.
Be not frightened, pious Christians! I have been speaking only of one who is hardened in sin to the end, of the impenitent sinner, of the sinner on his death-bed. ”

“ Who has told you when your last hour will come? Do you think death will approach you like a post-rider, blowing a horn from time to time to give notice of his coming? Not by any means! You must know that not only does our eternal destiny depend on a single moment, but also it is quite uncertain when that moment will come. Any minute of our lives may be the last. ”

“ If these awful portents were visible in the heavens this very day to announce to us the end of the world, should we all have occasion to lift up our heads and to await the coming of our Judge with joy and exultation? Would you, ambitious man, rejoice, who now value the esteem of men more than the grace and favor of your God? Would you rejoice, avaricious man, whose greatest and only care every day of your life is to amass wealth in every possible way ”

“ Perhaps many a one when comparing his present with his past life will, like that gentle man, be compelled to sigh forth with shame: ah, beautiful life! where art thou? How modest and retiring I was then; how vain and haughty I am now! How pious and devout I was then; how tepid and slothful in the divine service now! How chaste and pure then; how dissolute and unclean now! What shall I say when my conscience gives testimony of me before the tribunal of God? Shall I allege in excuse that my evil inclinations and corrupt nature did not allow me to live in better fashion? ”

“ And why do you not then at once begin, according to the Christian law, to pardon your neighbor from your heart, to be reconciled to him, and to give up the abominable habit of cursing? Would you, drunkard, wish to die when you come home completely intoxicated, and ill-treat and tyrannize over your poor wife as if she were a dog? Would you, sinner, wish to be surprised by death with those secret sins on your conscience, which you have not confessed through shame, or which you have not really repented of, or are not firmly resolved to amend? ”

“ And how great shall then be the glory of the elect, when they see themselves justified from the calumnies they suffered so patiently on earth, while their persecutors are put to shame in the sight of the whole world! What a consolation it is even during this life to see truth sometimes prevailing and injured innocence protected! What joy there will then be on that day for the pious, when their holiness and virtue are made manifest to all, and when they see what treasures of merit they gained by their patient silence, and how their good name and honor are amply restored to them! ”

“ Where I live, there must My servant live with Me. Oh, what a consolation for Christians! Should not this hope impel me to crucify and chastise my body with its sensuality, after the example of the crucified and suffering Jesus, that I may be admitted to the companionship of His glory and majesty? Should not this hope at least encourage me to bear all the crosses and trials of this life with cheerfulness and patience for God’s sake? What harm can all human suffering and misery do me since I expect such a great and glorious happiness? ”

“ I am He whom you have so often sold for a piece of money, a vain breath of popular favor, a brutal pleasure! Do you not know Me yet? I am He who created you for the sole purpose of serving Me, and you have misused Me as your servant and intermediary in the most shameful actions: " You have made Me to serve with your sins, you have wearied Me with your iniquities." a I am Jesus, the Judge of the living and the dead, the Lord and Master of a twofold, long eternity; now I have you in My power, and can take vengeance on you for despising My friendship and fidelity. ”

“ Be ashamed at being overcome by a senseless thing such as I am, in obedience to God! Al mighty God, the waves will cry out as they rise towards heaven, show forth Your justice against sinners, and since they have not wished to live in the ocean of Your mercy and find their salvation, let them now sink into the deep abyss of Your justice, and feel the weight of Your avenging arm ! ”

“ By what sign can I find that you believe in the resurrection of the body? By the diligence you show in heaping up merits and good works for the next life? No; we see no such thing in you; quite the contrary; all your care is devoted to temporal goods to which your heart is fettered, as if you had to spend a long eternity here on earth. Perhaps in the patience you show in bearing crosses and trials? in the voluntary penances you practise in the hope of receiving an exceeding great reward for them in the next life? ”

“ I should joyfully welcome death; but who shall assure me of that? How many there are whom death sends from temporal misery into eternal suffering! And that is the very thing I fear most of all; that is what makes me tremble; for on my last moment depends a twofold eternity of happiness or misery, and I know not which shall fall to my lot. Is that all? Have you nothing else to be afraid of? Then I shall not have much trouble with you; your fear helps me to prove my proposition that there is nothing in death itself or its circumstances that is terrible, except a bad conscience. ”

“ Thus no anger is greater than that of the mother who, being ill-treated by a wicked son, goes so far as to persecute to the death him to whom she gave life; all the love that she formerly had for that son now serves only to embitter her hatred of him; the blood that he drew from her, the milk with which she suckled him, the tears she so often shed for him, now remind her of nothing but the cruel ingratitude of which he is guilty, and thus add bitterness to her anger against him. ”

“ I would rather die a thousand deaths than be untrue to my Saviour and God, or abjure His faith in which alone salvation is to be found ! I would laugh at the pretended miracles, and trample on the proffered delights of the flesh, the honors, and riches; I would heroically resist the torture, no matter how terrible, with the divine assistance; all this I would readily do in order not to lose my one immortal soul and the eternal joys of heaven. Oh, truly, that is a beautiful and Christian resolution ! And such should be the determination of each one of us even under such terrible circumstances. ”

“ What wonder is it that we are so little affected by the threat of being deprived of Him, that we are so callous and undisturbed at the thought of the judgment that awaits us! But, unhappy sinner, how will it be with you when you learn clearly in eternity what God is, and at the same time must hear that you are banished from His sight forever? To be deprived of a good with whose value one is not acquainted is tolerable enough, but to be banished, and that for ever, from a Good that one has before his eyes, and knows to be his only happiness, oh, what a bitter parting that is! ”

“ Woe to you if, more deaf than the mouldering bones which at the sound of the trumpet shall rise at once out of their graves, you close your ears to my voice, or rather to the voice of God who speaks to you by my mouth ! Woe to you if the meditation on that dreadful day in which all nature shall be disturbed and men shall wither away with fear does not in spire you with a salutary fear, and with the resolution of at last amending your sinful life! ”

“ O Christian faith! how art thou become so weak and wavering! Christian hope, how uncertain thy foundation in many people! Might we not think of some that they acknowledge no other life than the present, which we have in common with the beasts of the field, like that old woman whose epitaph was: “I have lived, and have believed in nothing except life”? [18] Oh, if we only had a lively faith and hope in the glory of the resurrection, we should rejoice when poverty takes away our temporal goods, or sickness or voluntary mortification weakens our bodies. ”