FIFTH SERMON
DEATH COMES BUT ONCE.
Subject.
Our eternal happiness or misery depends on the last moment of our lives, and on that moment alone, because we can die but once; therefore we must do all we can to prepare, so as to be found pure in that moment. Preached on the feast of the Immaculate Conception of the B. V. M.
Text.
" The Lord possessed me in the beginning of His ways. (Prov. 8:22)
Introduction.
When the question is asked whether Mary, the ever blessed Virgin, is free from original sin, we consider one single moment, and that is the first moment of her existence in her mother's womb. Was she free from original sin in that moment? For no Catholic theologian ever doubted that afterwards, to the very end of her most holy life, she was free from even the least stain of actual sin. The whole glory and privilege of the Blessed Virgin, as far as this point is concerned, consists in the very be ginning, the first moment of her conception. And that she was immaculate in that moment is an undoubted truth, believed and taught publicly by the greater number, no, I may say by all who are true, honest servants of Mary. Truly, most blessed Virgin, we all believe this firmly, and for my part I am ready to shed my blood and give my life in proof of this truth. That privilege belongs to you, because you alone, of all mere creatures, have had the honor of being chosen as the Mother of the Son of God; you alone have brought Him into the world. But what thoughts arise in my mind when I consider this? Ah, if I could only be sure of this much good fortune, that as you were pure from all sin from the very beginning of your life, and didst remain so till the end of it, so I, at least in the last moment of my life, might be found free from sin ! Then, indeed, my happiness would be ensured for all eternity. Mark this, my dear brethren; the happiness of the Blessed Virgin consisted in the first moment of her life; our eternal happiness depends on the last moment of our lives, namely, ou whether we shall then be found free from sin. Now, this depends on how we live, and on what we do to prepare for that moment. Ah, should we not use all possible diligence to lead pious and holy lives, that we may find eternal happiness in our last moment? Such is the end and aim of this meditation; its subject is as follows:
Plan of Discourse.
Our eternal happiness or misery depends on the last moment of our lives, and on that moment alone, because we can die but once; therefore we must do all we can to prepare, so as to be found pure in that moment.
O ever immaculate Virgin! obtain for us from your Son the grace to do this! Help us herein by your intercession, holy angels!
A prudent man will certainly watch with greatest care over a thing on which all his comfort and happiness depends, that it may not be lost or destroyed. The only son of a rich family is seldom away from under his mother's eye. If he sleeps, it is mother's room, or in her lap; if he eats or drinks, it is by his mother's side, or in her arms; he passes almost his whole child hood in his mother's presence. Why? Because he is her darling son, and her only son; for she has no other. If the morning air is somewhat sharp, oh, quick! shut the window, and do not on any account let the child go out, lest he should catch cold! If the fruit is not good, or ripe, or unhealthy for any other reason, for God's sake do not allow the child to get hold of an apple or a nut! He might get sick from eating it. Servants, maids, and every one in the house must be always on the watch to prevent him from running here and there, lest he should fall and hurt himself, or go up or down the stairs without there being some one at hand, or lest he should go too near an open window, or run the risk of burning himself at the fire, or cutting himself with a knife. Woe to the maid who is so unlucky as to let him fall through accident! Woe to the servant who does anything to annoy him ! The mother's eye is always open and watchful; her uneasy, anxious heart is always beating. Ah, my God ! I have but the one! If he dies, my name and family, my consolation and joy are all at an end !
If there is only one means of preserving the beloved object, it surely will not be neglected, but rather used with the greatest care, that it may not fail of producing the desired effect. Suppose, my dear brethren, that two soldiers who have been condemned to death for desertion, and are already on their way to execution, throw the dice with each other to see who shall escape with his life. Trembling and shuddering the first takes the dice-box in his hand; his anguish is so great that he hardly dares to make the throw; he grows pale at the bare idea of throwing a low number. But why is he so cowardly? He can make the throw at once? Yes, that is true; but he thinks to himself: my life depends on this throw, and that, too, the only life I have; if I lose it I am done. But if you throw a low number the first time, you can take the dice again and try your luck a second time. Oh, no ! I am allowed but one throw, and if I am unlucky in that my life is lost. This is a mere question of luck, my dear brethren; what would it be if the soldier had the chance of practising beforehand, so as to make sure of throwing a high number? How do you imagine he would act in such a case? He would almost forget to eat, drink, or sleep; day and night he would have the dice-box in his hand practising so as not to make a mistake in the last decisive moment. And yet nothing more than his life depends on it, and that, too, a mortal life, which he must lose in a short time, whether he wishes or not; and, moreover, it is a very short, uncertain life, full of crosses and troubles, that vanishes like a shadow. Yet it is the only life he has and it is dear to him. So great is the esteem, so jealous the care we have for a good that belongs to us, and that we can possess but once.
Come with me, now, into the valley of Terebinth. There we find the people of Israel in the greatest fear and confusion. "And Saul and all the Israelites," says the Scripture, " hearing these words of the Philistine, were dismayed and greatly afraid." What was the matter with them? What was the cause of their fear? What had they heard? The huge giant Goliath stood in the van of the Philistine army: " And standing, he cried out to the bands of Israel: Choose out a man of you, and let him come down and fight hand to hand," on this condition: " if he be able to fight with me and kill me, we will be servants to you: but if I prevail against him, and kill him, you shall be servants, and shall serve us." l That, says Gaspar Sanchez, was what caused such terror to Saul and the Israelites; nor is it to be wondered at; for it is a terrible thing to think that the freedom or slavery of a whole nation depends on the success or failure of one man in a single combat. David, a shepherd, had to undertake the task and face the giant, the mere sight of whom was enough to strike terror into the bravest. On one side stood the army of the Philistines, on the other the people of Israel. David takes a stone out of his wallet, places it in a sling, and swings his arm to launch the stone against his enemy. unhappy Israelites! " they were dismayed and greatly afraid; " they were filled with anguish and apprehension, waiting to see whether David would hit or miss. God! they thought, now is the decisive moment. On this cast of the sling depends our freedom or slavery; if he succeeds, we are free; if not, we are lost ! Oh, what will be the upshot of the affair! terrible chance which depends on the throw of a stone!
My dear brethren, let me now call out to all of you, and repeat a thousand times those memorable words of Our Lord to Martha, as she was busying herself about her domestic occupations: Martha, Martha, thou art careful, and art troubled about many things. But one thing is necessary; " only one thing has to be well looked after once for all. Ah, foolish mortals, why are you so careful and so inordinately troubled about so many things? What do you seek, desire, and strive for in the world? What is the meaning of all your hard work and struggles for earthly and transitory things ? Only one thing is necessary, and that we must love and prize above all; we have but one child, whom we must labor with all our strength to preserve, and that is the salvation of our own soul; for if that is lost, all is lost. And it can be saved or lost but once, according as we now look after its interests or neglect them. Our life is a game, or rather a continual preparation for a game; the stake is this one soul of ours, and its eternal happiness in heaven or eternal misery in hell. There is only one moment in which the decisive throw can be made, and that is the last moment of our lives, as I have said before. For in whatever state death finds us, whether in the state of sanctifying grace or of mortal sin, according to that state our fate shall be decided for all eternity.
Before this last moment comes, no sinner, no matter how bad he is, should despair of salvation; for he still has time to play his game well. Before this last moment comes, no just servant of God, no matter how pious and holy he has been hitherto, can be in fallibly certain of winning the game; it is still possible for him to lose. And when that moment is at hand, woe to him who is not prepared! But well indeed it will be for him who is ready! " If the tree fall to the south, or to the north," says the wise Preacher, speaking of a dying man, "in what place soever it shall fall, there shall it be." If man at his death falls to the south, that is, if he dies well and goes to heaven, he will remain there for all eternity. If he falls to the north, that is, if he dies unprepared and goes to hell, he will remain there for all eternity.
This happiness or misery of the soul depends on one single moment which comes but once. No one shall be allowed to take part twice in this decisive game; no one shall be able to make a second throw of the dice. Ah, must not then the upshot be a matter of the deepest interest to us? If death was a play that one could practise several times before putting it on the stage, then we could easily correct any faults that might be made in it. But tell me, can we, perhaps, die by way of practice, to see how the thing is to be done, and then return in order to die the second time better and happier? Or can we send one soul be fore us into eternity to feel the way for us, and if that goes wrong, send another soul by a better way? Oh, no! that is utterly impossible. The first soul that we send into eternity is the only one we have; we have no other; the first death we die shall also be our last; we cannot expect another.
We are challenged to single combat, each one for himself, alone, with the hellish Goliath. Truly a terrible combat on which in finitely more depends than on the fight that David had with the giant! On the one side will stand heaven, on the other hell; on the one side the elect, on the other the reprobate, who will be witnesses of this combat to see how it ends. Then we shall see practically the truth of the words of St. Paul to the Corinthians: "We are made a spectacle to the world, and to angels, and to men." In this last combat, this supreme moment, defeat means being a slave of the devil; victory means conquering him forever. If David had missed Goliath with the first stone, he could have quickly got another out of his wallet, and rectified his mistake; but if we miss in our last battle, in the one throw we can make, we are done forever.
Plutarch writes of a captain who summoned one of his soldiers before him for some breach of discipline. The soldier, having heard the punishment to which he was condemned, with pallid face and down-cast eyes answered in his defence: " Sir, forgive me this time! I will not do it again." " That is a fine excuse! " said the captain. "I will not do it again! Do you not know that one cannot commit a fault the second time during war? There is no correcting faults in war-time; " the first fault must be punished. Change one word, my dear brethren, in this answer; say in death instead of in war, and you will have said the truth; in death you cannot blunder twice; no chance then of correcting a fault; what is then once faulty remains so forever. And why? St. Paul tells us, when he says that it is decreed for all men not only to die, but also to die once: "It is appointed to men once to die, " not twice; and after death comes judgment, which is irrevocable, and from which no appeal can be made to another judge. If I once die well, I shall be well off, and that forever, without any fear of losing my happiness; if I once die unhappily, I am lost and cast away, and that forever, without any hope of ever being freed from torments. If I am in the state of grace in my last moment, a friend and child of God, my lot shall be an eternal kingdom, everlasting riches, joys and oceans of joys with God in heaven, which no man shall be able to take from me. If I am in the state of sin in my last moment, an enemy of God, then my dwelling-place shall be a prison, in which I shall suffer eternal poverty and pain, burning forever with the demons in hell, and no one shall be able to help me.
O last moment of my life and first beginning of my eternity! How terrible thou art! In one moment my soul shall go forth from this world and at once appear before the judgment-seat of God. In one moment I shall see clearly all my sins in their gravity and deformity, and I shall have to answer for them! In that one moment I shall see clearly all the graces, inspirations, benefits, and opportunities that God gave me so generously during my life, and I shall have to account for them ! In that one moment sentence shall be pronounced on me, and I shall have to go either to heaven or to hell! terrible truth that no more time than one moment should be required to decide for an eternity! one moment! moment! if thou art unlucky for me, of what use will be to me all the worldly wealth I now possess? " Silver and gold I have none," I shall then be able to say in the words of St. Peter to the lame man: all that I had re mains behind on earth, and I am going with empty hands, bare and naked, into everlasting misery. Of what use will be to me all the pleasures and joys that I now seek from creatures? They have vanished " as a dream," as the Prophet David says; the body is borne to the grave; the soul goes to eternal torments. And of what use to me will be all the dignities and honors I enjoyed on earth? They shall all disappear with the last toll of the funeral-bell.
How different the judgment I shall then form of the vanity of the world! Many a one who is now high in honor will then be of the opinion of Pope Leo XL This pontiff was on his death-bed, and his confessor came to him. "Your Holiness should be comforted," said he to the dying pope, "for you have the keys of the kingdom of heaven." " Ah," was the answer, "I should be more consoled if I had held in my hands, during my life, the keys of some poor convent! " Many a mighty potentate of the world will then be of the opinion of Philip III., that celebrated king of Spain, of whom it was said that he never committed a mortal sin in his life. When he was on his death bed he was asked what he thought of the royal dignity. " I wish," he replied, " that I had been a poor monk, instead of being king of Spain." last and only moment, on which eternity depends! if thou art a fortunate one for me, of what harm to me will be the poverty, trouble, humiliation, crosses, and trials that I now suffer? With joy I shall then be able to say, like St. Peter of Alcantara, who appeared to St. Teresa after his death, and said to her of the penance and mortification he used to practise during life: " happy penance, which has merited such glory for me! " O last and only moment, on which the twofold eternity depends! who shall not fear, who shall dare to indulge in forbidden pleasures, when he thinks of thee? Raulinus writes of a certain Christian prince who was always thinking of death, and never indulged in idle amusements or in the vain joys of the world. His jester once asked him why he was so thoughtful and fond of solitude; why he did not sometimes enjoy him self. " Wait a little," answered the prudent prince, " I will soon show you the cause of my seriousness." He then ordered a worm-eaten chair to be brought in, a fire to be lit under it, and a sword to be suspended over it by a thin thread; and then he told the jester to sit down on it. We can easily imagine what the jester's feelings were on the occasion. " Well, " said the prince to him, " what do you think of yourself now? Are you not inclined to be merry and joyful?" " Ah," answered the other, " how can I be merry in the frightful danger in which I am? If the chair breaks, I shall fall into the fire; while over my head hangs the sword suspended by a thread! How can I possibly be merry ? " Oh ! is that so ? " said the prince; " then you should not be astonished that I take no pleasure in the vain joys of earth; for I am just in the position in which you are now; for in one moment the chair of my life can break and hurl me into hell, while over my head hangs the sword of divine justice."
O my God, if I always remembered this, would it be possible for me to live so carelessly in the state of sin? O last and only moment on which a twofold eternity depends! Would that you were happily gone by for me! But why wish for that which is in my own hands, in my own free will? I can die happily in that last moment if I wish, and if I faithfully correspond with the grace of God, which will never be refused me. My dear brethren, the game we have to play is no game of chance, in which mere luck decides the fall of the dice or cards. The result depends on how we prepare for the last moment, on whether we lead a pious or a wicked life. For no one dies a bad death who has lived well to the end; no one dies a good death who has lived wickedly to the end. What more reasonable object, then, Christian souls, can we have for all our care than to lead a pious, modest, humble, God-fearing life, that we may once die well, and by that one good death gain heaven?
St. Jerome relates that a band of robbers once met a holy hermit named Hilarius, and asked him what he would do if he were attacked by robbers. The holy man, who was then only eighteen years of age, answered undismayed that he was not afraid of robbers, for he was poor and had nothing they could take from him; "he who is naked fears no thief." "But," said they, "you might lose your life." The holy youth laughingly answered them: " Yes, I can lose my life, but that is no reason for me to fear robbers, for I am already prepared to die." So calmly does he await death who is always prepared for it.
And since we believe and are infallibly certain that we must die but once, what could be more foolish than to prepare our selves for death by leading a vicious life, thus running the risk of dying unhappily and being condemned to hell for all eternity? Yet, alas! that is what most men do. " that they would be wise and understand, and would provide for their last end." Such is the ardent wish of our good God uttered by the lips of Moses; for He desires all men without exception to be saved and to be happy with Himself in heaven. Would that they were wise enough, now while there is time, to provide for their last end; then they would think of it more frequently and seriously, and use all diligence not to live so carelessly in the state of sin, but rather to gain and keep the favor and friendship of God. Oh, that we were wise!
Come, holy Apostle St. Paul, with that terrible yet salutary sentence of thine. We must hear it; let it therefore resound incessantly in our ears: "It is appointed to men once to die!" Write up in all public and private places the words " once to die! " Write them on the coffers of the unjust, of usurers and misers, whose end and aim and only god is their money, which they try to add to by all sorts of dishonest practices, oppressing the poor and needy and taking their little all from them. " Once to die! " Write it over the shops of those merchants, over the offices of those state officials who so often barter their consciences and their hopes of heaven. " Once to die! " Write it in those drinking and dancing houses where so many sins are committed in thought, word, and deed. " Once to die!" Write it in those secret places where so much impurity is committed. " Once to die!" Write it on the looking-glass before which so much precious time that God has lent us to work out our salvation, and to prepare for a happy death, is lost in vain and scandalous dressing to please the eyes of others, and win their hearts, thus often giving occasion to unchaste desires and thoughts. " Once to die! " Write it on the doors of the churches in which due respect and reverence are replaced by wandering thoughts, curious looks, idle greetings, not to speak of still worse. "Once to die!" Write it in the confessionals, in which so many bad confessions are made, and consciences are stained with fresh guilt, either through shame or through want of true sorrow and a firm purpose of amendment. " Once to die!" Write it on the communion rail, at which so many sacrilegious communions are made, because men do not hesitate to approach the Table of the Lord with sinful hearts, or while they are still in the proximate occasion of sin, or persisting in their evil habits. "Once to die!"
Let us impress the same words deeply on our hearts and minds, conclusion that we may never forget them. " Once to die! " We shall die; we shall die but once; so that in all times and places, in everything we do, we may work hard to prepare to die well that once, and thus insure our salvation. For my part, that shall be my first thought on awaking every morning; I shall die but once, there fore I will serve my God today with zeal, and neither in thought, word, nor act will I do anything that might prevent me from dying well that once. Every evening when retiring to rest I will remember that I shall die but once; and therefore I shall purify my conscience by a good examen and true repentance before I go to bed, so that nothing may remain on it during the night that could prevent me from dying well. Dearest Christians, remember this, all of you; never forget it! We shall die but once. Ah, live good lives always, and that is as much as to say: die happy deaths. Amen.
Another introduction to the same sermon for the second Sunday in Advent.
Text.
"Who shall prepare Your way before You." (Matt 11:10)
Introduction.
John was the precursor whom God sent to prepare the way for His Incarnate Son: " This is he of whom it is written: Behold I send my angel before Your face who shall prepare Your way be fore You." My dear brethren, the Son of man will come one day to each one of us in the particular judgment, that is, in the hour of death, to call us into a long eternity; who will prepare the way for this coming of His? Ah, to no purpose should we expect an angel to do this work for us! For it is laid on our own shoulders; each one of us must see that he prepares the way him self; and, as I have shown already, this preparation should be made a long time beforehand, because the business treated of in this coming of Our Lord will be a most important one. Now I add that this preparation should be made with the utmost care, for that coming shall happen only once, that is, we shall die but once. There you have the
Plan of Discourse.
Only once will the Judge come to call us in death; therefore we should labor with all diligence and care, that things may go well with us that once. Such is the whole subject of this meditation.
O holy guardian angels and you, Mary, Queen of angels, help us by your intercession with God! Urge us constantly by your inspirations and warnings to care for nothing more than to prepare worthily for the coming of the Lord.