not known Me during your life; neither will I know you now in your death.
Confirmed by experience. All this happened in visible manner to a dying Christian of whom Henry Gran writes. A holy old man, who had come out of his solitude into a town to sell the baskets he had made, sat down for a moment to rest before the door of a house in which a rich man lay mortally sick. Suddenly he saw two terrible looking black men on black horses ride up to the door, enter the house, and go into the sick room; then a mournful voice cried out: “Lord, help me!” Whereupon the devils began to laugh, and said: “Do you remember God at last? Do you seek Him now at the sunset of your life? Why did you not do so earlier, while you still had light? Why did you not turn to God while you had time? Now there is no hope for you.” Nearly the same answer was given by one of the holy fathers to a dying man. The Abbot Mutius once visited a man whose life was despaired of; he saw from his mournful face and other signs that the dying man was in great trouble, and therefore he said to him: “My dear friend, I am afraid that your conscience troubles you, and that death, which you have not expected so soon, has filled you with terror.” “That is only too true,” answered the sick man, sighing deeply, “but I implore of you, father, beg of God to grant me a little time, that I may repent of my sins and amend my life.” And Mutius answered him: “Do you now seek for time to repent, when you have finished the time of your life? What were you doing in all the past years? Could you not then have healed your wounds? But instead of that, you have inflicted new ones on your soul” and wantonly added to your misery. Now there is no use asking for more time.[1]
Hence the sinner should not expect such a grace. O sinner! you, too, shall be asked, when you pray for grace at the end of your life, Do you now seek for time to repent, when you have finished the time of your life? What have you been doing all these years? God has given you time enough to prepare for death. You have seen many other Christians go to holy Communion almost every week; did you ever take the trouble to receive it once a month? You have heard so many sermons; have you ever tried to profit by them and to amend your life? You have often seen the confessional and an experienced priest ready to receive you and relieve you of the burden of your sins;
- ↑ Nunc spatium pœnitentiæ requiris, ubi vitæ spatium implesti? Quid faciebas in omni hoc vitæ tuæ tempore? Non potuisti vulnera tua curare? Quinimmo et recentiora semper addebas.
