helps us to live well. death in that manner! No other means should we require to lead a Christian life, no other to die a happy death. This, as Silveira remarks, seems to be what Our Lord desired to teach us when He raised the dead to life. How did He act when He raised the daughter of Jairus? “He went in,” says St. Matthew, “and took her by the hand. And the maid arose.”[1] This was all the ceremony He used on that occasion, and having worked the miracle, He went His way. How did He act in the case of the widow’s son of Naim? “Young man,” He exclaimed, “I say to thee, arise.” The dead man stood up, “and He gave him to his mother.”[2] That was all. He raised Lazarus from the grave. “Lazarus,” He cried out, “come forth. And presently he that had been dead came forth. Jesus said to them: Loose him and let him go.”[3] Why did He do no more on those occasions? Because, when healing the sick, He generally gave an exhortation to the people, as was the case with the man born blind, whom we read of in the ninth chapter of St. John, and of the paralytic man in the fifth chapter, to the latter of whom He addressed this exhortation before dismissing him: “Behold, thou art made whole: sin no more, lest some worse thing happen to thee.”[4] Why did He not act in the same manner when raising the dead, especially since He had such a fine opportunity of exhorting the people to good, and besides those whom He restored to life, being still young, would require some words of warning to induce them to avoid the dangers that threaten youth? “No,” says Silveira, “that was not necessary; for death itself was their best teacher.”[5] For he who has once died and knows what death is, requires no other master to teach him to live well; while the mere sight of dead people was already sermon enough for the bystanders. He who meditates seriously on death needs no other incentive to amend his life and avoid sin: “For death itself is the best teacher.”
Many sins come from neglecting this thought. But, alas! thought of death, practical meditation, careful provision for the last end, how rare you are amongst men! From how many hearts are you not excluded day by day and year by year! The inordinate care for temporal things, as if we had to
- ↑ Intravit, et tenuit manum ejus. Et surrexit puella.—Matt. ix. 25.
- ↑ Adolescens, tibi dico, surge. Et dedit illum matri suæ.—Luke vii. 14, 15.
- ↑ Lazare, veni foras. Et statim prodiit qui fuerat mortuus. Dixit eis Jesus: Solvite eum, et sinite abire.—John xi. 43, 44.
- ↑ Ecce sanus factus es: jam noli peccare, ne deterius tibi aliquid contingat.—Ibid v. 14.
- ↑ Ipsa enim mors optimus erat magister.
