household is sunk in sleep, not suspecting any danger, then is the thief’s opportunity; then without making a noise he breaks through the wall, or the window, slips into the house and brings away all that he can lay hands on, and when the master of the house awakes in the morning he finds that he has been robbed. “The day of the Lord shall come as a thief in the night.“He will steal in when a man is least on his guard and take away his life when he was still in hopes of living for a long time. “For when they shall say, peace and security,” continues the Apostle, “then shall sudden destruction come upon them.”[1] Sometimes death is compared to a butcher; thus the Lord says by the Prophet Jeremias: “I will bring them down like lambs to the slaughter;”[2] they will be merry and joyful in their prosperity, and live without forethought, nor will they be aware that death has already sharpened his knife to pierce their hearts in a short time. Sometimes he is compared to a fisherman and to a fowler: as the wise Ecclesiastes says: “Man knoweth not his own end—but as fishes are taken with the hook, and as birds are caught with the snare, so men are taken in the evil time, when it shall suddenly come upon them.”[3] The fish snaps greedily at the bait, the bird at the corn spread for it. Why? They wish to enjoy the food prepared for them, in order to preserve their lives. Meanwhile the one swallows the hook with the bait, and the other is caught in the net while eating the corn. Thus both find death where they expected to find pleasure and the means of prolonging their lives. “So men are taken in the evil time;” so it is with us: when we think we are benefiting our health and lengthening our lives, we are hurried off by a sudden and un foreseen death.
And by parables. You rich ones of the world, when do you think the time will come for you to die? Oh, you answer in your thoughts, not so soon, surely! But remember the rich man whom Our Lord puts forward as an example for you by the Evangelist St. Luke. When he was about to pull down his barns to build larger ones, and was saying to himself: “Soul, thou hast much goods laid up for many years: take thy rest, eat, drink, make good cheer;” even then he heard the unexpected voice of the Lord: “Thou
- ↑ Cum enim dixerint: Pax et securitas, tunc repentinus eis superveniet interitus.—I. Thess. v. 3.
- ↑ Deducam eos quasi agnos ad victimam.—Jer. li. 40.
- ↑ Nescit homo finem suum; sed sicut pisces capiuntur hamo, et sicut aves laqueo comprehenduntur, sic capiuntur homines in tempore malo, cum eis extemplo supervenerit.—Eccles. ix. 12.
