whole world, and suffer the loss of his soul?" (Mark viii. 36.)
O my God, in the future I will follow more faithfully the example of the saints. I will take to heart the admonition of the Holy Spirit: "In all thy works remember thy last end." I will often go in thought to my deathbed, to God's judgment-seat, to heaven, and to hell. I will endeavor most earnestly to lead such a life now as I would wish to have lived if I had reached the end of my earthly pilgrimage.
"What does this count for eternity?" or, " How does this look in the light of eternity?" was the question proposed to himself by St. Aloysius at the beginning of any important work. Meditate often on the four last things.
Leaves have their time to fall, And flowers to wither at the north wind's breath,
And stars to set; but all —
Thou hast all seasons for thine own, O
Death!
—Mrs. Hemans.
But yesterday the word of Caesar might
Have stood against the world; now lies he
there,
And none so poor to do him reverence.
— Shakespeare.
"Behold, short years pass away; and I am walking in a path by which I shall not return" (Job xvi. 23).
