When You Make Your Final Farewell, Cast Yourself Upon Him
Hi Subscriber,This article is an excerpt taken from a chapter in Introduction to the Devout Life by St. Francis de Sales which is available from TAN Books.To prepare for our chat on Sunday, please read the article, which is reproduced below, and review the questions at the end.Click for Living Jesus Chatroom  Photo by Mathias Reding on UnsplashPreparation1. Place yourself in the presence of God.2. Entreat His grace.3. Imagine yourself to lie in extremity on your deathbed, -without hope of recovery.Reflections1. Consider the uncertainty of your dying day. O my soul, some day must thou quit this body. When will it be, summer or winter? In town or in the country? By day or by night? Will it be suddenly or after due warning? Will it be in sickness or by an accident? Wilt thou have time to confess thy sins or not? Will thy spiritual father be present to assist thee? Alas! Of all this we know nothing; this only is certain, that die we must, and that for the most part sooner than we expect.2. Consider that then the world is at an end, so far as regards you; there is none any more for you. Everything will then be reversed, all pleasures, vanities, worldly joys, and vain attachments will then appear as mere phantoms and vapors. Woe is me, for what delusive trifles have I offended my God! Then will you discover that you have forsaken God for nothing! On the other hand, how beautiful and desirable will good works and devotion then appear; why have you not followed on that holy and blessed road? Truly at that hour sins which before seemed as trifles will wax great as the mountains, and how faint, how weak, will your devotion then appear! 3. Consider the painful and final farewell which your soul must take of this lower world. It must take leave of wealth, of vanities and vain society, of pleasure, of amusements, of friends and neighbors, of parents and children, of husband and wife, in short of everything earthly. Last of all it must take leave of the body, which it will leave pale and sunken, forsaken, hideous, and vile. 4. Consider the haste with which that body will be hidden beneath the ground, and when that is done the world will scarcely bestow another thought upon you. You will in your turn be forgotten, as you have forgotten others. God rest his soul, will be said, and no more. O death, how unsparing, how pitiless thou art! 5. Consider that when the soul quits the body, it must go either to the left hand or the right. Whither will yours go? Which will be its path? Even such as it has chosen whilst on earth. Affections And Resolutions 1. Pray to God, and cast yourself upon Him. Lord, in that dreadful day receive me into Thy care! Turn that hour into blessedness to me, and then let all the previous hours of my life be bitter and sad.2. Despise the world. Since I know not, O world, at what hour I must quit thee, I will not attach myself to thee. O dear friends, treasured hopes, grant me only to love you with a holy friendship which may endure throughout eternity. Why should I be bound to you with ties that must be severed here? I will prepare for this hour, and make fitting preparation to accomplish the journey well; I will diligently strive to make my conscience clear, and to set in order its deficiencies.ConclusionThank God for enabling you so to resolve, offer your resolutions to His Majesty, and repeatedly implore Him to grant you a happy death, through the merits of His Son. Implore the help of Our Lady and the Saints. Pater. Ave .Reflections: Even though death can come at any moment for us, why do we often live as if it is a far, distant reality?Why is it important to prepare for our deaths?We are often told that at death we will truly contextualize our lives, wishing we spent more time here and less time there. Why is it so difficult for us to do this in our day-to-day lives? How do we become so fixated on worry and accomplishing things?How can we better cherish and embrace the important people/things in life?Does it seem unfair that in this short time on earth, we have to wade through the confusion and messiness of life to hopefully make the right eternal decision between heaven and hell? Sign up for our Living Jesus Chat Room:Come to our Living Jesus Chat Room, 7:30 PM to 8:30 PM Eastern Time U.S. |
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