In all things consider the end; how you shall stand
before the strict Judge from Whom nothing is hidden
and Who will pronounce judgment in all justice,
accepting neither bribes nor excuses. And you,
miserable and wretched sinner, who fear even the
countenance of an angry man, what answer will you
make to the God Who knows all your sins? Why do you
not provide for yourself against the day of judgment
when no man can be excused or defended by another
because each will have enough to do to answer for
himself? In this life your work is profitable, your
tears acceptable, your sighs audible, your sorrow
satisfying and purifying.The patient man goes
through a great and salutary purgatory when he
grieves more over the malice of one who harms him
than for his own injury; when he prays readily for
his enemies and forgives offenses from his heart;
when he does not hesitate to ask pardon of others;
when he is more easily moved to pity than to anger;
when he does frequent violence to himself and tries
to bring the body into complete subjection to the
spirit.
It is better to atone for sin now and to cut away
vices than to keep them for purgation in the
hereafter. In truth, we deceive ourselves by our
ill-advised love of the flesh. What will that fire
feed upon but our sins? The more we spare ourselves
now and the more we satisfy the flesh, the harder
will the reckoning be and the more we keep for the
burning.
For a man will be more grievously punished in the
things in which he has sinned. There the lazy will be
driven with burning prongs, and gluttons tormented
with unspeakable hunger and thirst; the wanton and
lust-loving will be bathed in burning pitch and foul
brimstone; the envious will howl in their grief like
mad dogs.
Every vice will have its own proper punishment.
The proud will be faced with every confusion and the
avaricious pinched with the most abject want. One
hour of suffering there will be more bitter than a
hundred years of the most severe penance here. In
this life men sometimes rest from work and enjoy the
comfort of friends, but the damned have no rest or
consolation.
You must, therefore, take care and repent of your
sins now so that on the day of judgment you may rest
secure with the blessed. For on that day the just
will stand firm against those who tortured and
oppressed them, and he who now submits humbly to the
judgment of men will arise to pass judgment upon
them. The poor and humble will have great confidence,
while the proud will be struck with fear. He who
learned to be a fool in this world and to be scorned
for Christ will then appear to have been wise.
In that day every trial borne in patience will be
pleasing and the voice of iniquity will be stilled;
the devout will be glad; the irreligious will mourn;
and the mortified body will rejoice far more than if
it had been pampered with every pleasure. Then the
cheap garment will shine with splendor and the rich
one become faded and worn; the poor cottage will be
more praised than the gilded palace. In that day
persevering patience will count more than all the
power in this world; simple obedience will be exalted
above all worldly cleverness; a good and clean
conscience will gladden the heart of man far more
than the philosophy of the learned; and contempt for
riches will be of more weight than every treasure on
earth.
Then you will find more consolation in having
prayed devoutly than in having fared daintily; you
will be happy that you preferred silence to prolonged
gossip.
Then holy works will be of greater value than many
fair words; strictness of life and hard penances will
be more pleasing than all earthly delights.
Learn, then, to suffer little things now that you
may not have to suffer greater ones in eternity.
Prove here what you can bear hereafter. If you can
suffer only a little now, how will you be able to
endure eternal torment? If a little suffering makes
you impatient now, what will hell fire do? In truth,
you cannot have two joys: you cannot taste the
pleasures of this world and afterward reign with
Christ.
If your life to this moment had been full of honors
and pleasures, what good would it do if at this
instant you should die? All is vanity, therefore,
except to love God and to serve Him alone.
He who loves God with all his heart does not fear
death or punishment or judgment or hell, because
perfect love assures access to God.
It is no wonder that he who still delights in sin
fears death and judgment.
It is good, however, that even if love does not as
yet restrain you from evil, at least the fear of hell
does. The man who casts aside the fear of God cannot
continue long in goodness but will quickly fall into
the snares of the devil.
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