Fifth Meditation.—Of Death.
PREPARATION.
_1. Place yourself in the presence of God._
_2. Ask Him for His grace._
_3. Imagine yourself in the state of a sick person lying on his deathbed, with no hope of escaping it._
CONSIDERATIONS.
1. Consider the uncertainty of the day of your death: O my soul! one day you will leave this body. When will it be? Will it be in winter or in summer, in the city or in the country, by day or by night? Will it be unexpected, or will you be prepared for it? Will it be by sickness or by accident? Will you have time to confess? Will your confessor be with you? Alas! of all this we know absolutely nothing. But one thing is quite certain: we shall die, and sooner than we think.
2. Consider that then the world will be at an end as far as you are concerned; there will be no more of it for you: it will seem overturned before your eyes; for then pleasures, vanities, worldly joys, foolish friendships will seem to you like phantoms and clouds. Ah! wretched woman, you will say, for what trifles and what chimeras have I offended my God? Is this not to have lost everything for nothing? On the contrary, devotion and good works will seem to you the sweetest and most desirable things in the world, and you will say: Why then did I not follow this beautiful and gracious path? Then the sins which seemed to you very small will appear as great as mountains; and your devotion will seem to you almost nothing.
PREPARATION.
_1. Place yourself in the presence of God._
_2. Ask Him for His grace._
_3. Imagine yourself in the state of a sick person lying on his deathbed, with no hope of escaping it._
CONSIDERATIONS.
1. Consider the uncertainty of the day of your death: O my soul! one day you will leave this body. When will it be? Will it be in winter or in summer, in the city or in the country, by day or by night? Will it be unexpected, or will you be prepared for it? Will it be by sickness or by accident? Will you have time to confess? Will your confessor be with you? Alas! of all this we know absolutely nothing. But one thing is quite certain: we shall die, and sooner than we think.
2. Consider that then the world will be at an end as far as you are concerned; there will be no more of it for you: it will seem overturned before your eyes; for then pleasures, vanities, worldly joys, foolish friendships will seem to you like phantoms and clouds. Ah! wretched woman, you will say, for what trifles and what chimeras have I offended my God? Is this not to have lost everything for nothing? On the contrary, devotion and good works will seem to you the sweetest and most desirable things in the world, and you will say: Why then did I not follow this beautiful and gracious path? Then the sins which seemed to you very small will appear as great as mountains; and your devotion will seem to you almost nothing.
3. Consider the long and painful farewells that your soul will say to this lowly world: it will bid farewell to riches, vanities, pleasures, pastimes, friends and neighbors, parents, children, husband, wife—in a word, to every creature; and then at last to its body, which it will leave pale, disfigured, emaciated, hideous, and foul.
4. Consider the haste with which they will remove this body and hide it in the earth; and when that is done, the world will scarcely think of you any more, any more than you have thought of others. “May God grant him peace,” they will say; and that will be all. O death! how cruel thou art! O death! how pitiless thou art!
5. Consider that, upon leaving the body, the soul turns either to the right or to the left. Alas! where will yours go, what path will it follow? The same that it will have begun in this world.
_Affections and resolutions._
1. Pray to God, and cast yourself into His arms. Ah! Lord, receive me under Thy protection for this dreadful day. Make this hour happy and propitious for me, and let all the other hours of my life be sad and grievous instead.
2. Despise the world. Since I know not the hour when I must leave thee, O world! I will not become attached to thee. O my dear friends! O my parents! allow me to love you henceforth only with a holy friendship, which may last for ever; for why should I bind myself to you with ties that I must afterwards break and leave?
4. Consider the haste with which they will remove this body and hide it in the earth; and when that is done, the world will scarcely think of you any more, any more than you have thought of others. “May God grant him peace,” they will say; and that will be all. O death! how cruel thou art! O death! how pitiless thou art!
5. Consider that, upon leaving the body, the soul turns either to the right or to the left. Alas! where will yours go, what path will it follow? The same that it will have begun in this world.
_Affections and resolutions._
1. Pray to God, and cast yourself into His arms. Ah! Lord, receive me under Thy protection for this dreadful day. Make this hour happy and propitious for me, and let all the other hours of my life be sad and grievous instead.
2. Despise the world. Since I know not the hour when I must leave thee, O world! I will not become attached to thee. O my dear friends! O my parents! allow me to love you henceforth only with a holy friendship, which may last for ever; for why should I bind myself to you with ties that I must afterwards break and leave?
I desire to prepare myself for that hour, and to take all the necessary precautions to make that passage happily. I desire to set my conscience in order, and to put right such and such failings with all the zeal of which I am capable.
CONCLUSION.
Give thanks to God for these resolutions which He hath inspired in you, offer them to His Majesty, beseech Him anew to make your death happy through the merits of the death of His Son. Implore the protection of the Blessed Virgin and of the saints. _Pater noster_. _Ave, Maria_.
Make a nosegay of myrrh.
CONCLUSION.
Give thanks to God for these resolutions which He hath inspired in you, offer them to His Majesty, beseech Him anew to make your death happy through the merits of the death of His Son. Implore the protection of the Blessed Virgin and of the saints. _Pater noster_. _Ave, Maria_.
Make a nosegay of myrrh.