heeded! Saul was a mighty man and valiant, but when the ghost of Samuel said to him: " To-morrow thou and thy sons shall be with me," he fell lifeless from very terror. Brethren, each one of us, if we fare no worse, shall one day hear from the lips of a physician or of a priest these fated words: " Your case is hopeless, you must prepare to die; you must prepare to give an account of your stewardship, for now you can be steward no longer." Let not your comfortable circumstances lead you to bid your soul eat, drink, and make merry, for that long years of enjoyment are before you, for this very night God may demand your soul of you, and whose, then, will be all these things you have provided? Let not your youth and strength persuade you that length of days is sure to be your lot, for very often death acts as did Jacob when, in blessing Joseph's sons, he, contrary to all expectations, crossed his hands and placed his right on the younger and on the older his left. Let no sense of self-righteousness make you overconfident in your final perseverance, for who would have dreamt that Judas's place in heaven was destined to be occupied by a crucified thief? When our summons comes, our uppermost thought may be that of the unjust steward: "What shall I do? What shall I do?" Notice well the contrast between the steward's dilemma and that of Dives. Each thinks within himself: "What shall I do?" but one is embarrassed with riches, the other is face to face with ruin; one concludes to store up much goods for many years, the other determines to distribute even his master's
