a wooden coffin and a winding sheet? Of what avail will be the honours which we have acquired, when no others will remain for us but a funeral procession and a tomb, which will not be able to afford us the least satisfaction, if our souls should be lost? And of what avail will the beauty of the body be, when the body itself will become a mass of worms, infect the air with its stench, and excite horror in all who behold it? My dear Redeemer, although I knew that by sinning I should forfeit thy friendship, yet did I sin; but I hope for pardon from thee who hast died to purchase pardon for me. O that I had never offended thee, my good God! I behold the love which thou hast shown me; and this increases my grief for having displeased thee who art so good a Father. I love thee, O Lord, and will never live without loving thee; give me perseverance. Mary, my mother, pray to Jesus for me.
Meditation Fifty-fifth.
On provoking God by sin.
I. THUS does the Royal Prophet speak of sinners: They tempted and provoked the most high God. Ps. lxxvii. 65. God is incapable of grief; but, were it possible for him to grieve, every sin which men commit would deeply afflict him and deprive him of happiness. Sin, O God, is the return I have made thee for thy love! How often have I renounced thy friendship for the sake of some wretched self-gratification! O. infinite goodness, because thou art such, pardon me my offences.
II. St. Bernard moreover adds, that the malice of sin is so great, that it would annihilate God,
