CONSIDERATION V
The Uncertainty of the Hour of Death
"Be ye therefore ready also: for the Son of man cometh at an hour when ye think not." S. Luke xii. 40.
First Point.
IT is certain that we must all die, but it is uncertain when. The author, who styles himself Idiota, observes, " Nothing is more certain than death, but nothing is more uncertain than the hour of death."
My brother, already is the year, the month, the day, the hour, and even the moment fixed, in which both you and I will have to leave this earth, and to enter upon eternity; but this time is not known by us. Therefore, that we may ever be prepared, the Apostle tells us that death will come " as a thief in the night." (i Thess. v. 2.) Our Blessed Lord tells us to be watchful, for when least we" expect it, He will come to judge us. (S. Luke xii. 40.) S. Gregory observes, that God, for our good, keeps the hour of bur death hidden from us, so that we may ever be found prepared for death.
Since, therefore, at any time, and in any place, death may deprive us of life, S. Bernard remarks, that at every time, and in every place, we must stand awaiting it, if we would die a happy death and be saved.
Every one knows that he or she must die, but the mistake that so many make, is to imagine that death is so far off, that they, as it were, lose sight of it. Even old men, who are most
