mere passing fear, but by a fear unto penance; a fear that would make you regret your past sins and never again offend God. It is an undoubted truth of our faith that we shall all appear before the tribunal of God, there to give an account of our actions; what will it help us to thrust that truth out of our minds? Shall we have less reason to fear or to expect judgment? We must and should often think of such truths in order to keep straight in the midst of so many dangers and occasions of sin, Therefore it is that we so often fall into sin; therefore it is that we sometimes lead a vain life quite opposed to the law of the Gospel, and keep our minds fixed on transitory things while we seldom think of salutary truths. Not without cause does the Holy Ghost warn us by the wise Ecclesiasticus: “Remember thy last end,” O man! and think of it often, “and thou shalt never sin.”[1] Let each one recall this to mind when he feels an inclination to sin; let him say to himself: would I do this if I heard the last trumpet calling out: arise, ye dead, and come to judgment? Should I wish to have this revealed to heaven and earth? Let each one think: the life I now lead and the manner of it, is it in accordance with my Christian profession, and with the sworn promise I made to God in Baptism to renounce the vain world and its idle, silly customs, the flesh and its lusts, the devil and all his works? that there may be no one to accuse him at the last day. Otherwise, if your answer to this question is not favorable, then abandon the life you are leading and embrace another. Say to yourself: on this life, and I know not how Jong it will last, depends my future judgment, the position I shall hold in it, whether I shall be on the right side with the angels, or on the left with the devils; therefore I will spend this short, uncertain time in the service of my God alone, so that the meditation of the last judgment, instead of terrifying me, shall inspire me with a consoling hope, and when the great day comes I may enter with the sheep of Christ into eternal joys! Such shall be the resolution of us all. Amen.
Another introduction to the same sermon for the fourth Sunday of Advent.
Text.
Vox clamantis in deserto.—Luke iii. 4.
“A voice of one crying in the wilderness.”
- ↑ Memorare novissima tua, et in æternum non peccabis.—Ecclus. vii. 40.
