Preparation for Death/XIII. THE VANITY OF THE WORLD
CONSIDERATION XIII
The Vanity of the world
"What is a man profited, if he shall gain the whole world and lose his own soul" S. Matt xvi. 26.
First Point.
A CERTAIN ancient philosopher, named Aristippus, was shipwrecked on a voyage, and lost all his goods, but he reached the shore. Being much renowned for his knowledge, he was provided with all that he had lost by the inhabitants of the place; whence he wrote to his friends in his own country, that following his example they should care to provide themselves with those things only which could not perish in shipwreck. So precisely do our parents and friends who are in eternity speak to us, bidding us provide only in life such good things as death cannot destroy. The day of death is called " the day of destruction." (Deut. xxxii. 35.) For in that day all earthly goods, honours, riches, pleasures all will be destroyed. Hence S. Ambrose says, " They are not our own possessions which we are not able to take away with us; our virtue alone accompanies us." What serves it then, says Jesus Christ, to gain the whole world, if losing the soul in death, we lose all. " What is a man profited, if he shall gain the whole world and lose his own soul? " Ah, this mighty truth! how many young men has it bidden to seek the cloister; how many hermits to live in deserts; how many martyrs to give their lives for Jesus Christ! S. Ignatius of Loyola by this truth, drew many souls to God, especially the beautiful soul of S. Francis Xavier who, living in Paris, gave himself up to the world. S. Ignatius said to him one day, " Remember, that the world is a traitor; that it promises, but it does not fulfil: if it should perform what it promises, it is not able to fill thy heart. But let us suppose that it could satisfy it, how long would this thy happiness endure? Can it last longer than thy life? and, in short, what canst thou carry into eternity? Is there perchance any rich man who has carried thither either a piece of money or a servant for his convenience? Is there any king who has carried a thread of the purple through his love of it? " On hearing these words, S. Francis left the world; he followed S. Ignatius, and he became a saint. " Vanity of vanities," so Solomon called all the goods of this world, although he had not denied himself one pleasure of all those that are in the world, as he himself acknowledges. "Whatsoever mine eyes desired I kept not from them; I withheld not my heart from any joy." (Eccles. ii. 10.) Sister Margaret of S. Anne, of the Barefooted-Carmelites, daughter of the Emperor Rudolph II., said, " Of what use are kingdoms at the hour of death." How wonderful! the saints tremble when they think upon their eternal salvation. Father Segneri trembled, in great terror, demanding of his confessor, "What say you, Father, shall I be saved?" S. Andrew Avellino trembled and wept, saying, "Who knows whether I shall be saved?" S. Louis Bertrand was so tormented by this thought even, that terrified in the night he sprang out of bed, saying, " And who knows but I shall be damned?" And shiners live condemned, and sleep, and jest, and laugh.
Affections and Prayers.
O Jesus, my Redeemer, I thank Thee that Thou hast made me to know my folly and the sin which I have committed in turning away from Thee, Who hast shed Thy Blood and Thy life for me. No, Thou hast not deserved to be treated by me as I have treated Thee. Behold, if death should come to me now, what should I find in myself, except sins and remorse of conscience, which would cause me to die in great disquiet? I confess, my Saviour, I have sinned, I have erred in leaving Thee, my Highest Good, for the miserable pleasures of this world; I repent with my whole heart. Alas! by that grief which slew Thee on the Cross, give me such sorrow for my sins as may cause me to weep during all that remains of my life for the wrongs I have done Thee. My Jesus, my Jesus, pardon me, and I promise never more to offend Thee, and ever to love Thee. I am no longer worthy of Thy love since I have so despised it in the past time, but Thou hast said, " I love them that love Me." (Prov. viii. 17;) I love Thee, do Thou also love me; I will no longer live in Thy disgrace. If Thou wilt love me, I renounce all the pomps and pleasures of the world. Hear me, my Lord, for the love of Jesus Christ. I pray that Thou wouldst not banish me from Thy heart. I consecrate myself to Thee wholly; my life, my inclinations, my senses, my mind, my body, my will, and my liberty. Receive me; do not reject me as I deserve, for having so often rejected Thy friendship. " Cast me not away from Thy presence." (Ps. xxi. 11.)
Second Point.
"The balances of deceit are in his hand." (Hos. xii. 17.) We ought to weigh all goods in the balances of God, not in the deceitful balances of this world. The goods of this world are miserable, they do not content the soul, and they quickly pass away, " My days are swifter than a post; . . . . they are passed away as the swift ships." (Job ix. 25, 26.) The days of our life pass and fly away; of the pleasures of this world, at the end, what remains? "They are passed away as the swift ships." Ships leave, indeed, no sign of where they have passed. " As a ship that passeth through the waves; whereof when it is gone by, the trace cannot be found, nor the path of its keel in the waters." (Wisd. v. 10.) Let us ask of so many wealthy, literati, princes, emperors, who are now in eternity, what find they now of the pomps, pleasures, and grand enjoyments of this earth? All answer, Nothing, nothing! " O man," says S. Augustine, " mark what he had here, and note what he takes away with him." Thou notest, says the saint, only the goods which the great have preserved; but observe what they take with them when they die is it not a corrupt body and a few rags to decay with them? When the great ones of this world die, hardly, for a little time, are they spoken of, and then they are not even remembered, " Their memorial is perished with them." (Ps. ix. 6.) And if these miserable ones are afterwards in hell, what do they do, and what do they say there? They weep and say, "What hath pride profited us? or what advantage hath the boasting of riches brought us? All those things are passed away like a shadow." (Wisd. v. 8, 9.) In what have our pomp and our riches helped us, if the whole has now passed away as a shadow, and there remains nought save punishment, weeping, and eternal despair?
" The children of this world are in their generation wiser than the children of light." (S. Luke xvi. 8.) Great truth! that the children of this world are prudent in the things of the world! What fatigues do they not brave to obtain that post or this inheritance! What diligence do they not expend to preserve the health of the body! They choose the means, the most safe, the best medicines, the best physicians, the best air! And for the soul, then, they are so negligent! Yet it is certain that health, posts, possessions, will one day have an end; but the mind and eternity never end. S. Augustine says, "We observe how much men suffer for the things which they wrongly love." What does not the vindictive, the thief, the incontinent suffer, in order to obtain his depraved wish! And then for the soul, they are not willing to suffer anything! O God, at the hour of death, in that time of truth, worldlings both know and confess their madness. Then every one says, " Oh, that I had forsaken all, and that I had become a saint!"
Philip II., King of Spain, sent for his son when on his deathbed, and unfolding his royal robe, showed to him his breast eaten by worms, and then he said, " Prince, see how we die, and how the pomp of the world ends." And afterwards he exclaimed, " Oh, that I had been a lay brother in some monastery, and not a monarch!" At the same time, he caused them to fasten a wooden cross to his neck by a cord, and having prepared the things for his death, he said to his son, " I wished thee, my son, to be present at this act, that you may see how at the end, the world treats even monarchs, so that their death is the same as that of the poorest of the world; in short, he who lives best, has the best place with God." Afterwards this same son, who was Philip III., dying young, at the age of forty-three, said, "My subjects, preach nothing in my funeral sermon, but that sight which you now behold. Say that in death, it avails not to be a king, but that by this thought, greater torment is present to him." He then exclaimed, "Oh, that I had never been a king, and that I had lived in a desert to serve God; since now I should have dared with greater confidence to present myself before His tribunal, and I should not find myself in so great danger of being condemned! " But what do these desires avail, at the moment of death, save to bring greater pain and despair to him who has not loved God in life? Therefore, said S. Teresa, " We must make no account of that which ends with life; the true life is so to live as not to fear to die." If we wish to see the things cf this world as they really are, let us behold them from the bed cf death, and then say, " These honours, these amusements, these revenues, will one day end; we must then strive to become saints, rich in those goods above, which will go with us, and which will make us happy through all eternity."
Affections and Prayers.
Ah, my Redeemer, Thou hast suffered so many pains and ignominies for the love of me, whilst I have so greatly loved the pleasures and vanities of this world, that on their account I have often trampled Thy grace under foot. But if when I despised Thee Thou didst still follow me, I cannot fear, O my Jesus, that I shall be rejected, now that I follow Thee and love Thee with my whole heart; and I grieve more for having offended Thee than if I had suffered any other disgrace. O God of my soul, henceforth I will not willingly give Thee any displeasure, even in the smallest thing. Make me to know what is displeasing to Thee, and I will not willingly do it for any good in the world; and teach me to do what shall please Thee, for I am ready. I desire truly to love Thee. I embrace, Lord, all the pains and crosses which Thou pleasest to send me. Give me that resignation which I ought to have. " Here burn here cut; " chastise me in this life, that in the other life I may love Thee for all eternity.
Third Point.
" The time is short; ... it remaineth that . . . they that use this world as not abusing it; for the fashion of this world passeth away." (i Cor. vii. 29-31.) For what else is our life upon this earth, save a scene which passes and quickly ends? " The fashion of this world passeth away; " the fashion that is, a scene, a play. Cornelius a Lapide says that " the world is like a stage, a generation passes away, a generation comes. He who plays the king does not take the people away with him. Tell me, O villa, O house, how many masters you have had? " When the play is finished, he who played the king is no longer a king; the master is no longer a master. Now thou possessest this villa or that palace, but death will come, and there will be other masters.
" The affliction of an hour maketh one forget great delights." (Ecclus. xi. 29.) The fatal hour of death makes all the pomps and the nobility, and the pageants of the world, to be forgotten, and to be at an end. Cassimir, King of Poland, one day whilst sitting at table with the grandees of his kingdom, raising to his lips the cup to drink, died, and the scene closed for him. Celsus, the Emperor, at the commencement of the seventh day of his election, was slain, and the scene closed for him. Landislaus, King of Bohemia, a young man of eighteen years of age, whilst expecting his bride, the daughter of the King of France, and a splendid feast was being prepared, one morning was stricken with pain, and died; whereupon couriers were quickly despatched to the bride, to advise her to return to France, since the scene had closed for Landislaus. This thought of the vanity of the world made a saint of S. Francis Borgia who, (as already has been mentioned,) at the sight of the Empress Isabella, dead in the midst of her splendour, and in the flower of her youth, resolved to give himself wholly to God, saying, " What! do the greatnesses and the crowns of this world end thus? I desire, then, henceforth to serve a Master Who cannot die."
Let us endeavour so to live, that it may not be said to us in death, as it was said to the fool in the gospel, " Thou fool, this night thy soul shall be required of thee." (S. Luke xii. 19.) Whence S. Luke concludes, " So is he who layeth up treasure for himself, and is not rich towards God." Afterwards, he says, Seek to become rich, not indeed in the possessions of this world, but towards God in virtue, in merit, which things are really good which will be eternal with you in the heavens. " Provide yourselves a treasure in the heavens; where no thief approacheth, neither moth corrupteth." (S. Luke xii. 33.) Therefore let us strive to acquire the great treasure of Divine love. S. Augustine asks, "What has the rich man if he has not love? If the poor man has love, what has he not? " If he has all riches, and has not God, he is the poorest man in the world; whilst the poor man who has God, possesses all things. And who has God? He who loves Him. " He that dwelleth in love, dwelleth in God, and God in him." (i S. John iv. 16.)
Affections and Prayers.
Ah, my God, I will not, that the devil should have further power over my soul. I desire that Thou alone shouldst be my Master, and rule over it. I desire to forsake all to obtain Thy favour; and I value this more than crowns or kingdoms. Who ought I to love, if not Thee, Who art infinite sweetness, infinite good, beauty, bounty and love? In the past time I have left Thee for creatures; this is to me now, and ever will be, a grief which will pierce my heart, to have offended Thee, Who had so much love for me. But after Thou hast bound me, my God, by so great favours, I will not trust myself any longer to see myself deprived of Thy love. Take to Thyself, my love, my whole will, and all that is mine, and do with me according to Thy pleasure. If formerly I allowed myself to be permitted by contrary events, I ask Thy pardon. I will no longer repine, my Lord, at Thy dispensations; I know that they are all, holy, and all, for my good. O my God, do what Thou wilt, and I promise to be always contented, and ever to thank Thee. Grant that I may love Thee, and I ask Thee for nothing more. I desire only God.