stand at the altar to offer to the Eternal Father the flesh and blood of Jesus Christ, to treat that sacred mystery, before which the angels tremble, with becoming respect and in a holy manner, to behold with chaste eyes, to touch with pure hands, to receive with stainless heart those accidents that conceal the body of my future Judge. It will impel me, when I have to instruct other souls according to the requirements of duty, to be filled with an unwearied zeal and to have a pure intention for the greater glory of God. It will remind me, when I am alone at home, to be always united to God; when I am in company with others, to give them good example; wherever I am, whatever I do, to keep my heart free from earthly attachments and have it always fixed on heaven and eternal goods, that I may thus have a happy end of my years.
To the laity. The same thing I say to you, gentlemen of the laity, according to your different states. See that you follow the wise adage: “in all things look to the end.”[1] Whether your office or employment is a lucrative one, whether the lawsuit or other important undertaking you have commenced is likely to succeed, what your superiors think of you, how people look on you, whether you give satisfaction to your inferiors; these are considerations and cares that cannot be found fault with; but whether and how far all these things can help to the comfort and merit of your soul in the home of its long eternity, that should indeed be your first and most important care. I must and will have a happy end. That should be your firm resolution, and it will teach you the art of speaking, reading, and writing well; that is, it will teach you how to govern your tongue, how to speak out what your duty requires at the proper time, how to be silent, to advise, to exhort, to punish, to further, to hinder, to refuse, according to the requirements of the law of God and the conscience of each one; it will guide your pen to uphold justice, to protect innocence, to defend the poor, the destitute, and the oppressed; it will guide your hands, that they may remain closed to treacherous, dangerous, and often unjust presents and bribes; it will order all your studies and occupations, that you may seek to further the glory of God and the salvation of your souls rather than your temporal gain, so that at the end of your years you may leave this world with joy and go to heaven.
To married people. You, married people, parents, fathers and mothers! pay at-
- ↑ In omnibus respice finem.
