can give me in the short time of life? Why should I treat this decaying body too tenderly? Why should I leave my God, my sovereign Good, for earthly things? What is it to me whether divine Providence gives me little or much here below? Should I not be satisfied with my daily bread, since I know not how near I may be to my grave? Where am I going to? My soul shall go in to a long eternity. Why, then, am I so idle in the divine service? Why am I so sparing of my labor that during this short and uncertain time I do not employ it in gaining treasures and merits on which lean live in eternal joys? “I go to him that sent me”[1] shall be my conclusion in the words of Christ; I will go to Him who has sent me into this world as a laborer into His vine yard, to earn the promised penny with the sweat of my brow; who has sent me as a merchant to the market to purchase wares for my eternal life; who has sent me as a servant whom He has en trusted with a talent to gain many other talents. I go to Him who is my First Cause, and my Last End, for whose service alone I am created. Thither shall be directed all my thoughts and desires, my words and conversations, my actions and occupations, my crosses and trials, my mortifications and penances; so that I may one day arise from my grave with a glorified body, and go with my soul into the happy house of my eternity. Amen.
- ↑ Vado ad eum qui misit me.—John xvi. 5.
