of pious Christians. years of age, answered undismayed that he was not afraid of robbers, for he was poor and had nothing they could take from him; “he who is naked fears no thief.”[1] “But,” said they, “you might lose your life.”[2] The holy youth laughingly answered them: “Yes, I can lose my life, but that is no reason for me to fear robbers, for I am already prepared to die.”[3] So calmly does he await death who is always prepared for it.
How foolish to waste one’s life in sin! And since we believe and are infallibly certain that we must die but once, what could be more foolish than to prepare ourselves for death by leading a vicious life, thus running the risk of dying unhappily and being condemned to hell for all eternity? Yet, alas! that is what most men do. “O that they would be wise and understand, and would provide for their last end.”[4] Such is the ardent wish of our good God uttered by the lips of Moses; for He desires all men without exception to be saved and to be happy with Himself in heaven. Would that they were wise enough, now while there is time, to provide for their last end; then they would think of it more frequently and seriously, and use all diligence not to live so carelessly in the state of sin, but rather to gain and keep the favor and friendship of God. Oh, that we were wise!
We should remember we can die but once. Come, holy Apostle St. Paul, with that terrible yet salutary sentence of thine. We must hear it; let it therefore resound incessantly in our ears: “It is appointed unto men once to die!” Write up in all public and private places the words “once to die!” Write them on the coffers of the unjust, of usurers and misers, whose end and aim and only god is their money, which they try to add to by all sorts of dishonest practices, oppressing the poor and needy and taking their little all from them. “Once to die!” Write it over the shops of those merchants, over the offices of those state officials who so often barter their consciences and their hopes of heaven. “Once to die!” Write it in those drinking and dancing houses where so many sins are committed in thought, word, and deed. “Once to die!” Write it in those secret places where so much impurity is committed. “Once to die!” Write it on the looking-glass before which so much precious time that God has lent us to work out our salvation, and to prepare for a happy death, is lost in vain and scandalous
