crease our merit. If He merely wished us to gain heaven as a reward, would not a short time suffice? As I have told you before, I may, if I am in the state of grace, gain everlasting happiness by a single fervent sigh, by one act of charity. And the little infant who dies immediately after having received baptism has an assured claim to heaven. So it is; an hour, a quarter of an hour, nay, a minute is more than enough for any one to gain heaven. Why then does God prolong our lives for such a lengthened period? Oh, my dear brethren, here again we have another invention of the divine goodness in our regard! God is not satisfied with merely having us in heaven; He wishes us to mount higher and higher, in order to enjoy ourselves all the more with Himself forever; we must become like to the angels in glory, nay, if we wish, we may ascend even higher than the angels; therefore He keeps us so long in life in order that by continually doing good works we may all those years constantly add to our eternal treasures every day, hour, moment even, of our existence.
What a great benefit that is!
And hence too a long life is one of the greatest blessings that God bestows on us, and one that He has promised specially to those who honor their parents; but it is a blessing withheld from the wicked on account of their sins, for the Lord has threatened to shorten their lives as no slight chastisement of their misdeeds. Mark this well, you cowardly, pusillanimous souls, who often sigh: ah, would that I had been so happy as to have died in my infancy; now I should be with God in heaven! Truly, you would be in heaven; but, nevertheless, thank the divine goodness for having spared your lives so long; for if you earnestly wish it you can and will ascend a hundred times, a hundred million times higher in heaven than you would be if you had had your wish. Every morning, as one of the elect who appeared to St. Mechtildis said to her, raise your hands to God and thank Him heartily for having granted you another day, every moment of which you can turn into a fruitful field of merits for eternal life. Let those also take notice of this who wilfully shorten the precious treasure of life, and contrary to the original intention of the Almighty precipitate themselves into a premature grave by intemperance, by unbridled anger, impurity, and wantonness. And finally, let all Christians see what an immense loss they cause themselves to suffer by wantonly wasting the time of their lives in habitual gambling, idleness, useless amusements, sleeping too long in the morning and omitting the good intention; thus they