of loving the goods of this world, and for the sake of them renouncing Thee, my sovereign and infinite good. What folly have I not been guilty of; and how much it grieves me! I give Thee thanks for having made me sensible of it.
3. A hundred years hence, at most, and neither you nor I will be any longer in this world; both will have gone into the house of eternity. A day, an hour, a moment, is approaching which will be the last both for you and me; and this hour, this moment, is already fixed by Almighty God; how then can we think of anything else but of loving God, who will then be our judge?
Alas! what will my death be? O my Jesus and my judge! what will become of me when I shall have to appear before Thee to give an account of my whole life? Pardon me, I beseech Thee, before that moment arrives which will decide my happiness or misery for eternity. I am sorry for having offended Thee, my sovereign good. Hitherto I have not loved Thee; but now I will love Thee with my whole soul. Grant me the grace of perseverance. O Mary, refuge of sinners, have pity on me!
MEDITATION V.
The Loss of all Things in Death.
i. The day of destruction is at hand.1 The day of death is called the day of destruction, because then is destroyed all that man has acquired; honors, friends, riches, possessions, kingdoms — all are then no more. What then doth it profit us to gain the whole world if in death we must leave all? All is at an end at the bedside of the dying man. Is there any king, think you, — said St. Ignatius to Xavier when he sought to bring him to God, — who has taken with him into the other world even a thread of purple to mark his sovereignty? Has any rich
