Part I, Chapter XIII

Fifth Meditation: On Death

Preparation

1. Place yourself in the presence of God. 2. Beseech him to inspire you by his grace. 3. Imagine yourself to be in the extremity of sickness, lying on your death-bed, without any hope of recovery.

Considerations

1. Consider the uncertainty of the day of your death. O my soul! thou shalt one day depart out of this body! but when shall the time be? Shall it be in winter or in summer? In the city or in the country? By day or by night? Shall it be suddenly or after due preparation? By sickness or by accident? Shalt thou have leisure to make thy confession? Shalt thou be assisted by thy spiritual father? Alas! of all this we know nothing; one thing only is certain: we shall die, and sooner than we imagine.

2. Consider that then the world shall end for you, for it shall last no longer to you; it shall be reversed before your eyes; for then the pleasures, the vanities, the worldly joys, and vain affections, of your life shall seem like empty shadows and airy clouds. Ah, wretch! for what toys and deceitful vanities have I offended my God? You shall then see that, for a mere nothing, you have forsaken him. On the other hand, devotion and good works will then seem to you sweet and delightful. Oh, why did I not follow this lovely and pleasant path? Then the sins which before seemed very small will appear as large as mountains, and your devotion very small. 3. Consider the long and languishing farewell which your soul shall then give to this poor world? She shall then bid adieu to riches, vanities, and vain company; to pleasures, pastimes, friends, and neighbors; to kindred, children, husband, and wife; in a word, to every creature; and finally to her own body, which she shall leave pale, ghastly, hideous, and loathsome.

4. Consider with what precipitancy they will carry off this body to bury it under the earth; after which the world will think no more of you than you have thought of others. “The peace of God be with him,” shall they say, and that is all. O death! how void art thou of regard or pity!

5. Consider how the soul, being departed from the body, takes her flight to the right hand or to the left. Alas! whither shall yours go? what way shall it take? No other than that which it began here in this world.

Affections and Resolutions

1. Pray to God, and cast yourself into his arms. Ah! receive me, O Lord! into thy protection at that dreadful day; make that hour happy and favorable to me; and rather let all the other days of my life be sad and sorrowful.

2. Despise the world. Since then I know not the hour in which I must leave thee, O wretched world! I will no more set my heart on thee. O my dear friends and relations! pardon me if I love you no more, but with a holy friendship, which may last eternally; for why should I unite myself to you, since I shall be one day forced to break those ties asunder?

I will then prepare myself for that hour, and take all possible care to end this journey happily; I will secure the state of my conscience to the best of my power, and will form immediate and efficacious resolutions for the amendment of such and such defects.

Conclusion

1. Give thanks to God for these resolutions which he has given you. Offer them to his Divine Majesty. Beseech him to grant you a happy death, through the merits of the death of his beloved Son; implore the assistance of the blessed Virgin and the saints in heaven.

Our Father. Hail Mary. Make a nosegay of myrrh.

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