Preparatory Prayer: "O Lord, in the morning Thou shalt hear my voice; in the morning I will stand before Thee . . . conduct me, O Lord, in Thy justice." Psalm 5.
Setting:
It is likely that I will sometime kneel at a deathbed. This morning, as I begin my prayer, I am invited to construct the scene. The dying person breathes audibly and with great difficulty; the eyes are closed, though perhaps he opens them occasionally and glances around. Friends and relatives pray all the time, commending the soul, so soon to appear before its Judge, to His mercy. The priest is there, by the head of the bed, speaking words of comfort and suggesting ejaculations. Somebody must hold the candle with the dying man, for his hands are too weak. Presently there is a hush and a longdrawnout sigh, and the word passes from one to the other that he is gone. May he rest in peace! Already, with the speed of an arrow, his soul has plunged into the light of God's countenance. Judgment is swift and irrevocable. Let me kneel in spirit with this departed soul; watch and listen to all that follows, for, in point of fact, I shall most certainly be there one day, perhaps this day.
Fruit:
That I be spared the supreme misfortune of dying in mortal sin.
1. The clock on my table is pointing to a quarter past seven. Since a quarter past six, six thousand people have died. Six thousand die every hour, on an average. It is not rash to presume that, of the last six thousand, one has died in mortal
sin. He has made a bad Confession, perhaps; he has been a slave to impurity; he has wronged his neighbor, been seriously dishonest in the course of his business, and has never repented. And now he is face to face with his Judge. He has declared himself an enemy of God and has passed out of this world without repentance.
A prisoner in chains, conscious of his guilt, may feign indifference to the proceedings in his trial, may adopt a cynical attitude, but in reality, he is afraid, dreading the outcome, filled with terror lest capital sentence be decided upon. A business manager who has swindled his employer out of thousands of dollars will look forward with fear to the investigations and questionings. A child who has seriously disobeyed, who has been warned that no easy view would be taken of this particular offense if it was committed, will feel very uncomfortable if discovered in the act.
We fear even our fellow men when our conscience reproaches us. We tremble before just anger and the just sentence, even when the judge is a mere man like ourselves. What then must be the torture of the soul that shuffles off this mortal coil, steps into eternity, and finds itself standing in the full light of God's countenance and in it reads the wrath of God? "It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God."
Lord, pierce my flesh with Your fear. I look back over my sins, over the mortal sins I have dared to commit. Lord, where would I be at this moment had You taken me at my word when I declared myself Your enemy? Had I died on that night, in the company of that sinful companion . . . ?
Repentance is impossible when once the soul has passed through the gates of eternity. Still, it will help me in my prayer to summon up the vision of what would happen if the poor soul were to cry out for mercy. "God, be merciful to me a sinner. I have sinned, it is true, but I have always learned that You are a God of compassion. Exercise now that tender mercy!" If that plea were ever spoken in such circumstances, how the enemy of souls would howl with fiendish laughter!
"Mercy, forget it! The reign of mercy is ended forever. In the life that has passed there is always a way back; God is patient and abounding in mercy. But you have abused that mercy. Before this throne man finds, not mercy any longer, but only strict justice."
I can decide beforehand what my sentence is going to be. By availing myself now of the mercy of God, still the Friend of Sinners, not yet the inexorable Judge, I can ensure that welcome and that commendation and that blessing which will tell me I have saved my soul. "Now is the acceptable time; now is the day of salvation." A nun visited a convict's cell. He was to be hanged in the morning and all efforts to make him go to Confession had been useless. Just before she left the cell, the nun turned back, looked at the unfortunate man seated there on the small stool, and said to him: "What would not a devil in hell give to have your chances!"
The words proved to be a vehicle of grace to his soul.