4. Consider how the survivors will hasten to put that body away and hide it beneath the earth — and then the world will scarce give you another thought, or remember you, any more than you have done to those already gone. “God rest his soul!” men will say, and that is all. O death, how pitiless, how hard you are!
5. Consider that when it quits the body, the soul must go at once to the right hand or the left. To which will your soul go? What side will it take? It will take the same side to which it had been drawn voluntarily while still in this world.
Affections and Resolutions
1. Pray to God, and throw yourself into his arms. O Lord, be my strength in that day of anguish! May that hour be blessed and favorable to me, if all the rest of my life be full of sadness and trial.
2. Despise the world. Since as I do not know the hour in which I must quit the world, I will not grow fond of it. O dear friends, beloved ones of my heart, be content that I cleave to you only with a holy friendship which may last forever. Why should I cling to you with a tie that must be broken?
I will prepare for the hour of death and take every precaution for its peaceful arrival; I will thoroughly examine the state of my conscience and put in order whatever is wanting.
Conclusion
Thank God for inspiring you with these resolutions: offer them to his majesty: entreat him anew to grant you a happy death by the merits of his dear Son’s death. Ask the prayers of the Blessed Virgin and the saints.
Our Father, who art in heaven … etc.
Gather a bouquet of myrrh.
Chapter 14
Sixth Meditation — On Judgment
Preparation
1. Place yourself in the presence of God.
2. Entreat him to inspire you.
Considerations
1. When the time that God has appointed for the end of this world comes, and after many terrible signs and warnings which will overwhelm men with fear, the whole earth will be destroyed, and nothing will be left.
2. Afterward, all men, except for those already risen, will rise from the dead, and at the voice of the archangel will appear in the valley of Jehoshaphat. But alas, with what diverse appearances! For some will be glorious and shining, others horrible and ghastly.
3. Consider the majesty with which the sovereign judge will appear, surrounded by all his saints and angels, his cross, the sign of grace to the good and of terror to the evil, shining brighter than the sun.
4. This sovereign judge will, with his awful word, instantly fulfilled, separate the evil and the good, setting the one on his right hand, the other on his left — an eternal separation, for they will never meet again.
5. This separation made, the books of conscience will be opened, and all men will behold both the malice of the wicked and how they have despised God, and the penitence of the good and the results of the grace they received. Nothing will be hidden. O my God, what confusion to the one, what rejoicing to the other! Consider the final sentence of the wicked: “Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels.” Dwell upon these awful words. “Go,” he says — forever discarding these wretched sinners, banishing them forever from his presence. He calls them “cursed”: O my soul, what a curse, a curse involving all other curses, all possible evil, an irrevocable curse, including all time and eternity, condemning them to everlasting fire. Think what that eternity of suffering implies.
6. Then consider the sentence of the good. “Come,” the judge says — O blessed, loving word with which God draws us to himself and receives us in his bosom. “Blessed of my Father” — O blessing above all blessings! “Inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the beginning of the world.” O my God, and that kingdom will know no end!
Affections and Resolutions
1. Tremble, my soul, at the thought. O God, who will be my stay in that hour when the pillars of the earth are shaken?
2. Abhor your sins, which alone can cause you to be lost when that fearful day comes. Surely, I will judge myself now, that I be not judged; I will examine my conscience, accuse, condemn, punish myself, that the judge may not condemn me then. I will confess my faults and follow the counsels given me.
Conclusion
Thank God for having given you means of safety in that terrible day, and time for repentance. Offer him your heart and ask for grace to use it well.
Our Father, who art in heaven … etc.
Gather your bouquet.
Chapter 15
Seventh Meditation — On Hell
Preparation
1. Place yourself in God’s presence.
2. Humble yourself and ask for his help.
3. Picture to yourself a dark city, reeking with the flames of sulfur and brimstone, inhabited by citizens who cannot get out.
Considerations
1. Even so the lost are plunged in their infernal abyss, suffering indescribable torture in every sense and every member. Because they used their members and senses for sin, it is just that through them they should suffer now. Those eyes which delighted in impure, evil sights, now behold devils; the ears which took pleasure in unholy words, now are deafened with yells of despair; and so on with the other senses.
2. Beyond all these sufferings, there is one greater still, the privation and pain of loss of God’s glory, which is forever denied to their sight. Consider how Absalom did not want to be released from exile, if he was not allowed to see his father’s face (2 Sam 14:32); how much more painful will it be to be deprived forever of the blessed vision of God?
3. Consider how terrible the pains of hell will be because they are eternal. If the irritating bite of an insect, or the restlessness of fever, makes an ordinary night seem so long and tedious, how terrible will the endless night of eternity be, where nothing will be found except despair, blasphemy, and fury!
Affections and Resolutions
1. Read [Isaiah] the prophet’s descriptions of the terrors of the Lord,8 and ask your soul whether it can face them — whether you can bear to lose your God forever.
2. Confess that you have repeatedly deserved to do so. Resolve from now on to act differently, and to rescue yourself from this abyss. Resolve on distinct, definite acts by which you may avoid sin, and thus escape eternal death.
Give thanks, offer yourself, pray.
Chapter 16
Eighth Meditation — On Paradise
Preparation
1. Place yourself in the presence of God.
2. Invoke his aid.
Considerations
1. Imagine a lovely, calm night, when the heavens are bright with countless stars. Add to the beauty of such a night the incredible beauty of a glorious summer day, but the sun’s brightness does not hinder the clear shining of moon or stars. And then be sure that it all falls immeasurably short of the glory of Paradise. O bright and blessed