July 14, 2026
Summary of the Morrow’s Meditation
We will meditate to-morrow upon another means whereby to perform our actions well, which is to perform each one of them as though it were to be the last of our life; and we shall see: 1st, that nothing is wiser; 2d, that nothing is more useful. We will then make the resolution: 1st, following the advice of St. Bernard, to ask ourselves at the commencement of each action: If thou wert destined to die after this action, wouldst thou do it, and how wouldst thou do it? 2d, always to keep ourselves in the state in which we should desire to be found at our death. Our spiritual nosegay shall be the words of St. Bernard: “If thou hadst to die in a few moments wouldst thou do this?”
Meditation for the Morning
Let us adore Jesus Christ inviting us in the gospel to be at any moment ready to die. Blessed is that servant, He says, whom when his Lord shall come He shall find doing his duty (Matt. xxiv. 46). Let us thank Him for a counsel so important, and let us ask of Him grace to profit by it.
FIRST POINT
How Wise it is to Perform each Action as though it were Destined to be the Last of our Life
Nothing is more uncertain than the moment of death. Death will come, says Jesus Christ, at an hour when you think not; it will seize you suddenly, like a thief in the night (I. Thess. v. 2). Now in this state of uncertainty, what does wisdom say to us if it be not that we ought at every moment to live and act as though we ought to die the moment afterwards? “Happy and prudent is he who, at every moment of his life, endeavors to be such as he would desire to be found at his death” (I. Imit. xxiii. 4). If the father of a family could but know at what hour the thieves would come, he would watch for that hour, says Jesus Christ, in order to prevent them from entering into his house; but because he is ignorant of it, he is continually on his guard. In the same way, O my God, Thou hast hidden from us the hour of our death, in order to urge us to spend each day as though it were our last and to perform each action as though it were our final one. There is no question of deferring from one day to another; there is no question of saying: I will live better when I have terminated such or such an affair which absorbs my attention, when I have done with these embarrassments; I must this very day live and act as though I had to die to-night, because perhaps it will so happen. Perhaps also, as I know, it may not be so, but in a matter so serious as is that of our salvation, wisdom does not allow us to reassure ourselves by a perhaps, and thereby to risk our eternity. Every day, said Job, I expect the moment of my death; Thou wilt call me, O Lord, and I will answer Thee (Job xiv. 14, 15). St. Francis Borgia went farther still: he recommended his religious to place themselves twenty-four times a day in the position of a man who was about to die, and to perform everything as being obliged to render an account to God of it the next moment. Do we imitate the saints in this practice?
SECOND POINT
How Useful it is to Perform each Action as though it were Destined to be our Last
It is an infallible means of doing all things well. With what fervor should we not pray if we knew that we were saying our last prayer, after which we should no longer have any time in which to ask pardon of God and implore His mercy; with what perfection should we not make our confession if we knew it was the last, and the communion after which we should have to yield up our soul. If an angel of God had come to tell us in the morning that we were to die the same night, how we should sanctify the day, how holy would be all our actions, how irreproachable our words, how pious our thoughts, how pure our desires, how well employed all our moments would be! This is why the author of the Imitation says to us: “You ought to conduct yourselves in regard to all your actions and all your thoughts as though you were going to die immediately afterwards;” and he adds: “Think in the morning that perhaps you will not see the evening, and at night that perhaps you will not see the next morning” (I. Imit. xxiii. 1, 3). This practice is still a means of knowing the state of our soul and seeing what there is in it which needs correction. Let us ask ourselves: If I had to die to-day, what is it which would trouble my conscience? Should I do the action I am now performing, and should I do it in the way in which I am performing it? If in answer to these questions conscience replies by pointing out some defects to us, let us promptly obey its dictates; if we find nothing to trouble us, let us be encouraged and have confidence. The steward whose accounts are in order is not afraid of his master’s visit.
Resolutions and spiritual nosegay as above.