Devotion of the day: three things to know

Life goes by. Childhood has already passed; youth and virility may have already passed; How much life do I have left? Perhaps a third, two thirds of life has already passed; maybe I already have one foot in the pit; and how do I use that little bit of life I have left? Every day it slips out of my hand, disappears like a mist! Sun; the past hour never returns, and why don't I care? Why do I always say: Tomorrow I will convert, I will amend myself, I will become a saint? What if tomorrow is no more for me?

Death comes. When you least expect it, when it seems most unlikely, in the midst of the most flowery projects, death is behind you, spies on your steps; in an instant you are gone! In vain he fled it, in vain I strove to avoid any danger to your health, in vain do you tire yourself out to live long years; death does not make an antechamber, it vibrates the blow, and everything is over for it. How do you think about it? How do you prepare for it? Today it can come; are you calm of conscience?

Eternity awaits me. Here is the sea that swallows every river, eternity… I leave a short life, to throw myself into an eternal life, without end, without changing, without ever leaving it. The days of pain seem long; endless are the nights for the languid; and if the eternity of Hell awaits me? ... What a fright! Always suffer, always ... What do you do to escape such a horrible punishment? Don't you want to embrace penance to reach blessed Eternity?

PRACTICE. - Think often: Life passes, death comes, eternity awaits me.