Practical devotion of the day: the last moment of your life

1. When will it be. Blond-haired young man with a fresh and rosy face, tell me, how long will you live? Also count your years in tens; but if the years deceive you, but if tomorrow I die, what will become of you? O man or woman, you wait for old age to convert to God; but your peers, your robust and vigorous friend, disappeared in a short time, and are you so sure of your day? Today you start it: will you finish it? It takes very little to kill us! And when will I die? What a terrible thought!

2. Where it will be. In my house, in my bed, surrounded by my loved ones? Or rather in a foreign country, alone. without help whatsoever? Will I, in a long or short illness, have time to prepare? Will time and strength be enough for me to have the last sacraments? Will the confessor stand by my side to console my agonies, or is a sudden death behind me in the middle of a street? I ignore it; yet I do not take care of myself!

3. What it will be. Will I touch the death of Judas or the sweet passage of St. Joseph? Will the anger of remorse torment me, the agitation of the desperate, the anger of the reprobate, or will the peace of the just, the tranquility of the pure soul, the smile of the saint comfort me? Will I see the gates of Heaven or those of Hell open in my face? Think about it: your life is preparation for your death; as you live so you will die. But if today, if in this hour I died, what would be your passage? Whoever wants to live as a pagan will not die as a Christian!

PRACTICE. - Think a little seriously when you die; recites three Pater to S. Giuseppe.