Practical Devotion of the Day: The last thoughts of the day

This night may be the last. We are like the bird on a branch, says Sales: fatal lead can catch us at any moment! The rich Dives slept and never woke up again; among the young and the old, how many sudden deaths! And under such lightning, how many falls into Hell! Do you think about it when you go to sleep? And can you sleep peacefully, with sin in your heart, without an act of contrition, and without proposing to confess as soon as possible?

Commend the spirit to God. The worldly, in bed, thinks of the soft feathers on which he lies, of the business of tomorrow; the faithful soul, having begun the day with God, ends it with Him. His first sigh was to give his heart to God, the last is to put the spirit back in God's hands with the words of the dying Jesus: In your hands , O Lord, I commend my spirit; or with those of the Levite Stephen: Lord Jesus. Receive my spirit. But do you do it?

Sanctify sleep. Sleeping, if there was no need to restore strength, would be a waste of time. Sleep is somewhat like death; by sleeping, we become useless to ourselves and to others. Offer to sleep only as much as necessary; seven, at most eight hours of sleep, says the very moderate Francesco de Sales. Offer your sleep to the glory of God, intending to make an act of God's love with each breath. - Ask yourself how you behave in this regard.

PRACTICE. - Recite the three ejaculations today and every evening to invoke Jesus, Joseph and Mary.