Page:AceticLibraryV2PreparationForDeath.djvu/93

 crowned after death? S. Cyprian says, "We cannot fear to die, who await our crown when we are killed."

How can any one fear death, who knows that dying in grace, his body will become immortal: " This mortal must put on immortality." (i Cor. xv. 53.) He who loves God and desires to see Him, regards life as a pain and death as a joy: " He lives patiently he dies delightedly," says S. Augustine. S. Thomas of Villanova says, " that death, if it finds a man sleeping, comes as a thief, robs him, kills him, and casts him into the pit of hell;" but if death finds a man vigilant, it salutes him as the ambassador of God, and says, " The Lord expects thee at the nuptial feast; come, and I will lead thee to the blessed kingdom that thou hast desired."

Oh with what joy does he await death who is in the grace of God, hoping, as he does, soon to see Jesus Christ, and to hear Him say, " Well done, good and faithful servant; thou hast been faithful over a few things, I will make thee ruler over many things." (S. Matt. xxv. 21.) Oh how well then will he understand the force of the repentance, the prayers, the alienation from the things of this world, and all that he has done for God! " Say ye to the righteous, that it shall be well with him; for they shall eat the fruits of their doings." (Isa. iii. 10.) Then will he who has loved God enjoy the fruit of all his good works. Therefore did Father Hippolitus Durazzo, when a friend of his, a religious, was dying, with every sign of salvation, rejoice and not weep. For how absurd it would be, remarks S. John Chrysostom, to believe in an eternal heaven, and yet to pity any one who goes there. What joy it will bring to him, who has loved Jesus Christ, and who has often received Jesus Christ in the Holy Communion to see this same Jesus enter his room at the most solemn hour of death, to accompany him in his journey to the other life. Oh happy he who can then say with S. Philip Neri, " Behold my love, behold my love."

But some will say, "Who can tell what fate will be mine? Perhaps, after all, my end will be an unhappy one!" But to those who thus speak, I ask, " What is it that makes death dreadful?" Sin only; therefore it is sin that we ought to fear and not death. S. Ambrose observes, that "it is clear that the