Page:Sermons for all the Sundays in the year.djvu/96

 given to us not for repose or enjoyment, but for labour and suffering, that by toils and pains we may merit Paradise. ”Hæc vita homini non ad quitem data est, sed ad laborem." (Serm. xliii.) Hence the same holy doctor says, that, though death is the punishment of sin, still the miseries of this life are so great, that death appears to be a relief rather than a chastisement: ”Ut mors remediuni videatur esse, non pœna. ” 2. To those who love God, the severest of all the crosses of this life are the assaults of hell to rob them of the divine grace. Hence St. Denis the Areopagite says, that they joyfully meet death, as the end of their combats, and embrace it with gladness, because they hope to die a good death, and to be thus freed from all fear of ever again falling into sin. ”Divino gaudio et mortis terminum tanquam ad finem certaminum tendunt, non amplius metuentus pervertii." (De Hier. Eccl., cap. vii.) The greatest consolation which a soul that loves God experiences at the approach of death, arises from the thought of being delivered from so many temptations, from so many remorses of conscience, and from so many dangers of offending God. Ah! says St. Ambrose, as long as we live, "we walk among snares." We walk continually in the midst of the snares of our enemies, who lie in wait to deprive us of the life of grace. It was the fear of falling into sin that made St. Peter of Alcantara, in his last moments, say to a lay brother who, in attending the saint, accidently touched him: ”Brother, remove, remove from me, for I am still alive and in danger of being lost." The thought of being freed from the danger of sin by death consoled St. Teresa, and made her rejoice as often as she heard the clock strike, that an hour of the combat was past. Hence she used to say: ”In each moment of life we may sin and lose God." Hence the news of approaching death filled the saints not with sorrow or regret, but with sentiments of joy; because they knew that their struggles and the dangers of losing the divine grace were soon to have an end. 3. ”But the just man, if he be prevented with death, shall be in rest." (Wis. iv. 7.) He who is prepared to die, regards death as a relief. If, says St. Cyprian, you