The following reflection was taken from The Book of Prayer and Meditation by Ven. Louis of Granada, OP. In it, you will find a treasury of wisdom as you ponder your mortality and strive after Heaven.
All Shall Pass Away
After all these miseries, succeedeth the last, and of all others most terrible, which is death. This is that misery, whereof a certain Poet lamented, saying: The best days of mortal men are those that pass first away, and then succeedeth a number of sicknesses, and diseases, and with them heavy and doleful age, and continual trouble, and above all, the sharpness of cruel death. This is the lodge and end of man’s life, whereof holy Job said: I know well O Lord, that thou wilt deliver me over to death, where there is a house prepared for all men living.
How many the miseries are that be included in this misery alone, I will not take upon me to declare at this present. Only I will rehearse what a certain holy father saith by way of exclamation against death in this wise. O death, how bitter is the remembrance of thee? How quickly and suddenly stealest thou upon us? How secret are thy paths, and ways? How doubtful is thy hour? And how universal is thy seignory, and dominion? The mighty can not escape thy hands: the wise can not hide themselves from thee: and the strong lose their strength in thy presence. Thou accountest no man rich: forsomuch as no man is able to ransom his life of thee for money. Thou goest every where: thou searchest every where: and thou art every where. Thou witherest the herbs: thou drinkest up the winds: thou corruptest the air: thou changest the ages: thou alterest the world: thou stickest not to sup up the sea: all things do increase, and diminish, but thou continuest always at one stay. Thou art the hammer that always striketh: thou art the sword that never blunteth: thou art the snare whereinto every one falleth: thou art the prison wherein every one entereth: thou art the sea wherein all do perish: thou art the pain that every one suffereth: and the tribute that every one payeth.
Death Comes Without Warning
O cruel death, why hast thou not compassion of us, but comest stealing suddenly upon us, to snatch us away in our best times, and to interrupt our affairs when they are well begone, and brought to a good forwardness! Thou robbest from us in one hour, as much as we have gained in many years. Thou cuttest of the succession of kindreds, and families: Thou leavest kingdoms without any heirs. Thou fillest the world with widows, and orphans: Thou breakest of the studies of great clerks: Thou overthrowest good wits in their ripest age: Thou joinest the end with the beginning, without giving place to the middle: To conclude, thou art such a one, as almighty God washeth his hands of thee, and cleareth himself in plain words, saying: That he never made thee, but that thou hadst thine entry into the world by the very envy and craft of the devil.
The Glory of This Life
These are the miseries of our life, with infinite others: the consideration whereof a man ought to direct unto two principal ends among others: the one, to the knowledge and contempt of the glory of this world: and the other, to the knowledge and contempt of ourselves. For this consideration serveth very well both for the one, and the other. But wilt thou understand in one word what the glory of this world is? Mark and consider with attention the state and condition of man’s life, and thereby shalt thou perceive, what the glory of this life is.
Tell me (I pray thee) can the glory of man be more long or more stable than the life of man? It is most certain that it can not. For this glory is an accident, which is grounded upon this life, as upon his subject, or foundation, and therefore when the foundation and subject faileth, the accidents must needs fail withal. And for this very cause no riches, no pleasures, no delights can continue any longer time with a man until his grave. Forsomuch as then faileth the foundation, whereupon all these things are built, and have their stay: which foundation is our life. Now tell me then, if this life be such as thou hast now heard described unto thee: to wit: short, uncertain, frail, inconstant, deceitful, and miserable, how long can the building endure, that shall be framed upon this foundation? How long can the accidents continue, that shall be grounded upon so weak a substance? When thou hast considered this point well with thyself, thou must needs say, that they shall endure no longer than the foundation and substance itself endureth: and thou must needs confess, that many times they endure not so long: as we see by daily experience in the goods of fortune, which with many men have an end before their life endeth.
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This article is taken from a chapter in The Book of Prayer and Meditation by Venerable Louis of Granada, OP which is available from TAN Books.
