MARY, OUR MOTHER

Reflection #30

On Contempt of the World

The thought of the vanity of the world and that all the things which the world values are but falsehood and deceit has made many souls resolve to give themselves wholly to God. "What doth it profit a man, if he gain the whole world, and suffer the loss of his own soul?" (Matthew 16:26). How many young persons has this great maxim of the Gospel brought to leave relations, country, possessions, honors and even crowns, to go and shut themselves up in a cloister or desert, there to think of God alone! The day of death is called the day of loss or destruction. "The day of destruction is at hand." (Deuteronomy 32:35). It is a day of loss, because all the goods which we have acquired on earth must all be left on the day of our death. Wherefore, St. Ambrose wisely says that we falsely call these goods our own goods because we cannot carry with us into the other world, where we must dwell forever. It is our good works alone which accompany us, and they alone will console us in eternity.
All earthly fortunes, the highest dignities, gold, silver, the most precious jewels, when looked at from the bed of death, lose their splendor; the fatal shadow of death obscures even scepters and crowns and makes us see that all which the world values is but smoke, dust, vanity and misery. And in truth, at the time of death, what use is there for all the riches acquired by one who is dying, if nothing belongs to him after death, except a wooden box in which he is placed to rot? What will the boasted beauty of the body serve when there remains of it only a little fetid dust and a few fleshless bones?
What is the life of man upon earth? Behold it as described by St. James: "What is your life? It is a vapor which appeareth for a little while, and afterwards shall vanish away." (James 4:15). Today this great man is esteemed, feared, praised; tomorrow he is despised, slandered, and cursed. "I have seen the wicked highly exalted . . ." says the Psalmist, "and I passed by, and lo he was not." (Psalms 36:35-36). He is no longer to be found in this his beloved villa, in this grand palace which he built himself; and where is he? He is become dust in the grave!
"There is a deceitful balance in his hand." (Osee 12:7). In these words the Holy Spirit warns us not to be deceived by the world, because the world weighs its goods in a false balance. We ought to weigh things in the true balance of faith, which will show us what are true goods, which those things can never be called that soon perish. St. Teresa used to say: "We should not take account of anything which ends with death." O God, what has there remained of greatness to so many first ministers of state, to so many commanders of armies, to so many princes, to so many Roman emperors--now that for them the scene is changed, and they finds themselves in eternity? "Their memory has perished with a noise." (Psalms 9:7). They made a great figure in the world, and their names resounded everywhere; but after they were dead, rank, name and everything was ended for them. It is useful to record here an inscription placed over a certain cemetery in which many men and women of rank are buried:

"Behold the end of all the pomp of earth, All human greatness, beauty, noble birth! Worms, rottenness, a little dust, a stone, Close the brief scene of life for ev'ry one."

"The fashion of this world passeth away." (I Corinthians 7:31). Our life, finally, is but a scene which passes away and speedily ends; and it must end for all, whether nobles or commoners, kings or subjects, rich or poor. Happy is he who in this scene has played his part well before God. Philip III, king of Spain, died young, at the age of forty-two years; and before he died, he said to those around him: "When I am dead, proclaim the spectacle which you now see; proclaim that, in death, to have been a king serves only to make one feel regret of having reigned." And then he ended with a sigh, saying: Oh, that during this time I had been in a desert, becoming a saint; for now I should appear with more confidence before the tribunal of Jesus Christ!"
We know the change of life which St. Francis Borgia made at the sight of the corpse of the Empress Isabella, who in life was most beautiful, but after death, struck horror in all who saw her. On beholding her, he exclaimed: "Such then is the end of all the grandeur of this world!" And he gave himself wholly to God. Oh, that we would all imitate him before death comes upon us! But let us make haste, because death runs towards us, and we know not when it will arrive. Let us not so act that nothing will remain of the light which God now gives us but remorse, and the account to be rendered of it to God, when we hold in our hands the candle at death. Let us resolve to do now what then we shall wish to have done and shall no longer be able to do.
No, my God, Thou hast borne with me long enough! I do not wish to make Thee wait any longer before seeing me give myself wholly to Thee. Thou hast many times called me to have done with the world and to give myself completely to Thy love. Now Thou callest me again! Behold me, receive me into Thy arms, for at this moment I abandon myself wholly to Thee. O spotless Lamb, who didst once sacrifice Thyself on Calvary, dying on a cross for me, first wash me with Thy Blood and pardon all the injuries Thou hast received from me, and then inflame me with Thy holy love. I love Thee above everything; I love Thee with all my soul. And what object can I find in the world more worthy of love than Thou art, or one who has loved me more?
O Mary, Mother of God, and my Advocate, pray to Him for me; obtain for me a true and lasting change of life. In thee I trust.
[Excepted from 'Devout Reflections and Meditations' by St. Alphonsus Liguori] (Public domain)