The first answered: the greatest evil is sickness.
The second declared: the greatest evil is old age.
The third explained: the greatest evil is to have to admit in the face of death that you have bungled your life.
I hope earnestly, by the mercy of God, not to waste my life but to assure my salvation. The true problem is, however, to know whether I shall have acquired for God during my life the merits He expects; if I shall have saved in my lifetime all the souls that were dependent on my sanctity; if I shall have procured for the Lord all the glory that He wished.
To bungle my life. The expression is very strong. But between bungling my life and making it productive of the greatest returns, there is an enormous distance, a tremendous range. If I have to appear before God today, what would I think of my life? Would I be completely satisfied with it? Does it offer, truly, completely, honestly, the expected fruit of my existence?
"O my God, am I not deluded? Is that what a life of a religious means? But no, let me see. Well, but then, what do I expect?"_________________
Adapted from Meditations for Religious
by Father Raoul Plus, S.J. (© 1939, Frederick Pustet Co.)
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