Lent is the perfect time to prepare for our death

(LifeSiteNews) — Every now and then, one feels lost, dry, not feeling faith. The once youthful desire to be a saint seems to have been nothing more than a flash in the pan. The strong, almost tangible faith that once existed now appears to have vanished. Daily duties, obligations, and demands seem to weigh heavier than trust in God. Who hasn’t felt this way?

Faith can truly fade, as seen in the example of King Joash, who initially pleased the Lord but, at one point, distanced himself from the true God (cf. 2 Chr 24:18-22), or in Judas Iscariot, who was a disciple and later chosen by Christ Himself to be an apostle, only to become a traitor (cf. Lk 6:16). However, we must remember that faith is not an enduring emotion – in fact, it is not an emotion at all; faith is a decision to adhere to the truth revealed by the One and Triune God. Adherence to that truth means acting in accordance with it, as entrusted by Christ to His Church. Even saints have experienced a deprivation of “feeling faith,” like Saint Teresa of Calcutta, who endured 50 years of spiritual dryness, but did not cease to live according to saintly virtue.

“Watch and pray that you may not undergo the test” (cf. Mt 26:41). Faith does not always need to be felt; it needs to be exercised, whether we feel it or not, just as muscles require regular exercise to prevent atrophy, whether we desire it or not. What is not stimulated, withers.

How, then, can one exercise faith? The simple answer is that “it must be cultivated through the practice of charity, prayer, listening to the Word, communal life, instruction, as well as – pre-eminently – through the assiduous reception of the sacraments,” as stated by the International Theological Commission (The Reciprocity Between Faith and Sacraments in the Sacramental Economy, number 58).

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We must, however, recognize that it is not always easy to respond to God’s call to Him – that is, to practice charity humbly, to pray attentively, and so on. The flesh is weak. Pope John Paul II, in his book Crossing the Threshold of Hope, states that we must be aware of the dangers to which the life of the world is subject, its future in time, as well as its final, eternal, eschatological future. It is precisely this struggle in man that gives rise to the need to make God present.

In other words, being aware of the consequences of distancing ourselves from our Creator and not embracing His Revelation, as well as the rewards of victory, helps us fight, strengthen our faith, and move forward toward our Creator and His will. To this end, few resources are as powerful as the magnificent work of Saint Alphonsus Maria de Liguori, Preparation for Death.

According to the author himself, former bishop and now Doctor of the Church, the book is intended for those who wish to establish themselves in virtue and advance in the spiritual life, serving as material for sermons and spiritual exercises. The themes – The Eternal Truths – revolve around hell and heaven, centered on the momentum a quo pendet aeternitas (the moment on which eternity depends): death. It is tempting to reproduce the entire book, but let us content ourselves with a few provocative excerpts.

First and foremost, it is striking that St. Alphonsus asserts that the majority of people are condemned: “Were God to bear forever with sinners, no one would be damned; but the most common opinion is that the greater part of adults, even among Christians, are lost.” He emphasizes that in the parable of the weeds, the servants of the good man of the house, noticing that weeds had grown alongside the wheat in the field, wanted to uproot them. The master, however, denies this: “Suffer both to grow until the harvest, and in the time of the harvest I will say to the reapers: Gather up first the cockle, and bind it into bundles to burn” (cf. Mt 13:30).

The author then explains: “God shows mercy to those who fear Him, but not to those who avail themselves of His mercy to banish the fear of God from their hearts…. Sinners wish to sin without losing the hope of salvation. They sin and say, ‘God is merciful, I will commit this sin, and afterward confess it.’” But St. Alphonsus exclaims: “O God, such too was the language of so many who are now in hell.”

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In modern times, hell has become an inoffensive word, often relating to a so-called vague, anachronistic, medieval idea. St. Alphonsus could not underscore more strongly the evil of this very real locum tormentum – place of torments (cf. Lk 16:28). hell is a punishment consisting of the pain of being separated from God, its principal torment, but also of the pain of the senses.

The sense of sight: “How pitiable the condition of a man who is shut up in a dark cave for forty or fifty years, or during his whole life! Hell is a dungeon closed up on every side, into which a ray of the sun, or of any other light, shall never enter.” More agonizing, actually, is that “the damned have only the light which serves to increase their torments. In that glimmering light they will see the deformity of their associates, and of the devils, who will assume horrible forms in order to increase the terrors of the damned.”

The sense of smell: “How painful to be confined in a close room along with a putrid corpse! Out of their carcasses, says the Prophet Isaiah, ‘shall rise a slink’ (cf. Isa 34:3). The damned must remain in the midst of so many millions of the reprobate, who, though forever alive to pain, are called carcasses on account of the stench which they send forth. St. Bonaventure says, that if the body of one of the damned were placed on this earth, it would, by its stench, be sufficient to cause the death of all men.”

The sense of hearing: It “will be tormented by the unceasing howling and wailing of those miserable beings, who are sunk in an abyss of despair. The devils will torment the damned by continual noises. ‘The sound of dread is always in his ears’ (cf. Job 15:21). How painful to a person longing for sleep to hear the groans of a sick man, the barking of a dog, or the screams of an infant! But, oh! how miserable the condition of the damned, who must listen incessantly for all eternity to the clamor and cries of the companions from their torments!”

The sense of touch: “The pain which most severely torments the senses of the damned arises from the fire of hell, which tortures the sense of touch. ‘The vengeance on the flesh of the ungodly is fire and worms’ (cf. Sir 7:19).… Even in this life, the pain of fire is the greatest of all torments; but according to St. Augustine, our fire, compared with the fire of hell, is but painted fire.… But we must always keep in mind, that all the torments of this earth are, as St. Chrysostom says, but a shadow of the pains of hell.”

It will also “arise the pain of immobility. ‘Let them become unmovable as a stone’ (cf. Ex 15:16). Thus, in whatsoever position the damned will fall into hell after the last day, in that they must remain, without ever changing their posture, and without ever being able to move hand or foot, as long as God will be God.”

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We must have this clear before us: heaven is eternal, just as hell is – literally, not figuratively. We read in the book: “Were hell not eternal, it would not be hell.… This belief in eternity is an article of faith; it is not an opinion, but a truth attested by God in so many places in Holy Scripture. ‘And these shall go into everlasting punishment’ (cf. Mt 25:46). ‘Who shall suffer eternal punishment in destruction’ (cf. 2 Thes 1:9). ‘Every one shall be salted with fire’ (cf. Mk 9:48). As salt prevents putrefaction, so the fire of hell, while it tortures the damned, performs the office of salt by preserving their life.”

Isn’t it spine-chilling? St. Alphonsus continues:

He that enters hell, will not depart from it for all eternity. This thought made David tremble and say: “Let not the deep swallow me up, and let not the pit shut her mouth upon me” (cf. Ps 68:16). As soon as the damned fall into that pit of torments, its mouth is closed never to be opened. In hell there is a gate for admission, but none for egress.… But the unbeliever will say: Can it be just to punish a sin which lasts but a moment, with eternal torments? But how, I ask, can a sinner, for a momentary pleasure, dare to insult a God of infinite majesty? St. Thomas says that, even in human judgments, the punishment of crime is measured, not from its duration, but from its malice. hell is but a small punishment for mortal sin; an offence against infinite majesty deserves infinite chastisement. “In every mortal sin”, says St. Bernardine of Sienna, “an infinite insult is offered to God; but an infinite injury merits infinite punishment.” But, because, says St. Thomas, a creature is not capable of suffering pain infinite in point of intensity, God inflicts punishment infinite in extension or duration.

Not only that, but the “damned will be tormented in the memory by the remembrance of the time which was given to them in this life, that they might save their souls, and which they spent in procuring their own damnation; by the remembrance of the graces which they have received from God, and of which they have not profited. They will be tormented in the understanding by thinking of the great good which they have lost in losing heaven and God, and that this loss is forever irreparable. In the will, by seeing that they will be refused whatsoever they ask.”

On the other hand, the vision of God in heaven is so indescribably good that the torments of the senses “are nothing, compared with the pain of loss.… According to St. Augustine, if the damned enjoyed the vision of God, ‘they should feel no pain, and hell should be converted into a paradise’ … sinners who are content to live for months and years without God do not understand this pain. However, they will know at death the great good which they lose. At its departure from this world, the soul, as St. Antonine says, instantly sees that it has been created for God. Hence it will suddenly rush forward to embrace its Sovereign Good: but, if it be in sin, God will cast it off.”

The hope of heaven should draw us to “bear patiently the afflictions of this life, and to offer them to God in return for the sufferings which Jesus Christ endured for the love of us,” St. Alphonsus says. “But what shall we be able to say on these joys, when the most enlightened of the saints knew not how to give us an idea of that happiness which God has prepared for his faithful servants? … At present it is impossible for us to comprehend the happiness of heaven, because we have no idea but of earthly enjoyments.”

In heaven, the saint affirms, one “will always desire and always possess that joy. It shall be always satisfied, and always thirsty: forever thirsty, and always satiated with delights: because the desire of heaven begets no pain, and its possession produces no tediousness.”

The wisdom enlightened by grace with which St. Alphonsus wrote those words calls us to “be persuaded that eternal salvation is for us the most important affair – the only affair – and that if once neglected, it becomes an irreparable affair if we ever make a mistake.”

The author proposes a stimulating image:

Were there on this earth two classes of men, one mortal and the other immortal, and were the former to see the latter seeking after the things of this world, its honors, goods, and amusements, they should certainly exclaim: O fools that you are! you have it in your power to acquire eternal riches, and do you fix your thoughts on those miserable and transitory things? Will you, for these, condemn yourselves, to an eternity of torments in the next life? Leave us, for whom all shall end at death, to seek after these earthly goods. But no; we are all immortal. How then does it happen that so many lose their souls for the miserable pleasures of this life? How does it come to pass, says Salvian, that Christians believe in judgment, hell, and eternity, and still live as if they feared them not?

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St. Alphonsus consistently emphasizes in his sermons the importance of asking God for the grace of perseverance and divine love, “the two graces most necessary for the attainment of eternal salvation.” The first is the most crucial, for “those who love God labor to avoid whatever is offensive to Him and seek to please Him in all things.” The second, citing St. Bernard, is the grace by which we obtain the eternal crown, for “Paradise is promised to those who begin a good life, but is only given to those who persevere.”

Let us ask our Lord these graces. Let us seek repentance, prayer, confession, charity, a deeper understanding of our faith, and the Eucharist – not tomorrow, not later, but right now.

Our Creator waits for us. Let us not leave Him waiting, for while He is merciful, we must also remember that He is just. Finis venit, venit finis – an end is coming, the end is coming (cf. Ez 7:6).