The Twenty-Fourth Chapter

     IN ALL things consider the end; how you shall stand before the strict Judge from Whom nothing

is hidden and Who will pronounce judgment in all justice, accepting neither bribes nor excuses.

And you, miserable and wretched sinner, who fear even the countenance of an angry man, what

answer will you make to the God Who knows all your sins? Why do you not provide for yourself

against the day of judgment when no man can be excused or defended by another because each

will have enough to do to answer for himself? In this life your work is profitable, your tears

acceptable, your sighs audible, your sorrow satisfying and purifying.

     The patient man goes through a great and salutary purgatory when he grieves more over the

malice of one who harms him than for his own injury; when he prays readily for his enemies and

forgives offenses from his heart; when he does not hesitate to ask pardon of others; when he is

more easily moved to pity than to anger; when he does frequent violence to himself and tries to

bring the body into complete subjection to the spirit.

     It is better to atone for sin now and to cut away vices than to keep them for purgation in the

hereafter. In truth, we deceive ourselves by our ill-advised love of the flesh. What will that fire

feed upon but our sins? The more we spare ourselves now and the more we satisfy the flesh, the

harder will the reckoning be and the more we keep for the burning.

     For a man will be more grievously punished in the things in which he has sinned. There the

lazy will be driven with burning prongs, and gluttons tormented with unspeakable hunger and thirst;

the wanton and lust-loving will be bathed in burning pitch and foul brimstone; the envious will

howl in their grief like mad dogs.

     Every vice will have its own proper punishment. The proud will be faced with every confusion

and the avaricious pinched with the most abject want. One hour of suffering there will be more

bitter than a hundred years of the most severe penance here. In this life men sometimes rest from

work and enjoy the comfort of friends, but the damned have no rest or consolation.

     You must, therefore, take care and repent of your sins now so that on the day of judgment you

may rest secure with the blessed. For on that day the just will stand firm against those who tortured

and oppressed them, and he who now submits humbly to the judgment of men will arise to pass

judgment upon them. The poor and humble will have great confidence, while the proud will be

struck with fear. He who learned to be a fool in this world and to be scorned for Christ will then

appear to have been wise.

     In that day every trial borne in patience will be pleasing and the voice of iniquity will be stilled;

the devout will be glad; the irreligious will mourn; and the mortified body will rejoice far more

than if it had been pampered with every pleasure. Then the cheap garment will shine with splendor

and the rich one become faded and worn; the poor cottage will be more praised than the gilded

palace. In that day persevering patience will count more than all the power in this world; simple

obedience will be exalted above all worldly cleverness; a good and clean conscience will gladden

the heart of man far more than the philosophy of the learned; and contempt for riches will be of

more weight than every treasure on earth.

     Then you will find more consolation in having prayed devoutly than in having fared daintily;

you will be happy that you preferred silence to prolonged gossip.

penances will be more pleasing than all earthly delights.

     Learn, then, to suffer little things now that you may not have to suffer greater ones in eternity.

     Prove here what you can bear hereafter. If you can suffer only a little now, how will you be able

to endure eternal torment? If a little suffering makes you impatient now, what will hell fire do? In

truth, you cannot have two joys: you cannot taste the pleasures of this world and afterward reign

with Christ.

     If your life to this moment had been full of honors and pleasures, what good would it do if at

this instant you should die? All is vanity, therefore, except to love God and to serve Him alone.

     He who loves God with all his heart does not fear death or punishment or judgment or hell,

because perfect love assures access to God.

     It is no wonder that he who still delights in sin fears death and judgment.

     It is good, however, that even if love does not as yet restrain you from evil, at least the fear of

hell does. The man who casts aside the fear of God cannot continue long in goodness but will

quickly fall into the snares of the devil.

     Prabuddha Bharata>>>

     Vedanta Kesari>>>