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Remember your last end

(Sir 7:36)

       St. Thomas Aquinas, in his Catechetical Instructions, wrote that “he who during his life frequently descends into hell by thinking of it, will not easily fall into hell at death; for such meditation keeps one from sin, and draws one out of it.” He cited the Book of Sirach 7:36: In all your actions remember your last end and you will never sin.

       During our weekly prayer meetings and monthly chapter assemblies, some of you may have noticed that I frequently read verses from the Scriptures pertaining to the temporary nature of our life on earth. There are a number of beautiful passages in the Bible dealing with this theme and, following St. Thomas Aquinas’ advice, I often reflect on them. These passages do not deal with death itself or hell itself, but describe, using simile or metaphor, the impermanence of earthly life. There is therefore poetic beauty in these verses, which inspires and uplifts and moves one’s heart and mind to reflect on God and to set one’s priority in life according to the Divine will.

        I am presenting some of these verses here in the hope that they will inspire you too, and that they will become part of your regular prayer and reflection.

        In the Letter of James, life is likened to a mist that momentarily appears and then vanishes. You have no idea what tomorrow will bring. What is life? No more than a mist which appears for a moment and then disappears (James 4:14).

        Some verses compare life on earth to grass that withers and flower that wilts. Indeed no matter how beautiful the flower is or how sturdy the grass is, it will soon be dry. This is the message of the prophet Isaiah and the psalmist. All flesh is grass, and all its beauty is as the flower of the field. The grass withers, the flower wilts, when the breath of Yahweh blows upon it. People are no more enduring than grass (Isaiah 40:6-7). The days of man are like grass; he blooms like a flower in the fields; but the wind passes, and he is gone, never to be seen again (Psalm 103:15-16).

        A thousand years in your sight are like a day that has passed, or like a watch in the night. You cast them off like a dream. They are like grass in the morning, springing up at dawn, but fading and withering in the evening. Our days pass away in your wrath; our years are gone in no time. Seventy years to our life or eighty if we are strong, yet most of them are sorrow and trouble; speeding by, they sweep us along (Psalm 90:4-6,9-10).

        Other verses compare life to a fleeting shadow and combine the images of mist and shadow or flower and shadow.

        Man born of woman has a short life full of sorrow. Like a flower he blossoms and withers; transient and fleeting as a shadow. Measured are the days of man; you have decreed the number of his months, set him bounds he cannot pass. There is hope for a tree; if cut down it will sprout again, its shoots will still appear. But when man is cut down, he becomes lifeless; he breathes his last and ceases to exist. The waters of the sea may disappear, rivers drain away, but once man lies down he does not rise again (Job 14:1-2,5,7,10-12).

        In time our name will be forgotten, no one will remember what we did. Life passes like the shadow of a cloud, disappearing like a mist chased by the sun and conquered by its heat. The duration of life resembles the passing of a shadow; from death there is no turning back, the seal is set; no one returns (Wisdom 2:4-5).

        But among the most beautiful verses are those in the Book of Wisdom where several similes are combined thus imparting a vivid image of the shortness of earthly life – scarcely born we have disappeared. Like a ship cutting the sea, leaving no trace of its course, and the mark of its keel not seen in the wake; like a bird flying across the sky leaving no trace of its flight; it beats the light air with its pinions, cleaving a way by the force of its wings but without a sign of its passing; or like an arrow shot at a target, with the displaced air closing in on itself and no one knowing what way it passed. It is the same for us; scarcely born we have disappeared (Wisdom 5:10-13).

        If life is short, if we are just to pass like a shadow here on earth, if we are like morning mist which soon dries up in the heat of the sun, if we are like grass or flower that blooms and withers, if we are like the wake of a passing ship, flying bird or moving arrow which immediately closes in on itself and disappears, why do we then preoccupy ourselves with worldly things?

        We should ask the Lord to give us the grace to know His will and direct our lives so that, like St. Paul, we may “race forward and run towards the goal, our eyes on the prize to which God has called us from above in Christ Jesus” (Phil 3:13-14). We should pray like the psalmist: O Lord, what is man that you should be mindful of him, the son of man that you should care for him? Man is a mere puff of breath, his days pass like a shadow on earth (Psalm 144:3-4).

        Lord, let me know when my end will come, let me know the number of my days; show me how frail and fleeting is my life. You allow me to live but a short span; before you, all my years are nothing. Human existence is a mere whiff of breath, everyone is a mere shadow that goes about on earth (Psalm 39:5-7).

        Search me then, O God, and know my heart; try me and know my thoughts. See if my steps have gone astray, and lead me in your eternal way (Psalm 139:23-24).

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