Posted on 02/06/2010 9:57:04 PM PST by GonzoII
We ought to carry our conformity to God's will to the point of accepting our death. That we shall die is a decree against which there is no appeal. We shall die on the day and at the hour and in the manner that God decides, and it is this particular death we should accept, because it is the one most becoming His glory. One day when St. Gertrude was climbing a hill she slipped and fell down to the bottom. She was unhurt and began to climb up again saying: "What great happiness it would have been for me, O Lord, if this fall had been the means of bringing me sooner to thee!" Her companions asked her if she was not afraid of dying without receiving the last sacraments. "I would certainly wish with all my heart to receive them in my last moments," she answered, "but I much prefer the will of God, for I am sure the best disposition for a good death is submission to His will. So I desire only the death by which He wishes me to come to Him, and I am confident that in whatever way I die, His mercy will not fail me."
Even more, it is the teaching of great masters of the spiritual life that a person who, at the point of death, makes an act of perfect conformity to the will of God will be delivered not only from hell but also from purgatory, even if he has committed all the sins in the world. "The reason," says St. Alphonsus, "is that he who accepts death with perfect resignation acquires similar merit to that of a martyr who has voluntarily given his life for Christ, and even amid the greatest sufferings he will die happily and joyfully."
1. THE WILL OF GOD MADE AND GOVERNS ALL THINGS
2. GOD DOES EVERYTHING WITH SUPREME WISDOM
3. THE GREAT ADVANTAGES TO BE GAINED FROM
ENTIRE CONFORMITY TO THE DIVINE WILL
4. IN THE NATURAL INCIDENTS IN OUR DAILY LIVES LIVES/IN CALAMITIES
5. IN THE CARES AND DIFFICULTIES OF FAMILY LIFE
6. IN REVERSES OF FORTUNE
7. IN POVERTY AND ITS HARDSHIPS
8. IN ADVERSITY AND DISGRACE
9. IN DEFECTS OF NATURE
10. IN SICKNESS AND INFIRMITY
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