The happiest part of a good death is that the danger of losing God through sin is gone
2 min • Digitized on November 5, 2021
From Preparation for Death, page 75
By St. Alphonsus de Liguori
“God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and death shall be no more”—Apoc. xxi. 4.
Then, at death, the Lord shall wipe away from the eyes of his servants all the tears they have shed in this world, where they live in the midst of pains, of fears, of dangers, and combats with hell.
The greatest consolation which a soul that has loved God shall experience in hearing the news of death, will arise from the thought that she shall soon be delivered from the many dangers of offending God to which she is exposed in this life, from so many troubles of conscience, and from so many temptations of the devil.
The present life is an unceasing warfare with hell, in which we are in continual danger of losing our souls and God. St. Ambrose says that in this life we walk among snares; we walk continually amid the snares of enemies, who lie in wait to deprive us of the life of grace.
It was this danger that made St. Peter of Alcantara say at death to a religious who, in attending the saint, accidentally touched him, “Brother, remove, remove from me; for I am still alive, and am still in danger of being lost.”
The thought of being freed by death from the danger of sin, consoled St. Teresa, and made her rejoice, as often as she heard the clock strike, that another hour of the combat was past. Hence she would say, “In each moment of life I may sin and lose God.”
Hence the news of approaching death filled the saints with consolation; because they knew that their struggles and danger were soon to have an end, and that they should soon be in secure possession of that happy lot in which they could never more lose God.
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