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The Close of the Year
by Father Francis Xavier Weninger, 1876  


 Today ends the year. If it also proved the end of your life, would you be as happy as the Saints? Would you have well-founded hopes to participate in the joys of heaven? Consider how you have passed this year, and all the preceding ones, and you will be enabled to answer the foregoing question. You have had, in this year, 12 months, or 52 weeks, which are 365 days or 8760 hours! How have you passed these? Can you say truthfully, that you have employed the 20th part of them to the end for which they were given you by the Almighty? How have you employed so many opportunities to do good, which you had? Have you been careful in avoiding sin? Have you practiced good works? Have you borne, with Christian patience, all that God has laid upon you? Have you, in one word, been diligent and unwearied in the service of God and in working out your salvation?

If you were able to answer all these questions affirmatively, I could assure you that you have well-founded hopes of eternal salvation, should you die today; but on the contrary, anxiety and fear must befall you, if you are obliged to say, with the wicked man: "I have had empty months (Job, vii.)." Empty in good works, empty in merits, but full of indolence, full of sin, full of vice, or, as the sinner said on his death-bed: "But now I remember the evils that I did (I. Mace vi.)." I have done much evil, but little good, and the little good I have done, was done without earnestness, without zeal. Oh! such confessions can give to a dying person no consolation, no satisfaction, but only extreme anxiety, and may even bring him to despair. To have served the Lord zealously to have labored earnestly for the salvation of our soul, to have avoided sin, or sincerely repented of it when committed; and to have constantly practiced good works, this will give consolation and satisfaction to us in our dying hour, and hope to enter heaven. Endeavor so to conduct yourself during the following year, that you may have this consolation and hope, when you are dying.




Reflection on what God has given you this year


 Let your thoughts go back only over this one year which ends today. Can you complain that you have not received, above thousands of others, especial graces from God? Certainly not. But God can complain of you that you have not employed them to your salvation. Can you count the benefits which God has bestowed on your soul and body, in preference to many thousands, although you have not deserved them? And if He had done nothing but preserved your life until this hour, that you might not die in your sins; if He had given you nothing but so much time for penance and so many opportunities to work out your salvation, He would have shown Himself much more merciful and gracious towards you than towards thousands of others, whom He has called, in this year, laden with sin, into the other world.

How have you conducted yourself towards God? What use have you made of His graces and mercies? How have you manifested your thankfulness? Is it possible that you can think of it without fear, without shame? Ah! your constant indolence in the service of the Almighty, and more than that, the many and not small sins you have committed, are no signs of gratefulness, but of great wickedness. Employ at least this day in humble gratitude for the many benefits which you have received during the year, and in deep contrition for your ingratitude and wickedness.

Give due thanks to the Almighty for all His graces and benefits. Repent, with your whole heart, and, if possible, with tears of blood, of your many sins. As thanksgiving for so many graces, as atonement for so many sins, offer to the Lord all that which has been done by others to His honor during the year, but above all offer Him a contrite and humble heart, which, on this day, resolves to serve Him in future with zeal and constancy. Recite, in thanksgiving, the Ambrosian hymn of praise: "We praise thee, O God, &c," and in atonement for your sins, the 50th psalm, "Have mercy on me, O God, according to thy great mercy, &c."


I do not doubt, Christian Reader, that you, who have read these volumes, day by day, are one of those who honor and invoke the Saints that reign with Christ in heaven. You act rightly; for, the Lord Himself honors His Saints as His faithful servants and friends; why should it be wrong for you to honor them? God bestows on us many benefits by the mediation of His Saints; why should you not invoke their intercession? But recall to mind what I have more than once told you: there is no better way to honor the Saints, none more agreeable to them and to God, none more beneficial to yourself, none that is more powerful to obtain their intercesson, than to imitate them in virtue. "The most noble honor bestowed upon a martyr is to imitate the martyr," says St. Chrysostom. "Do not depart from the way in which the Saints walked, that you may obtain their intercession," admonishes St. Bernard; "for they must see something of their virtues in us, that they may deign to pray for us to God," says St. Augustine.

This imitation is the surest way to enjoy the society of the Saints, as St. Augustine says in the following words: "If we wish to enjoy the society of the Saints in heaven, we must now imitate them on earth." And this was the principal reason why these volumes were written: to incite you to imitate the Saints. You will find in them many bright examples of virtue for every station in life, and for every age, that you may see how the Saints arrived at salvation, and may learn what you must do to save your soul. You were created for the same salvation which the Saints already enjoy in heaven. God gives you also means and graces to obtain it. But be assured that you will not attain it, if you do not endeavor to imitate the virtues of the Saints.

You cannot imitate all the Saints in all their actions; as, for instance, in leaving the world and all temporal goods, or in bearing the most cruel torments for the sake of the true faith; but you can imitate them in other virtues necessary to salvation, as, faith, hope, love to God and man; in avoiding sin; in doing penance, in the practice of good works; in patience under crosses and trials. Hence, I beseech you, reflect earnestly on the examples of virtues you have this year read in these Lives, and, if you value your salvation, endeavor to imitate the Saints. This is the way to enter into the society of the Saints, the way to eternal salvation.





Appropriate Thoughts for the Last Day of the Year
by Rev. Augustine Wirth, 1891

"The suspicion of them hath deceived many, and hath detained their minds in vanity." (Eccles. 3: 26)


The last hours of the Old Year hasten rapidly to an end; and, although the beginning of the New is close at hand, its events, as yet, are shrouded in impenetrable obscurity. Another important epoch in our life is about to close; and it behooves us to imitate the merchant who, to-day, takes an account of stock, and balances his books, in order to ascertain the profits and losses of the past twelve months. Taking an account of the important business of salvation, each one of us should ask himself: "Have I spent the past year in such a manner as to increase my store of Christian virtues? Have I squared my accounts with my divine Master, with that great God, who, perhaps, before the expiration of another year, may summon me before His judgment-seat?" How shall we answer these questions? Self- love will be inclined to answer in the affirmative; but "many things are . . . above the understanding of men, and the suspicion of them hath deceived many, and hath detained their minds in vanity." Dearly beloved, if you judge yourselves impartially, you will find that you have little cause for self-complacency, or for esteeming yourselves upright and perfect, for you will discover that:


 I.Your sins are not so small, nor
 II. Your virtues so great as you may imagine.  


I. Many who are not honest in their examination of conscience, see, in themselves, only venial sins, which are not of much importance, and pray after the manner of the Pharisee: "O God, I give thee thanks that I am not as the rest of men, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, nor such as this publican." (Luke 18: 11.) But, are there no other sins beside those of glaring injustice and gross impurity? Yes, unhappy man, your hands may be free from actual robbery--but, have you not cherished in your heart a robber's desires, whenever you looked with envious and covetous eyes upon the more abundant temporal goods and advantages of your neighbor? What, too, of those dishonest practices in your business, which you denominate as means to increase your profits, but which the Eternal Judge calls sins--yea, sins of robbery? And what, O father and mother, of the want and misery you prepare for yourselves or your unhappy offspring, by your intemperance, gambling, extravagance, useless expenditures, or idleness?

You say you are no murderer. I grant you, that your hands are not stained with your brother's blood--but, yet, your slanderous tongue kills the reputation of your brother, causes the death of his good name; your seductive words destroy the innocence of youth; your impious speeches against religion and the Church, slaughter the pious reverence of your fellow Christians; your wicked example has led many to destruction.

You boast that you have not committed adultery--but do not these severe words of Christ, nevertheless, apply to you: "I say unto you, that whoever looketh on a woman to lust after her, hath already committed adultery with her in his heart--?" (Matth. 5: 28.) You say that you have never betrayed innocence, never brought to an untimely grave the unhappy parents of a violated daughter; but, have you not, by long acquaintance, secret meetings, and the impure words and actions which accompany them, given free entrance to thoughts which, in the sight of God, if not in that of men, have robbed your victim of her purity? Behold, thus may many sins be hidden in the secret recesses of the heart, of which, perhaps, you are not aware!

 II. Thus, also, our virtues, at the best, are not so great, nor so numerous, as to justify us in any self-complacency or pride. Like the Pharisee, many Christians of the present day are forever extolling the small amount of apparent good they do. They say: I go every day to Mass; I receive the Sacraments so many times a month; I belong to such and such Confraternities; I perform every day these, or those devotions; I give abundant alms; I bring up my children very strictly, etc. Very good! I do not censure all these things, as Jesus did not condemn the good deeds of the Pharisee. But, beloved Christians, while you do all this, are there not other, and, perhaps, higher duties, which you neglect? Or, may not your actions be performed through an impure or imperfect motive which renders them altogether useless? Let us see!

You go every day to Mass, and say many special prayers--but, with how much recollection and devotion? Might not God, perhaps, say of you, as he said of the Jєωs: "These people honor me with the lips, while their hearts are far from me"? You often receive the Sacraments--but, where are the fruits of these holy actions? Do you not remain always the same sinner? You belong to many Confraternities and Sodalities,--but, do you also belong to the great brotherhood of charity, which, having one Father in heaven, binds its members to a sincere, mutual love and forbearance. Is not your heart filled with dislike, hatred, or enmity, thus rendering null the holy intentions of your Confraternities! You give alms,--but how? Always in a kindly spirit, so that the poor may not find the bread of charity too bitter? You give alms,--and why? To please God, or merely to be praised by men?

You say that you bring up your children strictly; but, in what does the strictness consist? In this, that your children are the victims of your wrath. You punish severely trifling faults, while you overlook grave offences. Yes, if teachers or pastors point out to you the imperfections of your offspring, then, you fall upon them in anger, and your strict education is changed at once into a perverted indulgence of your spoiled and self-willed children. Again, others plume themselves upon practices of bodily mortification, upon watching and fasting. These are praiseworthy; but test them, and see if the Lord may not apply to you the words which we find in Isaias: (58: 6-8.) "Is not this rather the fast that I have chosen? loose the bands of wickedness; undo the bundles that oppress; let them that are broken, go free; and break asunder every burden. Deal thy bread to the hungry; and bring the needy and the harborless into thy house: when thou shall see one naked, cover him, and despise not thy own flesh. Then shall thy light break forth as the morning . . . . and thy justice shall go before thy face; and the glory of the Lord shall gather thee up,"--that is, the Lord will admit thee into His glory.


PERORATION:


Time does not permit me to continue further this self-examination of the Christian, at the end of the year; but let the little that has been said, suffice to show you your whole duty on this point. Continue in this manner to examine all the actions of the past year, and the self-knowledge thus gained will preserve you from pride and vanity, and will produce in you that true humility, which is the growth of divine grace. "The greater thou art, the more humble thyself in all things; and thou shalt find grace before God: for great is the power of God alone: and He is honored by the humble." (Eccles. 3: 20-21.) On the other hand, Jesus tells us how God will exalt the humble: "Whosoever shall exalt himself, shall be humbled: and he that shall humble himself shall be exalted." (Matth. 23: 12.) Amen.





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 On the Conclusion of the Year
by Richard Challoner, Bishop of Debra


Consider first, that the year is now come to a conclusion: it is just upon the point of expiring: all these twelve months, that are now past, have flowed away into the gulph of eternity: they are now no more: they shall return to us no more. All our years pass in this manner: they all hasten, away one after another, and hurry us along with them, till they bring us also into an endless, unchangeable eternity. Our years will all be soon over: we shall find ourselves at the end of our lives much sooner than we imagine. O let us not then set our hearts upon any of these transitory things: let us despise all that passes away with this short life, and learn to adhere to God alone, who never passes away, because He is eternal. Let us always be prepared for our departure hence.

Consider 2dly, that as the year is now past and gone, so are all the pleasures or it, all our diversions, all our amusements, in which we have spent our time this year, are now no more: the remembrance of them is but like that of a dream. O such is the condition of all things that pass with time! Why then do we set our esteem or affection upon any of them? Why are we not practically and feelingly convinced of the emptiness and vanity of them all, and that nothing deserves our love, or attention, but God and eternity? And as the pleasures of the year are all past, so are all the displeasures and uneasinesses, pains and mortifications of it: they are also now no more than like a dream : and so will all temporal evils appear to us, a little while hence; when we shall see ourselves upon the brink of eternity. Let us learn then only to fear those evils, which will have no end! and the evil of sin, which leads to those never ending evils.

Consider 3dly, how you have spent your time this year. It was all given you by your Creator, in order to bring you forward to him, and to a happy eternity. O how many favours and blessing have you received from Him every day of the year! How many graces and invitations to good! And what use have you made of all these favours? What virtue have you acquired this year? What vice have you rooted out? What passions have you overcome? Have you made any improvement at all in virtue, since the beginning of the year? Instead of going forwards to God, have you not rather gone backward? Alas! what an account shall you have to give one day for all this precious time, and for all these graces and blessings, spiritual or corporal, which you have so ungratefully abused and perverted during the course of this year? Then as to your sins, whether of omission or commission against God, your neighbours, or yourselves; which you have been guilty of this year, either by thought, word, or deed; what a dreadful scene will open itself to your eyes, upon a little examination! And how little have you done during the course of this year, to cancel them by penance! O how melancholy would your case be, if your eternal lot were to be determined by your performances of this past year!

Conclude by giving thanks to God for all his blessings of this year; and especially for His patience and forbearance with you in your sins. Return now at least to Him with your whole heart; begging mercy and pardon for all the sins of the year, and for all the sins of your life. And resolve with God's grace, if He is pleased to give you another year, to spend it in such a manner as to secure to your souls the never ending year of a happy eternity.