Sonnet XLIX by William Shakespeare (in English)

Againſt that time ( if ever that time come )
When I ſhall ſee thee frowne on my defects,
When as thy loue hath caſt his vtmoſt ſumme,
Cauld to that audite by aduiſ'd reſpects,
Againſt that time when thou ſhalt ſtrangely paſſe,
And ſcarcely greete me with that ſunne thine eye,
When loue conuerted from the thing it was
Shall reaſons finde of ſetled grauitie.
Againſt that time do I inſconce me here
Within the knowledge of mine owne deſart,
And this my hand,againſt my ſelfe vpreare,
To guard the lawfull reaſons on thy part,
   To leaue poore me,thou haſt the ſtrength of lawes,
   Since why to loue,I can alledge no cauſe.

"Navio Negreiro" by Dorival Caymmi (in Portuguese)

Foi entre o mar e o céu,
Sobre as ondas ao Léu
O veleiro a rodar

/:Adeus Terra de Luanda
Fica filhos de Umbanda:/

Éra a escravidão
E no negro porão
Triste coro a cantar

/:Adeus Terra de Luanda
Fica filhos de Umbanda:/

Piedade Senhor
Pelos homens de cor
que perderam seu lar

/:Adeus Terra de Luanda
Fica filhos de Umbanda:/

E lá do sude abrilhou
E o céu todo se iluminou
E o sol do novo mundo em fim no horizonte
Raiou este sol da liberdade
Que lhe deu felicidade e amor

"Navio Negreiro" sung by Dorival Caymmi.

"Apparecchio alla Morte" by St Alfonso Maria de Liguori (in Italian) – XXV

CONSIDERAZIONE XXIV - DEL GIUDIZIO PARTICOLARE

«Omnes enim nos manifestari oportet ante tribunal Christi» (2. Cor. 5. 10).

PUNTO I

              Consideriamo la comparsa, l'accusa, l'esame e la sentenza. E parlando prima della comparsa dell'anima dinanzi al giudice, è comune sentenza de' Teologi che il giudizio particolare si fa nel punto stesso che l'uomo spira; e che nel luogo medesimo dove l'anima si separa dal corpo, ella è giudicata da Gesu-Cristo, il quale non manderà, ma verrà Egli stesso a giudicar la di lei causa. «Qua hora non putatis, Filius hominis veniet» (Luca 12. 40). «Veniet nobis in amore (dice S. Agostino), impiis in tremore». Oh quale spavento avrà chi vedrà la prima volta il Redentore, e lo vedrà sdegnato! «Ante faciem indignationis eius quis stabit?» (Naum 1. 6). Ciò considerando il P. Luigi da Ponte, tremava in tal modo, che facea tremare anche la cella dove stava. il V.P. Giovenale Ancina, sentendo cantare la «Dies illa», al pensiero del terrore che avrà l'anima in dovere esser presentata al giudizio, risolse di lasciar il mondo, come in effetto lo lasciò. Il vedere lo sdegno del giudice sarà l'avviso della condanna: «Indignatio regis, nuntii mortis» (Prov. 16. 14). Dice S. Bernardo che allora l'anima patirà più in vedere Gesù sdegnato, che nello stare nel medesimo inferno: «Mallet esse in inferno».

              Alle volte si son veduti i rei sudar freddo, in esser presentati avanti a qualche giudice di terra. Pisone comparendo in senato colla veste da reo, sentì tanta confusione che volontariamente si uccise. Che pena è ad un figlio, o ad un vassallo vedere il padre, o il principe gravemente sdegnato? Oh qual altra pena maggiore proverà quell'anima in vedere Gesu-Cristo da lei in vita disprezzato! «Videbunt in quem transfixerunt» (Zach. 12. 10). Quell'agnello che in vita ha avuta tanta pazienza, l'anima poi lo vedrà irato, senza speranza più di placarlo; ciò la indurrà a pregare i monti a caderle sopra, e così nasconderla dal furore dell'agnello sdegnato. «Montes cadite super nos, abscondite nos ab ira Agni» (Apoc. 6. 16). Dice S. Luca parlando del giudizio: «Tunc videbunt Filium hominis» (21. 27). Il vedere il giudice in forma d'uomo, oh qual pena apporterà al peccatore! perché dalla vista di tal uomo morto per la sua salute, si sentirà maggiormente rimproverare la sua ingratitudine. Quando il Salvatore ascese al cielo, dissero gli angeli a' discepoli: «Hic Iesus qui assumptus est a vobis in coelum, sic veniet, quemadmodum vidistis eum euntem in coelum» (Act. 1. 11). Verrà dunque il giudice a giudicare colle stesse piaghe, colle quali si partì dalla terra. «Grande gaudium intuentium! grandis timor exspectantium», dice Ruperto. Quelle piaghe consoleranno i giusti, ma spaventeranno i peccatori. Allorché Giuseppe disse a' fratelli: «Ego sum Ioseph, quem vendidistis», dice la Scrittura che quelli per lo terrore si tacquero, e perderono la parola: «Non poterant respondere fratres, nimio terrore perterriti» (Gen. 45. 3). Or che risponderà il peccatore a Gesu-Cristo? Forse avrà animo di cercargli pietà; quando primieramente dovrà rendergli conto del disprezzo ch'ha fatto della pietà usatagli? «Qua fronte (Eusebio Emisseno) misericordiam petes, primum de misericordiae contemtu iudicandus?» Che farà dunque, dice S. Agostino; dove fuggirà, quando vedrà di sopra il giudice sdegnato, di sotto l'inferno aperto, da un lato i peccati che l'accusano, dall'altro i demoni accinti ad eseguir la pena, e di dentro la coscienza che rimorde? «Superius erit iudex iratus, inferius horrendum chaos, a dextris peccata accusantia, a sinistris daemonia ad supplicium trahentia, intus conscientia urens? quo fugiet peccator sic comprehensus?»

Affetti e preghiere

              O Gesù mio, voglio chiamarvi sempre Gesù; il vostro nome mi consola e mi dà animo, ricordandomi che voi siete il mio Salvatore, il quale siete morto per salvarmi. Eccomi a' piedi vostri, io confesso che sono reo di tanti inferni, per quante volte vi ho offeso con peccato mortale. Io non merito perdono; ma Voi siete morto per perdonarmi. «Recordare Iesu pie, quod sum causa tuae viae». Presto Gesù mio, perdonatemi, prima di venire a giudicarmi. Allora non vi potrò più cercare pietà: ora posso domandarvela, e la spero. Allora le vostre piaghe mi spaventeranno, ma ora mi dan confidenza. Caro mio Redentore, mi pento più d'ogni male di aver offesa la vostra bontà infinita. Propongo prima di accettare ogni pena, ogni perdita, che perdere la grazia vostra. V'amo con tutto il mio cuore. Abbiate pietà di me: «Miserere mei, Deus, secundum magnam misericordiam tuam».

              O Maria Madre di misericordia, o avvocata de' peccatori, ottenetemi Voi un gran dolore de' miei peccati, il perdono e la perseveranza nel divino amore. Io v'amo, Regina mia, ed in Voi confido.

PUNTO II

              Considera l'accusa e l'esame. «Iudicium sedit, et libri aperti sunt» (Dan. 9). Due saranno questi libri, il Vangelo e la coscienza. Nel Vangelo si leggerà quel che il reo doveva fare, nella coscienza quel che ha fatto: «Videbit unusquisque quod fecit», S. Girolamo. Nella bilancia della divina giustizia non si peseranno allora le ricchezze, la dignità e la nobiltà delle persone, ma solamente l'opere. «Appensus es in statera (disse Daniele al re Baltassarre), et inventus es minus habens» (Dan. 5. 27). Commenta il P. Alvarez: «Non aurum, non opes in stateram veniunt, solus rex appensus est». Verranno allora gli accusatori, e per prima il demonio. «Praesto erit diabolus (dice S. Agostino) ante tribunal Christi, et recitabit verba professionis tuae. Obiiciet nobis in faciem omnia quae fecimus, in qua die, in qua hora peccavimus» (S. Aug. Cont. Iul. tom. 6). «Recitabit verba professionis tuae», viene a dire che presenterà le stesse nostre promesse, alle quali poi abbiamo mancato; ed addurrà tutte le colpe, segnando il giorno e l'ora in cui l'abbiamo commesse. Indi dirà al giudice, come scrive S. Cipriano: «Ego pro istis nec alapas, nec flagella sustinui». Signore, io per questo reo non ho patito niente, ma esso ha lasciato Voi che siete morto per salvarlo, per farsi schiavo mio; ond'esso a me tocca. Accusatori saranno anche gli angeli custodi, come dice Origene: «Unusquisque Angelorum testimonium perhibet, quot annis circa eum laboraverit, sed ille monita sprevit» (Orig. Hom. 66). Sicché allora: «Omnes amici eius spreverunt eam» (Ier. 51). Accusatrici saranno le mura, tra le quali quel reo avrà peccato! «Lapis de pariete clamabit» (Abac. 2. 11). Accusatrice sarà la stessa coscienza: «Testimonium reddente illis conscientia ipsorum in die, cum iudicabit Deus» (Rom. 2). Gli stessi peccati allora, dice S. Bernardo, parleranno, «et dicent: Tu nos fecisti, opera tua sumus, non te deseremus» (Lib. Medit. cap. 2). Accusatrici finalmente saranno, come dice il Grisostomo, le piaghe di Gesu-Cristo: «Clavi de te conquerentur: cicatrices contra te loquentur: crux Christi contra te perorabit» (Chrysost. Hom. in Matth.). Indi si verrà all'esame.

              Dice il Signore: «Ego in die illa scrutabor Ierusalem in lucernis» (Soph. 1. 12). La lucerna, dice il Mendoza, penetra tutti gli angoli della casa: «Lucerna omnes angulos permeat». E Cornelio a Lapide, spiegando la parola «in lucernis», dice che allora Dio metterà avanti al reo gli esempi de' santi e tutt'i lumi ed ispirazioni che gli ha dato in vita; ed anche tutti gli anni che gli ha concessi a far bene. «Vocavit adversum me tempus» (Thren. 1. 15). Sicché allora avrai da render conto d'ogni occhiata. «Exigitur a te usque ad ictum oculi», S. Anselmo. «Purgabit filios Levi, et colabit eos» (Malach. 3. 3). Siccome si cola l'oro, separandone la scoria, così si avranno da esaminare le opere buone, le confessioni, le comunioni ecc. «Cum accepero tempus, ego iustitias iudicabo» (Ps. 74. 3). In somma, dice S. Pietro che nel giudizio il giusto appena si salverà: «Si iustus vix salvabitur, impius et peccator ubi parebunt?» (1. Petr. 4. 18). Se ha da rendersi conto d'ogni parola oziosa, qual conto si renderà di tanti mali pensieri acconsentiti? di tante parole disoneste? S. Gregorio: «Si de verbo otioso ratio poscitur, quid de verbo impuritatis?» Specialmente dice il Signore (parlando degli scandalosi che gli han rubate l'anime): «Occuram eis quasi ursa raptis catulis» (Osea 13. 8). Parlando poi dell'opere dirà il giudice: «Date ei de fructu manuum suarum» (Prov. 31). Pagatelo secondo le opere che ha fatte.

Affetti e preghiere

              Ah Gesù mio, se voleste ora pagarmi secondo l'opere che ho fatte, non mi toccherebbe altro che l'inferno. Oh Dio quante volte io stesso m'ho scritta la mia condanna a quel luogo di tormenti! Vi ringrazio della pazienza, che avete avuta in tanto sopportarmi. Oh Dio, se ora dovessi comparire al vostro tribunale, qual conto vi renderei della vita mia? «Non intres in iudicium cum servo tuo». Deh Signore, aspettatemi un altro poco, non mi giudicate ancora. Se ora voleste giudicarmi, che ne sarebbe di me? Aspettatemi; giacché mi avete usate tante misericordie sinora, usatemi quest'altra, datemi un gran dolore de' miei peccati. Mi pento, o sommo bene, d'avervi tante volte disprezzato. Vi amo sopra ogni cosa. Eterno Padre, perdonatemi per amore di Gesu-Cristo, e per li meriti suoi concedetemi la santa perseveranza. Gesù mio, tutto spero al vostro sangue.

              Maria SS. in Voi confido. «Eia ergo advocata nostra, illos tuos misericordes oculos ad nos converte». Guardate le mie miserie ed abbiate pietà di me.

PUNTO III

              In somma l'anima per conseguir la salute eterna, ha da trovarsi nel giudizio colla vita fatta conforme alla vita di Gesu-Cristo. «Quos praescivit, et praedestinavit conformes fieri imaginis Filii sui» (Rom. 8. 29). Ma ciò era quello che faceva tremare Giobbe. «Quid faciam, cum surrexerit ad iudicandum Deus? et cum quaesierit, quid respondebo illi?» Filippo II, avendogli un suo domestico detta una bugia, lo rimproverò dicendogli: «Così m'inganni?» Quel miserabile ritornato in casa, se ne morì di dolore. Che farà, che risponderà il peccatore a Gesu-Cristo giudice? Farà quel che fece colui del Vangelo, che venne senza la veste nuziale, tacque, non sapendo che rispondere. «At ille obmutuit» (Matth. 22. 12). Lo stesso peccato gli otturerà la bocca: «Omnis iniquitas oppilabit os suum» (Psal. 106. 42). Dice S. Basilio che 'l peccatore allora sarà più tormentato dal rossore, che dallo stesso fuoco dell'inferno: «Horridior, quam ignis, erit pudor».

              Ecco finalmente il giudice darà la sentenza. «Discede a me, maledicte, in ignem aeternum». Oh che tuono terribile sarà questo! «Oh quam terribiliter personabit tonitruum illud!» Il Cartusiano. Dice S. Anselmo: «Qui non tremit ad tantum tonitruum, non dormit, sed mortuus est». E soggiunge Eusebio che sarà tanto lo spavento de' peccatori in sentirsi proferir la condanna, che se potessero morire, di nuovo morirebbero: «Tantus terror invadet malos, cum viderint iudicem sententiam proferentem, ut nisi essent immortales, iterum morerentur». Allora, dice S. Tommaso da Villanova, non si dà più luogo a preghiere; né vi sono più intercessori, a cui ricorrere: «Non ibi precandi locus; nullus intercessor assistet, non amicus, non pater». A chi allora dunque ricorreranno? Forse a Dio, che han così disprezzato? «Quis te eripiet, Deusne ille, quem contempsisti?» (S. Basil. Orat. 4. de Poenit.). Forse a' santi? a Maria? No, perché allora: «Stellae (che sono i santi avvocati) cadent de coelo; et luna (ch'è Maria) non dabit lumen suum» (Matth. 24). Dice S. Agostino: «Fugiet a ianua paradisi Maria» (Serm. 3. ad Fratres).

              Oh Dio, esclama S. Tommaso da Villanova, e con qual'indifferenza sentiamo parlar del giudizio, quasi a noi non potesse toccar la sentenza di condanna! o come noi non avessimo ad esser giudicati! «Heu quam securi haec dicimus, et audimus, quasi nos non tangeret haec sententia, aut quasi dies ille nunquam esset venturus!» (Conc. I. de Iudic.). E qual pazzia, soggiunge lo stesso santo, è lo star sicuro in cosa di tanto pericolo! «Quae est ista stulta securitas in discrimine tanto!» Non dire, fratello mio, ti avverte S. Agostino: Eh che Dio vorrà proprio mandarmi all'inferno? «Nunquid Deus vere damnaturus est?» Nol dire, dice il santo, perché anche gli ebrei non sel persuadevano d'esser esterminati; tanti dannati non sel credevano d'esser mandati all'inferno; ma poi è venuta la fine del castigo: «Finis venit, venit finis: nunc immittam furorem meum in te, et iudicabo» (Ez. 7. 6). E così ancora, dice S. Agostino, avverrà anche a te: «Veniet iudicii dies, et invenies verum, quod minatus est Deus». Al presente a noi sta di sceglier la sentenza che vogliamo: «In potestate nostra (dice S. Eligio) datur, qualiter iudicemur». E che abbiamo da fare? aggiustare i conti prima del giudizio: «Ante iudicium para iustitiam» (Eccli. 18. 19). Dice S. Bonaventura che i mercanti prudenti, per non fallire, spesso rivedono ed aggiustano i conti. «Iudex ante iudicium placari potest, in iudicio non potest», S. Agostino. Diciamo dunque al Signore, come diceva S. Bernardo: «Volo iudicatus praesentari, non iudicandus». Giudice mio, voglio che ora in vita mi giudicate e mi punite, or ch'è tempo di misericordia, e mi potete perdonare; perché dopo morte sarà tempo di giustizia.

Affetti e preghiere

              Mio Dio, se non vi placo ora, allora non sarà più tempo di placarvi. Ma come vi placherò io, che tante volte ho disprezzata la vostra amicizia per miseri gusti brutali? Io ho pagato d'ingratitudine il vostro immenso amore. Qual soddisfazione mai degna può dare una creatura per le offese fatte al suo Creatore? Ah mio Signore, vi ringrazio che la vostra misericordia mi ha dato già il modo di placarvi e di soddisfarvi. Vi offerisco il sangue e la morte di Gesù vostro Figlio, ed ecco che già vedo placata e soprabbondantemente soddisfatta la vostra giustizia. È necessario a ciò anche il mio pentimento. Sì, mio Dio, mi pento con tutt'il cuore di tutte le ingiurie che v'ho fatte. Giudicatemi dunque ora, o mio Redentore. Io detesto tutt'i disgusti che vi ho dati sopra ogni male. V'amo sopra ogni cosa con tutt'il mio cuore; e propongo di sempre amarvi; e di morire prima che più offendervi. Voi avete promesso di perdonar chi si pente; via su giudicatemi ora, ed assolvetemi da' peccati. Accetto la pena che merito, ma restituitemi nella vostra grazia, e conservatemi in questa sino alla morte. Così spero.

              O Maria Madre mia, vi ringrazio di tante misericordie che m'avete impetrate; deh seguite a proteggermi sino alla fine.

"Poesie Mondane" by Pier Paolo Pasolini (in Italian)

Ci vediamo in proiezione, ed ecco
la città, in una sua povera ora nuda,
terrificante come ogni nudità.
Terra incendiata il cui incendio
spento stasera o da millenni,
è una cerchia infinita di ruderi rosa,
carboni e ossa biancheggianti, impalcature
dilavate dall'acqua e poi bruciate
da nuovo sole. La radiosa Appia
che formicola di migliaia di insetti
- gli uomini d'oggi - i neorealistici
ossessi delle Cronache in volgare.
Poi compare Testaccio, in quella luce
di miele proiettata sulla terra
dall'oltretomba. Forse è scoppiata,
la Bomba, fuori dalla mia coscienza.
Anzi, è così certamente. E la fine
del Mondo è già accaduta: una cosa
muta, calata nel controluce del crepuscolo.
Ombra, chi opera in questa èra.
Ah, sacro Novecento, regione dell'anima
in cui l'Apocalisse è un vecchio evento!
Il Pontormo con un operatore
meticoloso, ha disposto cantoni
di case giallastre, a tagliare
questa luce friabile e molle,
che dal cielo giallo si fa marrone
impolverato d'oro sul mondo cittadino...
e come piante senza radice, case e uomini,
creano solo muti monumenti di luce
e d'ombra, in movimento: perché
la loro morte è nel loro moto.
Vanno, come senza alcuna colonna sonora,
automobili e camion, sotto gli archi,
sull 'asfalto, contro il gasometro,
nell'ora, d'oro, di Hiroscima,
dopo vent'anni, sempre più dentro
in quella loro morte gesticolante: e io
ritardatario sulla morte, in anticipo
sulla vita vera, bevo l'incubo
della luce come un vino smagliante.
Nazione senza speranze! L'Apocalisse
esploso fuori dalle coscienze
nella malinconia dell'Italia dei Manieristi,
ha ucciso tutti: guardateli - ombre
grondanti d'oro nell'oro dell'agonia.

"The Book of Exodus" - Chapter XXXVIII (translated into English)

Chapter 38

1 The altar of holocausts was made of acacia wood, on a square, five cubits long and five cubits wide; its height was three cubits. 2 At the four corners horns were made that sprang directly from the altar. The whole was plated with bronze. 3 All the utensils of the altar, the pots, shovels, basins, forks and fire pans, were likewise made of bronze. 4 A grating of bronze network was made for the altar and placed round it, on the ground, half as high as the altar itself. 5 Four rings were cast for the four corners of the bronze grating, as holders for the poles, 6 which were made of acacia wood and plated with bronze. 7 The poles were put through the rings on the sides of the altar for carrying it. The altar was made in the form of a hollow box.

8 The bronze laver, with its bronze base, was made from the mirrors of the women who served at the entrance of the meeting tent.

9 The court was made as follows. On the south side of the court there were hangings, woven of fine linen twined, a hundred cubits long, 10 with twenty columns and twenty pedestals of bronze, the hooks and bands of the columns being of silver. 11 On the north side there were similar hangings, one hundred cubits long, with twenty columns and twenty pedestals of bronze, the hooks and bands of the columns being of silver. 12 On the west side there were hangings, fifty cubits long, with ten columns and ten pedestals, the hooks and bands of the columns being of silver. 13 On the east side the court was fifty cubits long. 14 Toward one side there were hangings to the extent of fifteen cubits, with three columns and three pedestals; toward the other side, 15 beyond the entrance of the court, there were likewise hangings to the extent of fifteen cubits, with three columns and three pedestals. 16 The hangings on all sides of the court were woven of fine linen twined. 17 The pedestals of the columns were of bronze, while the hooks and bands of the columns were of silver; the capitals were silver-plated, and all the columns of the court were banded with silver. 18 At the entrance of the court there was a variegated curtain, woven of violet, purple and scarlet yarn and of fine linen twined, twenty cubits long and five cubits wide, in keeping with the hangings of the court. 19 There were four columns and four pedestals of bronze for it, while their hooks were of silver. 20 All the tent pegs for the Dwelling and for the court around it were of bronze.

21 The following is an account of the various amounts used on the Dwelling, the Dwelling of the commandments, drawn up at the command of Moses by the Levites under the direction of Ithamar, son of Aaron the priest.

22 However, it was Bezalel, son of Uri, son of Hur, of the tribe of Judah, who made all that the Lord commanded Moses, 23 and he was assisted by Oholiab, son of Ahisamach, of the tribe of Dan, who was an engraver, an embroiderer, and a weaver of variegated cloth of violet, purple and scarlet yarn and of fine linen.

24 All the gold used in the entire construction of the sanctuary, having previously been given as an offering, amounted to twenty-nine talents and seven hundred and thirty shekels, according to the standard of the sanctuary shekel. 25 The amount of the silver received from the community was one hundred talents and one thousand seven hundred and seventy-five shekels, according to the standard of the sanctuary shekel; 26 one bekah apiece, that is, a half-shekel apiece, according to the standard of the sanctuary shekel, was received from every man of twenty years or more who entered the registered group; the number of these was six hundred and three thousand five hundred and fifty men. 27 One hundred talents of silver were used for casting the pedestals of the sanctuary and the pedestals of the veil, one talent for each pedestal, or one hundred talents for the one hundred pedestals. 28 The remaining one thousand seven hundred and seventy-five shekels were used for making the hooks on the columns, for plating the capitals, and for banding them with silver. 29 The bronze, given as an offering, amounted to seventy talents and two thousand four hundred shekels. 30 With this were made the pedestals at the entrance of the meeting tent, the bronze altar with its bronze gratings and all the appurtenances of the altar, 31 the pedestals around the court, the pedestals at the entrance of the court, and all the tent pegs for the Dwelling and for the court around it.

"Helpless!" by Unknown Writer (in English)

art by Al Williamson - Battle #55 - Atlas, November 1957.

 

“Preparation for the Judgment” by Blessed Alfred Henry Newman (in English)

Septuagesima, 20th February 1848

The last shall be first and the first last, for many are called, but few are chosen. Such are the words with which the Gospel of this day ends, which is the Parable of the Labourers in the Vineyard. In that parable, you know well, my Brethren, the Master of the Vineyard calls into his Vineyard all the labourers he can get together. He calls them in at different times, some in the morning, some at noon, some shortly before the evening. When the evening is come, he bids his paymaster call them together and give them their wages for the day past. It is very plain what this means. The Master of the Vineyard is our Lord and Saviour. We are the labourers. The evening is the hour of death, when we shall each receive the reward of our labour, if we have laboured well.

                There is more in the parable than this, but I shall not go into the details of it. I shall here content myself with the general sketch I have taken of it, and with the words with which it concludes, "The last shall be first and the first last, for," etc.

                Well is the hour of death described as the evening. There is something in the evening especially calm and solemn, fitly representing the hour of death. How peculiar, how unlike anything else, is a summer evening, when after the fever and heat of the day, after walking, or after working, after any toil, we cease from it, and for a few minutes enjoy the grateful feeling of rest! Especially is it so in the country, where evening tends to fill us with peace and tranquillity. The decreasing light, the hushing of all sounds, the sweet smell, perhaps, of the woods or the herbs which are all about us, the mere act of resting, and the consciousness that night is coming, all tend to tranquillize us and make us serious. Alas, I know that in persons of irreligious mind it has a very different effect, and while other men are raised to the love of God and Christ and the thought of heaven by the calm evening, they are but led to the thought of evil and deeds of sin. But I am speaking of those who live towards God and train their hearts heavenward, and I say that such persons find in the calm evening but an incitement to greater devotion, greater renunciation of the world. It does but bring before them the coming down of death, and leads them with the Apostle to die daily. Evening is the time for divine visitations. The Lord God visited Adam after he had sinned in the garden, in the cool of the evening. In the evening the patriarch Isaac went out to meditate in the field. In the evening our Lord discovered Himself to the two disciples who went to Emmaus. In the same evening He appeared to the Eleven, breathed on them, gave them the Holy Ghost, and invested them with the power of remitting and retaining sins.

                Nay even in a town the evening is a soothing time. It is soothing to be at the end of the week, having completed the week's work, with the day of rest before us. It is soothing, even after the day of rest, though labour is in store for us against the morrow, to find ourselves in the evening of the day. It is a feeling that almost all must be able to bear witness to, as something peculiar, as something fitly prefiguring that awful time when our work will be done, and we shall rest from our labours.

                That indeed will be emphatically our evening, when the long day of life is over and eternity is at hand. Man goeth forth to his work and to his labour until the evening, and then the night cometh when no man can work. There is something inexpressibly solemn and subduing in that time, when work is done and judgement is coming. O my brethren, we must each of us in his turn, sooner or later, arrive at that hour. Each of us must come to the evening of life. Each of us must enter on eternity. Each of us must come to that quiet, awful time, when we appear before the Lord of the Vineyard, and answer for the deeds done in the body, whether they be good or bad. That, my dear brethren, you will have to undergo. Every one of you must undergo the particular judgement, and it will be the stillest, awfullest time which you ever can experience. It will be the dread moment of expectation, when your fate for eternity is in the balance, and when you are about to be sent forth the companion of saints or devils without possibility of change. There can be no change, there can be no reversal. As that judgement decides it, so it will be for ever and ever. Such is the particular judgement. The general judgement at the end of the world will be a time of dreadful publicity, and will be full of the terrible brightness of the Judge. The trump of the Archangel will sound, and the Lord will descend from heaven in lightning. The graves will open. The sun and the moon will be darkened and this earth will pass away. This is not the time of evening, but rather it will be a tempest in the midst of the night. But the parable in the Gospel speaks of the time of evening, and by the evening is meant, not the end of the world, but the time of death. And really perhaps it will be as awful, though very different, that solitary judgement, when the soul stands before its Maker, to answer for itself. O who can tell which judgement is the more terrible, the silent secret judgement, or the open glorious coming of the Judge. It will be most terrible certainly, and it comes first, to find ourselves by ourselves, one by one, in His presence, and to have brought before us most vividly all the thoughts, words and deeds of this past life. Who will be able to bear the sight of himself? And yet we shall be obliged steadily to confront ourselves and to see ourselves. In this life we shrink from knowing our real selves. We do not like to know how sinful we are. We love those who prophesy smooth things to us, and we are angry with those who tell us of our faults. But then, not one fault only, but all the secret, as well as evident, defects of our character will be clearly brought out. We shall see what we feared to see here, and much more. And then, when the full sight of ourselves comes to us, who will not wish that he had known more of himself here, rather than leaving it for the inevitable day to reveal it all to him!

                I am speaking, not only of the bad, but of the good. Those indeed who have died in neglect of good, it will be a most insufferably dreadful sight to them, and they will not have long to contemplate it, in silence, for they will be hurried away to their punishment. But I speak of holy souls, souls that will be saved, and I say that to these the sight of themselves will be intolerable, and it will be a torment to them to see what they really are and the sins which lie against them. And hence some writers have said that their horror will be such that of their own will, and from a holy indignation against themselves, they will be ready to plunge into Purgatory in order to satisfy divine justice, and to be clear of what is to their own clear sense and spiritual judgement so abominable. We do not know how great an evil sin is. We do not know how subtle and penetrating an evil it is. It circles round us and enters in every seam, or rather at every pore. It is like dust covering everything, defiling every part of us, and requiring constant attention, constant cleansing. Our very duties cover us with this miserable dust and dirt. As we labour in God's vineyard and do His will, the while from the infirmity of our nature we sin in lesser matters even when we do good in greater, so that when the evening comes, with all our care, in spite of the sacraments of the Church, in spite of our prayers and our penance, we are covered with the heat and defilement of the day.

                This, I say, will be the case even with religious persons who have laboured to save their souls; but Oh! how miserable will be the case of those who have never had religious thoughts! There are persons, for instance, who cannot bear thought of any kind, who cannot bear an hour's silent reflection. It would be a great punishment to many a man to be obliged to think of himself. Many men like to live in a whirl, in some excitement or other which keeps their minds employed, and keeps them from thinking of themselves. How many a man, e.g. employs all his leisure time in learning merely the news of the day. He likes to read the periodical publications, he likes to know what is going on in the four quarters of the earth. He fills his mind with matters which either do not concern him, or concern only his temporal welfare; with what they are doing in various parts of England, what Parliament is doing, what is done in Ireland, what is done on the Continent; nay he descends to little matters of no importance, rather than entertain that thought which must come on him, if not before, at least in the evening of life and when he stands before his Judge. Others are full of projects for making money; be they high or be they low, that is their pursuit, they covet wealth and they live in the thought how they may get it. They are alive to inventions and improvements in their particular trade, and to nothing else. They rival each other. They as it were, run a race with each other, not a heavenly race, such as the Apostle's who ran for a crown incorruptible, but a low earthly race, each trying by all means in his power to distance his neighbour in what is called the favour of the public, making this their one end, and thinking nothing at all of religion. And others take up some doctrine whether of politics or of trade or of philosophy, and spend their lives upon it; they go about to recommend it in every way they can. They speak, they write, they labour for an object which will perish with this world, which cannot pass with them through the grave. The holy Apostle says "Blessed are they that die in the Lord, for their works do follow them" (Apoc. 14). Good works follow us, bad works follow us, but everything else is worth nothing; everything else is but chaff. The whirl and dance of worldy matters is but like the whirling of chaff or dust, nothing comes of it; it lasts through the day, but it is not to be found in the evening. And yet how many immortal souls spend their lives in nothing better than making themselves giddy with this whirl of politics, of party, or religious opinion, or money getting, of which nothing can ever come.

                Observe in the parable the Master of the Vineyard did but one thing. He told his servant to "call the labourers and give them their hire." He did but ask what they had done. He did not ask what their opinion was about science, or about art, or about the means of wealth, or about public affairs; he did not ask them if they knew the nature of the vine for which they had been labouring. They were not required to know how many kinds of vines there were in the world, and what countries vines could grow in, and where they could not. They were not called upon to give their opinion what soils were best for the vines. They were not examined in the minerals, or the shrubs, or in anything else which was found in the vineyard, but this was the sole question, whether they had worked in the vineyard. First they must be in the vineyard, then they must work in it; these were the two things. So will it be with us after death. When we come into God's presence, we shall be asked two things, whether we were in the Church, and whether we worked in the Church. Everything else is worthless. Whether we have been rich or poor, whether we have been learned or unlearned, whether we have been prosperous or afflicted, whether we have been sick or well, whether we have had a good name or a bad one, all this will be far from the work of that day. The single question will be, are we Catholics and are we good Catholics? If we have not been, it will avail nothing that we have been ever so honoured here, ever so successful, have had ever so good a name. And if we have been, it will matter nothing though we have been ever so despised, ever so poor, ever so hardly pressed, ever so troubled, ever so unfriended. Christ will make up everything to us, if we have been faithful to Him; and He will take everything away from us, if we have lived to the world.

                Then will be fulfilled the awful words of the parable. Many that are last shall be first, for many are called but few are chosen. Then, also, will it be seen how many have received grace and have not profited by it. Then will be seen how many were called, called by the influence of God's grace, called into the Church, yet how few have a place prepared in heaven. Then will be seen how many resisted their conscience, resisted the call of Christ to follow Him, and so are lost. This is the day both of divine grace and of patience. God gives grace and is patient with us, but when death comes, there is no more time either for grace or for patience. Grace is exhausted, patience is exhausted. Nothing remains but judgement, a terrible judgement on those who have lived in disobedience.

                And oh! what a sight it will be, what an unexpected sight, at the last day and public judgement to be present at that revelation of all hearts! How different persons will then seem, from what they seem now! How will the last be first, and the first last! Then those whom the world looked up to, will be brought low, and those who were little esteemed, will be exalted. Then will it be found who are the real movers in the world's affairs, those who sustained the cause of the Church or who influenced the fortunes of empires, were not the great and powerful, not those whose names are known in the world, but the humble despised followers of the Lamb, the meek saint, the man full of prayer and good works whom the world passed by; the hidden band of saintly witnesses, whose voice day by day ascended to Christ; the sufferers who seemed to be living for nothing; the poor whom the proud world thought but an offence and a nuisance. When that Day comes, may it reveal good for each of you, my brethren, and may the blessing, etc.