OF MEDITATION UPON DEATH
“Very quickly, will there be an end of you here. Take heed, therefore, how it will be with you in another world. Today man is, and tomorrow he will be seen no more. And being removed out of sight quickly, also he is out of mind. O the dullness and hardness of man’s heart, which thinks only of the present, and looks not forward to the future. You ought in every deed and thought so to order yourself, as if you were to die this day. If you had a good conscience, you would not greatly fear death. It would be better for you to watch against sin, than to fly from death. If today you are not ready, how shall you be ready tomorrow? Tomorrow is an uncertain day; and how know you that you shall have a tomorrow.
What does it profit to live long, when we amend so little? Ah! long life does not always amend, but often the more increases guilt. O that we might spend a single day in this world as it ought to be spent! Many there are who reckon the years since they were converted, and yet oftentimes how little is the fruit thereof. If it is a fearful thing to die, it may be perchance a yet more fearful thing to live long. Happy is the man who has the hour of his death always before his eyes, and daily prepares himself to die. If you have ever seen one die, consider that you also shall pass away by the same road.
When it is morning, reflect that it may be, you shall not see the evening; and at eventide, dare not to boast yourself of the morrow. Always be you prepared, and so live, that death may never find you unprepared. Many die suddenly and unexpectedly; for at such an hour as you think not, the Son of Man comes. When that last hour shall come, you will begin to think very differently of your whole life past and will mourn bitterly that you have been so negligent and slothful.
Happy and wise is he who now strives to be such in life as he would fain be found in death. For a perfect contempt of the world, a fervent desire to excel in virtue, the love of discipline, the painfulness of repentance, readiness to obey, denial of self, submission to any adversity for love of Christ; these are the things which shall give great confidence of a happy death. While you are in health, you have many opportunities of good works; but when you are in sickness, I know not how much you will be able to do. Few are made better by infirmity; even as they who wander much abroad seldom become holy.
Trust not your friends and kinsfolk, nor put off the work of your salvation to the future, for men will forget you sooner than you think. It is better for you now to provide in time, and to send some good before you, than to trust to the help of others. If you are not anxious for yourself now, who, think you, will be anxious for you afterwards? Now the time is most precious. Now is the accepted time, now is the day of salvation. But alas, that you spend not well this time, wherein you might lay up treasure which should profit you everlastingly. The hour will come when you shall desire one day, yea, one hour, for amendment of life, and I know not whether you shall obtain.”
Thomas a Kempis
The Mark Of God: Understanding Your "I AM Presence" 