WE MUST PROFIT BY THE TIME

(By: St. Alphonsus De Liguori ~The Great Means of Salvation and of Perfection)

Oh, what a torment, to repent of our carelessness when there is no longer
time to do what has been left undone!

St. Laurence Justinian says that worldlings, in death, will willingly
give all their riches to obtain but one more hour of life. But it will be said
to them, Time shall be no more. It will be intimated to them to depart
without delay: Go forth, Christian soul, out of this world.

St. Gregory relates that a certain Crisorius, being at the point of death,
cried out to the demons, “Give me time until tomorrow.”

But they replied, “Fool! thou hast had it, and why didst thou lose it? Now there is no more time for thee.”

Ah, my God, how many years have I lost! The remainder of my time
shall be entirely devoted to Thee. Grant that Thy holy love may abound
in me, in whom sin has long abounded.

St. Bernardine of Sienna said that every moment of time in this life is
as precious as God; because at every moment, by an act of love or
contrition, we may acquire new degrees of grace.

St. Bernard says that time is a treasure to be found only in this life. In
hell, the lamentation of the damned is: “Oh, if one hour were given us!”
Oh, if we had but one hour in which to escape from eternal ruin! In
heaven there is no weeping; but if the blessed could weep it would be at
the thought of having lost, during their lives, portions of time in which
they might have acquired higher degrees of glory.

My beloved Redeemer, I do not deserve Thy pity; but Thy Passion is
my hope. Help me, therefore, and stretch out Thy hand to a miserable
sinner, who now desires to become wholly Thine.

II. And who knows but that a sudden death may surprise us, and
deprive us of all time for the makingup of our accounts? The many who
have died suddenly did not expect so to die; and if they were in sin, what
has become of them for all eternity?

The saints thought that they did but little, in preparing themselves
during their whole lives to secure a good end. Father Avila, when it was
announced to him that he was about to die, said: “Oh that I had but a
little more time to prepare myself!”

And we, why do we delay? That we may make a wicked and
miserable end, and leave to others an example of the divine justice?
No, my Jesus, I will not oblige Thee to abandon me. Tell me what
Thou requirest of me, and in all things I will do it. Grant that I may love
Thee, and I ask for nothing more.

III. He will call against me the time. Let us tremble, and let us not so
live that God may hereafter, as judge of our ingratitude, call against us
the time which, in his mercy, he now bestows upon us. Walk, says our
Lord, whilst you have the light. The night cometh when no man can
work.

St. Andrew Avellino trembled, saying, “Who knows whether I shall
be saved or lost?” But so saying, he ever united himself the more closely
to God. But we, what do we do? How is it possible that he who believes
that he must die and go into eternity should not give himself wholly to
God?

My beloved Redeemer, my crucified love, I will not wait to embrace
Thee until Thou consignest me to death: from this moment I embrace
Thee, I bind Thee to my heart, and leave all to love Thee alone, my only
good. O Mary, my Mother, unite me to Jesus, and obtain for me, that I
may never more separate myself from his love.