El miércoles en la noche
The Wisdom of Memento Mori
The author invites the reader to meditate on death as a practical exercise for living a holy life.
Today you will think on the passage of death, which is one of the most profitable reflections a Christian can have—both for gaining true wisdom, for fleeing from sin, and also for beginning in good time to prepare yourself for the hour of dying. But for this meditation to do you any good, you must ask our Lord to let you feel something of what is suffered in this last battle, so that you order your affairs and your life the way you would then wish you had lived. And so you can better feel something of this, don't think of it as someone else's business, but as your own: picture yourself lying in bed, already given up by the doctors, and certain that you have to die.1
Five Considerations on the End of Life
A structured outline of five key aspects of the dying process, from the uncertainty of the hour to the final departure of the soul.
THIRD TREATISE, in which the consideration of death is treated. I. On how uncertain the hour of death is, and on the pain that parting from all things brings, which comes with it. II. On the horror of the grave, and the fear of the lot that must fall to us. III. On how here the errors and blindnesses of the past life become known, and on the fear of the reckoning. IV. On Extreme Unction and the agony of death. V. On the ugliness of the dead body, burial, the grave, and the soul's departure.
Read the original Latin
Este día pensarás en el paso de la muerte; que es una de las más provechosas consideraciones que un cristiano puede tener, así para alcanzar verdadera sabiduría, como para huir del pecado, como también para comenzar con tiempo a aparejarse para la hora del morir.
Mas, para que esta consideración sea provechosa, debes pedir a nuestro Señor que te dé a sentir algo de lo que en esta última batalla se pasa: para que de tal manera ordenes tus cosas y tu vida, como entonces querrías haber vivido. Y, para que mejor puedas sentir algo desto, no lo pienses como cosa ajena, sino como tuya propia, haciendo cuenta que estás acostado en una cama, desahuciado ya de los médicos, y entendido cierto que has de morir.
TRATADO TERCERO, en el cual se trata la consideración de la muerte. I. De cómo es incierta la hora de la muerte, y de la pena que da el apartamiento de todas las cosas, que viene con ella. II. Del horror de la sepultura, y temor de la suerte que nos ha de caber. III. De cómo se conocen aquí los yerros y ceguedades de la vida pasada, y del temor de la cuenta. IV.
De la Extremaunción y agonía de la muerte. V. De la fealdad del cuerpo muerto, y del enterramiento, y de la sepultura, y salida del ánima.
Notes
- 1 ↩"haciendo cuenta que" rendered as "picture yourself" (imaginative appropriation); could also be "reckoning that" or "taking it that."
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