Photo Prayer:
Eternal rest give unto them, O Lord, and let perpetual light shine upon them. May they rest in peace. Amen.
All things change but God. Until we are united with Him after death, we remain always subject to vicissitudes in our spiritual life. No one is confirmed in grace and holiness while the present life endures. The very first in God's favour may fall to be the last; they who have eaten the bread of angels may come to delight in the husks of swine. The world is full of sad examples, from Solomon, the wisest of men, to Judas, one of those chosen to sit on thrones and judge the twelve tribes of Israel, and thenceforth in every era of history. The great Apostle of the Gentiles did not account himself safe from this peril: "lest perhaps when I have preached to others I myself should become a cast away" (1 Cor. ix. 27). The greatest services rendered to God, the greatest favours received from Him, the greatest holiness attained, afford us no assurance that we shall persevere in Charity to the end. We are fickle, we have great potentialities of evil in us, we never know how much we are capable of, nor how low we may yet fall. We never can be sure of even our actual state before God, nor shall we know it till we stand at His judgment-seat. We may be progressing, but we may also be declining in Charity. So we must never be without fear; we must never presume or count ourselves as if we "had already attained or were already perfect" (Phil. iii. 12). Ask God to enlighten you so that you may at once detect any backsliding or any diminution in Charity. Watch and pray and fear lest you should fail even at the last moment, like a ship that founders as she is entering port.
