List of points

He acquired a Doctorate in law and in philosophy, and was applying for a post as a professor at the University of Madrid. He had specialised in two demanding subjects and had done brilliantly in both. He sent word to me: he was ill, and wanted me to go and see him. I arrived at the lodgings where he was staying. He greeted me with the words: “Father, I am dying.” I comforted him affectionately. He wished to make a general confession. That very same night, he died.

An architect and a doctor helped me dress the corpse. —Seeing that young body, which soon began to decompose… the three of us agreed that two university qualifications were worth nothing compared to the definitive qualification which as a good Christian he had just obtained.

Death comes and cannot be avoided. What empty vanity it is, then, to centre our existence on this life. See how much many men and women suffer. Some suffer because life is coming to an end and it pains them to leave it; others because it is going on, and they are sick of it… In neither case is there room for the mistaken view that makes our passage through this world an end in itself.

One must leave that way of thinking behind and anchor oneself to another, an eternal one. A total change is required, to empty oneself of self-centred motives, which pass away, and to be renewed in Christ, who is eternal.

Non habemus hic manentem civitatem — our definitive home is not to be found on this earth. —And so that we don’t forget it, at the hour of death this truth appears crudely at times, in lack of understanding, say, or in persecution or in being despised. —But there is always a sense of loneliness, for even though we may be surrounded by affection, every person dies alone.

—Now is the time to untie all the bonds that bind us! Let us prepare ourselves at all times for that step which will bring us into the eternal presence of the Most Holy Trinity.