Theological Foundations new file

173 The Eschatological Direction even complete this hour of meditation, pay close attention to each one of your thoughts and deeds, take serious care to correct your ways, begin to live a holier life, be more diligent as you strive for perfection.” 4 As he draws the reader’s attention to the circumstances of our death, which are essentially unknowable, Father Papczynski raises the issue of fear which is supposed to prompt man to conversion. Man does not know the place of his death. He does not know whether he will die in his own or in someone else’s home, while he travels or while he rests, on land or on water. Many people finish their lives far away from their homeland, on a journey, even while they are in a doctor’s care in the hos- pital or on a battlefield. Neither can man foresee the kind of death that he will have to die. It may come suddenly, like a thief, or it can be some- thing we have been expecting. It will find man during the day or at night. It may be peaceful or violent. Man may die due to natural causes or in an accident without experiencing any pain or in agony. Therefore, he should not postpone reforming his life or miss any opportunity to earn some merit, he should not look forward to his old age but keep in mind the words of Christ: “But if that wicked servant says to himself, ‘My master is delayed,’ and begins to beat his fellow servants, and eats and drinks with the drunken , the master of that servant will come on a day when he does not expect him and at an hour he does not know, and will punish him, and put him with the hypocrites; there men will weep and gnash their teeth” (Mt 24, 48-51). 5 According to Father Papczynski, meditation on our own death is very beneficial in giving our Christian life a proper direction. “Consider or imagine a man, perhaps even yourself, at the moment of final struggle at the end of life. At such a moment the evil spirits attack the soul and try to evoke in it a feeling of pride by recalling its merits, or, to drive it to despair by exaggerating its sins. Imagine then that you are surrounded by friends, members of your family and people close to your heart, that a candle is lit at the head of your bed and a crucifix or a holy card is put in your hands as you lie dying and moaning in pain.” “O how terrible is this meditation on your agony when the mighty