Job, Chapter 6, Verse
14
A friend owes
kindness to one in despair, though he has forsaken the fear of the Almighty.
Job now speaks and goes on to chide his frienemies for
not giving kindness to him when he is destitute. Even the ungodly treat their
friend with respect. I can imagine that when Job was at his height of power and
prestige before the devil’s attack; his friends were sucking up to him and
fondling his ego to great extremes but now they have nothing but contempt for
him. True friends are faithful to the end. Job longs for a true friend. We
should reflect on this that Job longed for what we have received by the grace
of God; an intimate relationship with Him via the Holy Spirit and the action of
the Son of God; Jesus Christ our Lord. Christ is our true friend and our
closest ally he will never abandon us let us not wait until the end to discover
this; trying to make a death-bed repentance.
Famous Last Words[1]
·
Friedrich
Nietzsche, pernicious philosopher who preached "God is dead" Nietzsche died in spiritual
darkness, a babbling madman. On a wall in Austria a graffiti said, "God
is dead, --Nietzsche!" Someone else wrote under it, "Nietzsche
is dead! --God."
·
Oscar
Wilde, Sipping
champagne on his deathbed:
"And now, I am dying beyond my means."
"And now, I am dying beyond my means."
·
H.
G. Wells: "Go
away...I'm all right."
·
Ludwig
von Beethoven: "Friends
applaud, the comedy is over."
·
Dominique
Bouhours, French grammarian: "I
am about to, or I am going to, die; either expression is used."
·
Thomas
Jefferson: "This
is the fourth…"
·
John
Adams: "Thomas
Jefferson?--Still surv.... "
·
Jean
Paul Sartre, existentialist "I
failed!"
·
Emily
Dickinson: "The
fog is rising…"
·
The
prophet Mohammed: "O
Allah! Pardon my sins. Yes, I come."
·
Nurse
Cavell Before
facing a German firing squad in 1915, "Patriotism is not enough. I must
have no hatred or bitterness towards anyone."
·
Henry
Ward Beecher: "Now
comes the mystery."
·
Karl
Marx, born in a Christian Jewish family, originator of Communism. On his deathbed surrounded
by candles burning to Lucifer, screamed at his nurse who asked him if he had
any last words: "Go on, get out! Last words are for fools who
haven't said enough."
·
Lawrence
Oates: British
explorer, who sacrificed himself in 1912 in an attempt to save his starving
companions during Scott's expedition to the Pole: "I am just going outside
and I may be some time"
·
Crowfoot
(American Blackfoot Indian Orator): "What
is life? It is the flash of a firefly in the night. It is the breath of a
buffalo in the wintertime. It is the little shadow which runs across the grass
and loses itself in the sunset."
·
Cesare
Borgia, statesman: "I
have taken care of everything in the course of my life, only not for death, and
now I have to die completely unprepared."
·
Cardinal
Mazarin: "Oh
my poor soul, what is to become of you? —
Where do you go?"
·
Thomas
Hobbes, English Philosopher: "It's
my turn, to take a leap into the darkness!
·
Voltaire, the famous skeptic, Voltaire died a terrible death. His
nurse said: "For all the money in Europe I wouldn’t want to see another unbeliever
die! All night long he cried for forgiveness."
·
Napoleon
Bonaparte, About
Napoleon, Count Montholon wrote: "The Emperor died forsaken by all, on
this horrible rock. (St. Helena) His death struggle was awful!"
·
Thomas
Edison, American inventor "It
is very beautiful over there."
·
Goethe,
German Poet "Light,
More light!"
·
William
of Orange, first King of the Netherlands, as he was shot by an assassin, "My God, my God, have mercy
on me, and on my poor people!"
·
John
Newton b. 1725. d.
1807. Originally a slaver, he had a dramatic mid-ocean change of heart that led
him to turn his slave ship around and take the people back to their homeland.
He became a Presbyterian minister and preached against the slave-trade,
inspiring William Wilberforce who brought about the abolition of slavery in
Britain and its colonies. He is most famous for having authored the words to
the hymn "Amazing Grace". As he neared his end, exclaimed, "I am
still in the land of the dying; I shall be in the land of the living
soon."
·
Heinrich
Heine, Heine, the
great Skeptic, later changed his attitude. In the postscript to his poem
collection "Romancero" (30.9.1851) he wrote: "When you are on
your deathbed, you become more sensitive and you would like to make peace with
God and the world…
Poems, that only contained halfway reproaches against God, I delivered over to
the flames in a fearful zeal. It is better, that the verses burn than the verse
maker… I
returned to God as a prodigal son, after I fed the swine with the Hegelians for
a long time… In the
theology I have to accuse myself of retreating, because I returned to a
'personal God'." As he died: "God will forgive me. It's his
job."
·
Sir
Thomas Scott, Scott,
once president of the English Lower House said: "Up until this time, I
thought that there was no God neither Hell. Now I know and feel that
there are both, and I am delivered to perdition by the righteous judgment of
the Almighty."
·
Stalin
who was
responsible for the murder of at least 80 million Russian and
Ukrainians, if not many millions more—most of them Christians! The greatest
hushed up holocaust and genocide in human history, never
mentioned by the media, as it is not "politically correct!" About
Stalin's death struggle, his daughter Swetlana Allilujewa, who in March 1953
was called to the dying dictator in his dacha in Kunzewo, stated: "Father
died terribly and difficult. God gives the righteous an easy death."
·
A
Chinese Communist,
who delivered many Christians to their execution, came to a pastor and said: "I’ve seen many of you die. The
Christians die differently. What is their secret?"
·
Stephen
the first Christian Martyr,
as he was being stoned to death by the Farisees, assisted by Saul, who later
met Jesus in a vision and changed into the Apostel Paul: "Lord Jesus,
receive my spirit!"
·
Jesus
Christ: Jesus,
after a long morning of torture and a 3-hour lasting excruciating crucifixion,
He first forgave his Roman enemies from the cross, saying: "Father forgive
them, for they don’t
know what they do!" Then he granted eternal life to a repentant thief that
was crucified beside him, saying, "Today you shall be with me in
Paradise" After the Father's Spirit left Him as He died for the sins of
the world, he said, "My God, My God, why hast Thou forsaken me!" Then
He said "It is finished!" and after He had cried out with a loud
voice, "Father, into thy hands I commend my spirit"—He gave up the ghost!
IT is especially on certain
days that the Queen of Heaven exercises her mercy in Purgatory. These
privileged days are, first, all Saturdays, then the different feast days of the
Blessed Virgin, which thus become as festivals in Purgatory. We see in the revelations
of the saints that on Saturday, the day specially consecrated to the Blessed
Virgin, the sweet Mother of Mercy descends into the dungeons of Purgatory to
visit and console her devoted servants. Then, according to the pious belief of
the faithful, she delivers those souls who, having worn the holy scapular,
enjoy this Sabbatine privilege, and afterwards gives relief and consolation to
other souls who had been particularly devout to her. A witness to this was the
Venerable Sister Paula of St. Teresa, a Dominican Religious of the Convent of
St. Catherine in Naples. (Rossign., Merv., 50; Marchese, tom. i., p. 56). Being
rapt in ecstasy one Saturday, and transported in spirit into Purgatory, she was
quite surprised to find it transformed into a Paradise of delights, illuminated
by a bright light, instead of the darkness which at other times prevailed.
Whilst she was wondering what could be the cause of this change, she perceived
the Queen of Heaven surrounded by a multitude of angels, to whom she gave
orders to liberate those souls who had honored her in a special manner, and
conduct them to Heaven. If such takes place on an ordinary Saturday, we can
scarcely doubt that the same occurs on feast days consecrated to the Mother of
God. Among all her festivals, that of the glorious Assumption of Mary seems to
be the chief day of deliverance. St. Peter Damian tells us that each year, on
the day of the Assumption, the Blessed Virgin delivers several thousands of
souls. (Opusc. 34, c. 3, p. 2).
Daily Devotions
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