Saint Francis of Assisi, in the characteristic language of Saints and true pastors, warns of the misfortunes of sin and the fate of he who dies in enmity with God.
Newsroom (30/08/2021 21:10, Gaudium Press) “Cursed are those who depart from Your commandments (Ps 118:21). They see and know; they know and do evil; they cause the loss of their own souls. See, you blind people: deceived by your enemies, by the flesh, by the world, and by the devil, that it is sweet to the body to commit sin and bitter to serve God; for all vices and sins come out of and proceed from the hearts of men, as the Lord says in the Gospel (cf. Mk 7:21).
You possess nothing in this world nor in the future, yet you think that you will own the vanities of this world for years to come. You are mistaken! For the day and hour will come when you cannot think, when you do not know; when the body is sick and the end approaches, and a bitter death ensues. Wherever, whenever, and however a man dies in mortal sin without penance or reparation, unwilling to atone, the devil will snatch his soul from his body; and with such anguish and tribulation, that no one can know it but he who suffers it. All the talents, power, knowledge, and wisdom which were so important in life are taken away (cf. Lk 8:18; Mk 4:25). (…) Decay and worms will destroy the body; those who have lost both body and soul in this short life will descend to hell, to endless torment.
To all who receive these words, we beseech you, in the charity that is God (cf. 1 Jn 4:16), to receive with divine love the aforesaid mighty words of Our Lord Jesus Christ. Let those who cannot read have them read to them often; and let them keep these words with holy works to the end, for they are spirit and life (Jn 6:64). And those who do not will have to give an account on the Day of Judgment (cf. Mt 12:36), before the judgment seat of our Lord Jesus Christ (cf. Rom 14:10)”.
By Cicero Leite
From a “Letter to the Faithful“, by St. Francis of Assisi.
Compiled by Sandra Chisholm
