Only a Backstage for Eternity

1) Meditate on this fact: this world is only a backstage for eternity.

The door towards the center stage is the door of Death.

Everyone will have to go to that Door, whether we like it or not, and at an hour we do not expect.
"Be you then also ready: for at what hour you think not, the Son of man will come." (St Luke 12:40)

Think of someone who is in the backstage, but is not be prepared to enter the center stage!

Instead of preparing for the Drama of an Eternal Wedding, wears a clown costume, mocking the Author of the Play!

Think of the clown costumes as the earthly pleasures that pampered the body, the same body that will be devoured by worms in the grave!

Think of the makeup and perfumes as the earthly honours. At Death, "it is a vapour which appeareth for a little while, and afterwards shall vanish away." (St James 4:15)

Think of the toys and balloons in the pocket of this clown, as the earthly riches.
How many poor souls are there who work hard for themselves to acquire money, pomps, delights, and grandeur, and then realize at the moment of Death, their emptiness?

And the clown shall say to himself: "thou hast much goods laid up for many years; take thy rest; eat, drink, make good cheer." (St Luke 12:19)

But God, the Author of the Play, said to him: "Thou fool, this night do they require thy soul of thee: and whose shall those things be which thou hast provided?" "So is he that layeth up treasure for himself, and is not rich towards God." (St Luke 12:20-21)

The clown shall then weep! "What hath pride profited us? or what advantage hath the boasting of riches brought us? All those things are passed away like a shadow" (Wisdom. v, 8).

2) An Ancient philospher was once shipwrecked, and lost all his goods. When he reached the shore, the people, through respect for his great learning, presented him with an equivalent of all he had lost.

He wrote to his friends, exhorting them to imitate his example, and to seek only the goods which cannot be wrested from them by shipwreck.

Now, our relatives and friends who are in eternity exhort us from the other world to attend only to the acquisition of goods
which even death cannot take from us. Death is called the day of destruction (Deut. 32:35). It is the day of
destruction, because on that day we shall lose all the goods of this earth—its honors, riches, and pleasures.

3) Man is not made for this world. If he is, there will be no Death.

A powerful maxim that drove many to the cloisters, to the desert, even to the crown of martyrdom!

Oh how many souls are there in the world, acting as if they are made solely for this world?

They create a Paradise here on Earth by clinging to earthly honours, riches, and pleasures!

Our Lord warned us, "And that which fell among thorns, are they who have heard, and going their way, are choked with the cares and riches and pleasures of this life, and yield no fruit."(St Luke 8:14)