Vigils Reading – Office for the Dead

A reading from “The Rule of Life for a Recluse” by

ST AELRED OF RIEVAULX

◊◊◊

If the gifts [God] bestows on his own in the present [time are so great],

what must be those he is keeping for them in the future?

The beginning of the future and the end of the present is death. Is there

anyone who has not a natural repulsion for death, who does not feel a dread of

it? “Wild beasts guard themselves from death, preserve life by flight, hiding-

places and a thousand other devices.” Now then examine yourself carefully.

What answer does your conscience give you, what is it your faith counts on, your

hope promises you, your affections expect?

If your life is a burden to you, if you are weary of the world, if the flesh

brings you only pain, then indeed death is something you long for, to free you

from the burden of this life, to put an end to your weariness, to take away bodily

pain. This by itself I consider to surpass all the delights of this world, all its

honors and riches: to have such serenity of conscience, such firm faith and such

certain hope that you do not fear death. Some experience of this will come

especially to the man who on occasion, sighing under the burden of his

servitude, has been enabled to breathe the fresh air of a conscience set at liberty.

These are the wholesome first fruits of your beatitude to come, so that at the

moment of death the natural horror you feel for it may be overcome by faith,

softened by hope, driven away by an assured conscience.

Consider too how death is the beginning of eternal happiness, the goal of

all your labors, the destroyer of vice. For so it is written: “Blessed are the dead

who die in the Lord. Let them rest from their labors, says the Spirit.” Therefore

the Prophet distinguishes between the death of the reprobate and that of the

elect in the words: “All the kings have fallen asleep in glory, each in his own

house, while you have been cast out of your tomb like a useless root, twisted and

decayed.”

They indeed sleep in glory whose death is commended by a good

conscience, for in the eyes of the Lord the death of his saints is precious.” Truly

he sleeps in glory whose falling asleep is attended by angels, whom saints come

to meet, bringing help and solace to their fellow-citizen and withstanding his

enemies, driving off those who stand in the way, repelling those who bring

charges against him, and so accompanying his holy soul right up to Abraham’s

bosom and depositing it in a place of peace and rest.