Mirror of Sinners on the Contempt of the World

"O world, pass away." Attend, I beseech you diligently, all you lovers of this world: wake up in this hour! You should rejoice more in a small prayer, such as the Lord’s Prayer or the angelic salutation the Hail Mary devoutly said for me, than in thousands of gold and silver. And he adds further, exclaiming: "O my God, how many good things have I neglected which I could have done well! O, it has gone badly for me that I did not provide when I could have provided. O, how many hours that will never return have I lost! O, why do you handle trivial, useful acts and useless exterior businesses, while I have neglected so many precious and meritorious goods necessary for me? I implicated myself in unnecessary businesses and dismissed the necessary ones. O, if only I had known that the withdrawal from the vanities of the world and the solicitous custody of my heart and my senses with purity and piety would have brought me a greater reward of celestial goods! O, for these having been neglected through an inordinate affection, all the joy of the world! O God, how many good things I could have done in such a time, with a healthy body, which I would now wish for in exchange for all the delicacies, riches, and honors of this world—and, alas, I did not do them! O, what immense spiritual riches and celestial treasures I could have gathered, and I neglected them! O my God, what small satisfaction-works would have been pleasing and acceptable to me, desiring to be nourished by the crumbs that fall from the table of the lords, saints, and just, and no one gives to me! You all who pass by on the way, attend and see my sorrow; have pity on me and have mercy on me! While strength is still sufficient and time helps, do good; gather celestial treasures into celestial barns, so that when you fail, He may receive you into eternal tabernacles and you may not be left outside at such an hour, with it coming upon you. But alas, many do not attend to this, not providing for death, like all lovers of the world." To whom Saint John speaks in his Canonical epistle, saying: "Do not love the world, nor the things that are in the world." And he adds: "If anyone loves the world, the charity of the Father is not in him." He provides the reason why, saying: "For everything that is in the world is the concupiscence of the flesh, or the concupiscence of the eyes, or the pride of life, which is not from God the Father but from the world. But the world passes away, and its concupiscence; but he who does the will of God remains in eternity." Also James says: "Whoever is a friend of this world is constituted an enemy of God." O, would that the lovers of the world themselves would at least attend to the severity of divine justice, which in the final examination of the strict judgment will judge and punish everyone's merits without any mercy. It is not deceived by human cunning, nor is it moved by tearful supplication. For the strict judgment of God allows nothing to pass unpunished. Concerning this strict judgment, Anselm says: "O how narrow will the way of the reprobate be on all sides..."