Bronchain Meditations: June 30

The Fear And The Desire Of Death

Preparation. - That we may prepare for our last journey, we shall consider the motives that induce us, first, to fear, and secondly, to desire death. Let us rest assured that, if we have a horror of the smallest faults, we shall not dread death, and if we trust in Jesus, we shall desire it, in the hope of being happy with Him. “Having the desire to be dissolved, and to be with Christ” (Phil. 1. 23).

I. Motives For Fearing Death.

Sin is so horrible an evil, so opposed to the holiness of my Judge, that the thought of being found guilty makes me tremble to appear before Him. Had I during my life committed only one venial fault, if I realize its malice, I shall have one day to render to God. But, alas! What a multitude of faults frighten me at their very remembrance! From my childhood, during my boyhood and youth, I have provoked the wrath of God. And every day I still grieve the Holy Ghost by my sloth, my unfaithfulness, and yet I must die, for “it is appointed” (Hebr. 9. 27).

And if only I had already appeased my Judge and paid to His justice the debt of my sins! When I read the lives of so many innocent saints, who bewailed all their life with instruments of penance their smallest imperfections, I am filled with confusion. If I go down into the abysses where the guilty are punished, and consider how terribly one mortal sin is punished, and how rigorously are punished the faults we consider as light, I ask myself in a fright: “What penances have I performed to escape such severity?” O Jesus, I seek in vain in my life … and yet the hour of my death is perhaps very near, and I shall soon be summoned to Thy tribunal. “After this judgment” (Hebr. 9. 27).

What aggravates my terror, is that I must leave this world, even if I have rendered the death of my God in vain for me. Jesus gave His blood and His life, He delivered Himself up to the most fearful torments for my salvation. Every day on our altars He renews His sacrifice and imparts to us its fruits. How have I corresponded with such mercies? Does not the bloody and the mystical death of a God, instead of justifying me, condemn me, on account of my abuse of the graces received?

O Jesus, how many defects and unmortified passions accuse me to Thee, my Judge! I ought to excel in every virtue, and they are scarcely incipient in my soul! … O my Redeemer, I implore Thy clemency; have mercy on me; draw me to Thee by Thy grace before death comes to take me away.

II. Motives For Desiring Death.

In this life we cannot wholly keep from faults and imperfections. When we die we cease offending God. This thought consoled the Ven. Father Vincent Caraffa at this death. If at times the thought of death makes me tremble, I say to myself with St. Ambrose: “How can I wish to live here below, where I daily increase my accountability to God? Death is the tomb of my vices. Let us therefore desire to die, so as to be free from their shameful slavery.”

And is not death also a means of paying my debts to God? When chastising my body and reducing it to slavery, I strive to satisfy the divine justice, without, however, clearly knowing the value of my sacrifice. But if I gave my life to God, I am certain, as Christ says (John 15. 13), that I give the Lord the best proof of my love, for death accepted for God is a baptism of penance, a martyrdom more meritorious than any austerities. Hence, far from dreading death, I long for it, so that I may thereby more easily pay to my Judge the enormous debt of my sins.

And then shall I not, by my death, become conformed to Jesus crucified? He who created and redeemed me, is also my Model; He submitted to death. Could I hesitate submitting to it also in my turn? The thrice holy God immolated Himself for my sins; and should I, the real guilty one, refuse to sacrifice myself with Him? From His very Incarnation He ardently desired to be baptized in His blood; and should not I, regenerated by His blood, desire to die? I will yield up my life, because Jesus did not refuse His life to me; I wish to leave this world, because my Redeemer returned to heaven.

O my amiable Saviour, when will the welcome hour arrive, when I shall be able to contemplate Thee in the heavenly Jerusalem? Through Thy Blessed Mother's intercession, enable me to be so disengaged from myself and the world, that I may be always ready to appear before Thee, as Thou desirest: “Be ye (always) prepared” (Mat. 24. 44).

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Servant of God

Charles Louis Laurent Bronchain was born of excellent parents, September 4, 1829, at Frameries, near Mons in Belgium. From his early boyhood he was distinguished for his piety. As an altar boy he was modest and recollected, and was wont after serving Mass to remain as close as possible to the priest. Being asked why he acted thus, he replied: "I do this, because I wish to be nearer to the good God." When he saw people going to holy communion, he was filled with a holy envy, and would say to himself: "When shall I also have the happiness of receiving our Lord?" We may easily imagine his joy and happiness when this favor was vouchsafed to him for the first time. When out walking with his playmates, he always managed to bring them near a church and induced them to enter it with him to pay homage to our divine Saviour in the Sacrament of His love.

During the six years he studied at the "Petit Seminaire de Bonne Esperance," he was universally admired and respected for his modesty, piety, charity, and other virtues. Heeding the divine call to a more perfect life, he, with the consent of his parents, renounced the world and the brightest prospects of success, and entered in 1850 the Redemptorist Novitiate at St. Trond. The following year he made his profession and was sent to Wittem to prosecute his studies. As novice and student, Louis Bronchain was a model to his companions in regular observance, charity, love of prayer, and study, and self-denial. After his ordination in 1857, he labored zealously for some years in the ministry and in giving missions.

In 1865 he was appointed Master of Novices. To his novices he was ever a tender and loving father, giving them the example of every virtue. His life was practically a continual prayer. Rising very early every morning to be able to devote more time to it, he would spend hours in meditation before the Blessed Sacrament. Though very severe towards himself and addicted to corporal austerities, he, like a true saint, was always cheerful and full of charity and condescension towards others, and of solicitude in supplying the wants of his novices. His health failing, he was relieved of his heavy burden in 1870. From that time until his death, his life was one of continual suffering, borne with wonderful patience and resignation. As long as he was able he labored for his fellow-religious, and for the salvation of souls. Being an able spiritual director, he enabled his many penitents to make great progress in the spiritual life. As for himself he was an “interior man,” such as he describes in his “Meditations.” He died June 2, 1892, in the odor of sanctity.

Father Bronchain spent his years of suffering in composing spiritual works, which passed through many editions during his lifetime and have done incalculable good to souls. They are, like the works of St. Alphonsus, whose spirit he possessed in a remarkable degree, noted for the solidity of their doctrine, the simplicity and popularity of their language, and especially for that sweet unction which induces the practice of virtue, horror of sin, and especially the love of Jesus and Mary.

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June 30

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