Bronchain Meditations: June 15

The Journey To Eternity

Preparation. - If we wish to be detached here below, let us consider ourselves as travelers, for, in fact, our life is, first, a journey to eternity, and secondly, it is a journey we ought to strive to accomplish happily. Wherefore let us resolve to renew our fervor at the thought that we are daily nearing its end, that is, either life eternal, or death beyond remedy, according to our work. "Man shall go into the house of his eternity" (Eccles. 12. 5).

I. Our Life Is A Journey To Eternity.

From the first moment of our existence up to our death, we incessantly go forward on the road leading to the grave. We travel in it day and night. From our earliest childhood, during our youth we have never ceased advancing rapidly therein. Mature and old age, far from slackening our pace, seem rather to hasten it; so true it is, that our life on earth is a continual race towards the immovable eternity!

And when will this race end? When shall we reach those unknown shores, whence there is no return? Alas! we know neither the day nor the hour of our last breath, which will be the end of our pilgrimage in this world. Oh, how worthy is this truth of our earnest reflections! Never shall the years, the months, the moments spent in trifles be returned to us! Our adieu to the time gliding by is final and everlasting. What a powerful motive is this for us to employ usefully every moment of our life, by stamping each with the sacred seal of obedience, prayer and good intention!

The final end of our journey here below is either death or life. Beyond the limits of transitory time are two eternal dwellings, the one happy, and the other unhappy. Those who travel by the broad road of vice and sin, will reach an endless death, in punishments ever renewed. On the contrary, those who follow the paths of virtue, enter a blissful life, whose riches, glory and delights will be their lot forever. Who would hesitate in his choice and fail to take the road leading to true happiness?

O my God, deign to direct me in the most secure way to salvation. Enable me carefully to shun the hidden precipices in my path. Strip me of the spirit of the world, that vain, dissipated and superficial spirit which is satisfied with what is external and cares not to sanctify the interior. Lead me by the narrow way followed by the saints, the way of solitude, mental prayer, self-denial, contempt of created goods, in which is pursued the conquest of uncreated bliss. "Narrow is the way, that leadeth to life" (Mat. 7. 14).

II. The Means Of Happily Making The Journey Of Our Life.

In the first place, our fervor on the thorny road of this life should be kept by a longing for our blissful country. The traveller who ardently desires to see again his relatives and friends, hastens his steps and does not linger on the way. Wherefore if we desire to behold our God in His glory, let us not lose our time, and let us not expose ourselves, by our earthly attachments, to sojourn in purgatory before entering the city of the elect.

But mere desires will not bring us to the heavenly Jerusalem; it behooves us also to seek it efficaciously, that is, to take the road leading to it, and to walk therein till our death. The pilgrim, who is eager to reach surely the sanctuary he desires to visit, does not follow doubtful ways, but only those that are well known. In like manner, in the journey of our life let us choose the paths marked out by Jesus Christ and followed by the saints, that is, those of chastity, obedience, patience and habitual prayer. "How strait is the way that leadeth to life, and few there are that find it," says our divine Saviour (Mat. 7. 14). Let us be among these few, and the hope of one day reaching our country will everywhere accompany us.

We are traveling, says the Holy Ghost, "as a ship that passeth through the waves" (Wisd. 5. 10). However, how many dangers are concealed in our way! The enemies of our salvation, like cruel pirates, seek to lead us astray, to cause us to perish. Hence we stand in need of courage and confidence. Let us rely on our Saviour, who is our Pilot, and on His Blessed Mother, the Star that directs our route in this life. In the storms raised by the world, the flesh and the devil, let us look up to our Star, and cry out to our Saviour: "Lord, save us; we are perishing" (Mat. 8. 25). And our divine Pilot will still the storm, and Mary, the Star of the sea, will show us the haven.

O Jesus, O Mary, that I may reach the haven of salvation, I will henceforth, first, faithfully follow my rule of life, without ever omitting my spiritual exercises, unless for some very important reason; and secondly, I will consider each hour, each moment, as another step towards the endless eternity, which we are nearing as speedily as we are running to meet death. "Man shall go into the house of his eternity."

Method

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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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