Famous Last Words

​            The month of November is the last month of the liturgical year. We’ll begin a new liturgical year on the first Sunday of Advent, which is November 28 this year, as we prepare for Christmas. However, the end of the liturgical year coincides with the beginning of winter. As the trees begin losing their leaves, animals go into hibernation, and the weather gets colder (which it may or may not do here in Louisiana), the Church spends the month of November focusing on the last things: death, judgment, heaven, and hell. These are the last things or the final things that we experience, and we have to take them into account. Some say that “you only live once,” so “eat, drink, and be merry, for tomorrow we die.” If you only live once, and you know neither the day nor the hour, then you should focus on the important things of life, the things that really matter, like faith, family, and friendship. To begin this month, I thought I’d share some famous last words that we can use as fuel for meditation and contemplation:
 
“Lord Jesus, receive my spirit. Lord, lay not this sin to their charge.” (Acts 7:58-59)
-- St. Stephen, deacon and martyr
 
“This is my last hour of life, listen to me attentively: if I have held communication with foreigners, it has been for my religion and for my God. It is for Him that I die. My immortal life is on the point of beginning. Become Christians if you wish to be happy after death, because God has eternal chastisements in store for those who have refused to know Him.”
-- St. Andrew Kim Taegon, martyr
 
“Blessed Mary, Mother of God, pray for me, a poor sinner, a poor sinner.”
-- St. Bernadette Soubirous, religious sister
 
“Let me go to the house of the Father.”
-- Pope St. John Paul II
 
“May God have mercy on you! May God bless you! Lord, Thou knowest that I am innocent! With all my heart I forgive my enemies!  Viva Cristo Rey! (Long live Christ the King!)”
-- Blessed Miguel Pro, SJ, martyr
 
“If all the swords in England were pointed against my head, your threats would not move me. I am ready to die for my Lord, that in my blood the Church may obtain liberty and peace.”
-- St. Thomas a’ Becket, bishop and martyr
 
(While gazing on a crucifix) “Oh! I love Him! My God, I love you!”
-- St. Therese of Lisieux, religious sister
 
“Your will be done. Come, Lord Jesus!”
-- St. Augustine of Hippo, bishop