In The Imitation of Christ Thomas Kempis writes, “And between feasts, we ought to set up a plan as if at that very moment we were to depart this world and arrive at the eternal feast day.” (Book 1, chapter 19)
Fr. John-Julian in his commentary on this passage says, “Thomas here engages in a comon medieval counsel, usually called momento mori, or ‘Remember death!’ It is based on Sirach 7:40 (‘In all you do, remember the end of your life, and you will never sin.’) It showed in paintings (often with skulls), on ‘cadaver tombs’ (with the dead portrayed as a decayed corpse or a skeleton), even on clocks where ultimas forsan? (‘Perhaps the last hour?’) appeared.” (50)
My coworker Josh found me a picture of an old sun dial that had inscripted on it ‘Horæ omnes vulnerant, ultima necat’ which translates ‘Every hour wounds, the last kills.”
I asked Josh if he would create a picture of a clock with ultimas forsan? on it. Here’s what he gave me. I love it.
The Baker Deep End Blog 
I’m thinking maybe this is what Christ meant (Mt 25:13).
LikeLike
Louis, great post!
Saint Antony, the father of the monastic movement said something quite similar:
“For if we live as people dying daily, we will not commit sin. The point of the saying is this: As we rise daily, let us suppose that we shall not survive till evening, and again, as we prepare for sleep, let us consider that we will not awaken.”
The cadence for the Anglican liturgy observed on Ash Wednesday also evokes the wisdom of life’s uncertainty and the necessity to dying daily.
The following prayer is offered by the Celebrant right before the ashes are imposed:
Almighty God, you have created us out of the dust of the
earth: Grant that these ashes may be to us a sign of our
mortality and penitence, that we may remember that it is
only by your gracious gift that we are given everlasting life;
through Jesus Christ our Savior. Amen.
Each worshiper receives this message personally as they are imposed:
Remember that you are dust, and to dust you shall return.
LikeLike