Today the Church celebrates the feast of St. Andrew Avelino, teatino priest and religious, which is invoked to avoid sudden death. It is curious that this was precisely the kind of death that it took this man of God who passed from this world to eternal life after suffering apoplexy at the foot of the altar, as he began the celebration of mass. And, in fact, although death came suddenly San Andrés Avelino estaba preparado para afrontarla, por lo cual, en lugar de ser una desgracia se trató de una merced de Dios, que le ahorró los sufrimientos de la agonía a un cuerpo cuya alma siempre se halló vigilante. En este mismo sentido hay que entender la anécdota de uno de sus más célebres devotos: el papa Pío XI. La copiamos de las memorias del maestro de cámara pontificio Mons. Alberto Arborio Mella di Sant’Elia, que llevan el sugestivo título de Instantáneas inéditas de los cinco últimos Papas (Ed. Paulinas, 1961). «Entretanto los inviernos se iban sucediendo. Los paseos por el jardín se fueron haciendo menos frecuentes y también less recreational. The troubles and hardships suffered had taken a blow to the Pope's health. The Holy Father had said several times that he would not last long, but hoped not to die of disease. Do not want to fall into the hands of men, but directly in God.
"I pray every day an Our Father, Hail Mary and Glory in honor of San Andrés Avelino to help me have a sudden death as beautiful as the one that took him"
"How awful, my God" - I cried.
"Yes, something of shock to those around me, but ... this is better ... less task is given ..."
"No, Holy Father: A sudden tumult morte et improvised free us, Domine - I replied.
"What do you say?" - He replied the Pope.
"The invocation of the Church, the Holy Father: A sudden tumult morte et improvised free us, Domine ."
"But what do you say? - Repeated louder -. Do not you understand that we priests are never sudden and unexpected death, though sudden? We are always ready and willing to die! "What a lesson! I was impressed, exemplified with this warning that I did much good ".
The above story makes us think, about the feast of St. Andrew Avelino, the need to be a habitual state of grace and ponder the desirability of the Last Things, as that of Holy Scripture (Ecclo. VII 40): "Memento Novissima tua et in aeternum non peccabis" (Remember your late and never wilt thou sin) . Death should be for us Catholics as natural as a matter of life and our hobbies. If we had this in our thoughts more frequently than usual (and not just through knocking us remember it each time you hit the door of our family and friends) would be more careful in ensuring that we were conducive to salvation. Teaches
P. Royo Marin prepares to death one of two ways: 1) remote and 2) next . The remote is up to us: the continuing state of grace through an authentically Christian life and ever vigilant, made up of prayer, penance, almsgiving, and frequency of use of sacramentals sacraments, good works, the performance of the theological and cardinal virtues, etc. Is this the proper preparation of the wise virgins, who have about their lamps when the Bridegroom comes. The proximate preparation, however, depends on the Church, which provides the necessary means to ensure the salvation of their children in the last extremity: extreme-unction, the General Confession, the per diem, the apostolic blessing in articulo mortis, prayers for the dying and certain sacramentals.
From these two kinds of preparation, the famous Dominican theologian distinguishes four kinds of death:
a) With remote and proximate preparation. It is the ideal death, the death of the righteous. Although her life has been straight convenientísimo always have the last rites that the Church offers, which may further shorten the Purgatorio. Is the death of the righteous par excellence and its model is the Glorious Patriarch St. Joseph, a just man, who had the consolation of assisted dying of Jesus and Mary.
b) With remote preparation but not close . Is less perfect than before, but morally suggests that the salvation of this type of death. Usually occurs suddenly, by accident, physical or organic, without giving time to receive the last sacraments. This applies to the death what they say about Day of the Lord comes like a thief in the night, no one knows the day nor the hour. But a Christian who has lived and usual state of grace has no reason to suppose a disgrace. His San Andrés Avelino model.
c) Without remote preparation, but next preparation. It is the death of repentant sinners, who to a point of contrition open skies. It is a kind of death that shows the extreme mercy of God, he wants until the end that the sinner be converted and live, but not desirable for the uncertain and because the habitual sinner in danger of hardening and despair of salvation. Their model is San Dimas, the Good Thief, which became the scaffold of the cross after a miserable life of sin and crime.
d) Without preparation or next remote. Is the death of Renegade, which has lived a life of God and not back at the last moment she turns to him is a horrible death as being the worst of all: "mors peccatorum pessima" (Psalm. XXXIII, 22). This is the death that God calls us away from the Litany of the Saints: "A free Northern sudden tumult et improvise us, Domine" . His model is the rich man, who surprised the passage from this world to another without warning.
After these considerations we get clear about the usefulness of the devotion to San Andrés Avelino, who can ask the Lord to obtain for us the graces necessary to live godly and to die in arms of the Church, surrounded by their past care, since we can not hope to achieve a holiness like his, which allowed him to enter the glory from the altar of the Holy Mass, at the foot of which was celebrating. Let us invoke, then, with sincere devotion, for which we copy this sentence:
After these considerations we get clear about the usefulness of the devotion to San Andrés Avelino, who can ask the Lord to obtain for us the graces necessary to live godly and to die in arms of the Church, surrounded by their past care, since we can not hope to achieve a holiness like his, which allowed him to enter the glory from the altar of the Holy Mass, at the foot of which was celebrating. Let us invoke, then, with sincere devotion, for which we copy this sentence:
San Andrés Avelino Oh, worthy son of San Cayetano, I devotee entreat you, for God's sake, you should create My counsel to the Almighty and his mercy I get the grace to live in such a way that deserves to die with the aid of our Holy Mother Church. I ask it chased away all the evil enemy ambush along my earthly life and especially in my last moments. Let the Lord deliver me from a sudden and unexpected death, so that I can prepare properly to appear before him and to hear from so just and merciful judge a benign and gracious statement. So be it.
timely Complementing these reflections on the day of San Andres Avelino, consign the link below a brief biography of him published recommended by a Catholic site:
