From Heart of the Enlightened By Anthony de Mello

A miser had accumulated five hundred thousand dinars and looked forward to a year of pleasant living before he made up his mind how best to invest his money, when suddenly the Angel of Death appeared before him to take his life away.

The man begged and pleaded and used a thousand arguments to be allowed to live a little longer, but the angel was obdurate. “Give me three days of life and I shall give you half my fortune,” the man pleaded. The angel wouldn’t hear of it and began to tug at him.

“Give me just one day, I beg of you, and you can have everything I accumlated through so much sweat and toil.”

The angel was adamant still.

He was able to wring just one little concession from the angel-a few moments in which to write down this note:

“Oh you, whoever you are that happen to find this note, if you have enough to live on, don’t waste your life accumulating fortunes. Live!

My five hundred thousand dinars could not buy me a single hour of life!”

Reflection Questions

• If you only had one hour of life left, what would it be worth to you?
• What if you only had one year left instead?
• If you were the miser, what would you have written in the note?