Note 189 — San Agustin’s Letter on the Filipinos

81. They are also worthy of envy for the calmness and conformity with which they die, with so wonderful peace, as if they were making a journey from one village to another—the Lord working in these creatures as the Lord that He is,189 for in that transit His mercy shines forth more; and thus said David (Psalm, XLVII, 21) Domini, Domini, exitus mortis;190 whence that reduplication which the Hebrew grammar calls ohatsere,191 signifies the superlative in name and action. The same is the declaration of divine wisdom (Proverbs, XX): In viis justitiæ ambulo, in medio semitarum judicii, ut ditem diligentes me.192 The Father celestial summons them for the relief of their burdens, and of the troubles which they have had during life: Venite qui laboratis, et onerati estis, et ego reficiam vos (Matthew xi, 28).193