St. Alphonsus Liguori: Daily Meditations for Second Week after Easter

[Stone]

Thursday After Low Sunday

Morning Meditation

CHARITY IN OUR THOUGHTS AND SENTIMENTS

Put ye on, therefore, as the elect of God, holy and beloved, the bowels of mercy-(Col. iii. 12). The followers of Jesus Christ should be clothed, not only with Charity, but with the bowels of charity, so that in all their actions they should be clothed and encompassed around with Charity. They should love each one as if for each they had the tenderest affection. “Charity,” says St. Augustine, “does not grieve much even when she thinks well of the bad.”

I.

To practise charity in thought, you must, in the first place, endeavour to banish all rash judgments, suspicions, and doubts. To entertain a rash doubt regarding another is a defect; to indulge a positive suspicion is a greater fault, and to judge with certainty without certain grounds that another has sinned is still more criminal before God. Whoever judges rashly of his neighbour shall be judged with severity. Judge not, that you may not be judged. For with what judgment you judge you shall be judge-(Matt. vii. 1). But although it is sinful to judge evil of others without certain grounds, still it is not a violation of the Divine law to suspect or even to judge evil of them when we have certain motives for such suspicions or judgments. However, the safest and most charitable rule is to think well of all, and to banish all such judgments and suspicions. Charity, says the Apostle, thinketh no evil -(1 Cor. xiii. 5). If by your office you are not charged with the correction of others, endeavour always to judge favourably of all. St. Jane Frances de Chantal used to say that “in our neighbour we should observe only what is good.” Should you sometimes through mistake praise in others what is censurable, you will never have reason to repent of your error. “Charity,” says St. Augustine, ” does not grieve much even when she thinks well of the bad.” St. Catharine of Bologna once said: ” I have lived for many years in religion, and have never thought ill of any of my sisters; because I know that a person who appears to be imperfect may be more dear to God than another whose conduct is much more exemplary.” Be careful, then, not to indulge in observing the defects and concerns of others, nor to imitate the example of those who go about asking what others say of them, and thus fill their minds with suspicions, and their hearts with bitterness and aversions. Listen not to them who tell you that others have spoken of your defects, and ask not from them the names of those who dispraised you. In such tales there is, in general, a great deal of exaggeration. Let your conduct be such as deserves praise from all, but regard not what is said of you. When told that anyone has charged you with a certain fault, let your answer be that others know you but little; and that, were they aware of all your defects, they would say a great deal more of you; or you may say that only God is to be your judge.


II.

When our neighbour is visited with any infirmity, loss, or other calamity, charity obliges us to regret his misfortune at least with the superior will. I say with the superior will, for concupiscence always appears to take a certain delight in hearing that a calamity has befallen an enemy. But that delight is not culpable as long as it is resisted by the will. Whenever the inferior appetite solicits the will to rejoice at the misfortune of others, pay no more attention to its criminal solicitations than you would to a dog that barks without reason; but endeavour to excite in the superior will sentiments of regret at their distress. It is indeed sometimes lawful to rejoice at the good effects that are likely to result from the temporal afflictions of others. For example, it is not forbidden to be glad from a motive of his conversion, or of the cessation of scandal, that a notorious and obstinate sinner has been visited with sickness. However, should he have offended us, the joy occasioned by his infirmity may be the fruit of passion as well as of zeal. “It may indeed often happen,” says St. Gregory, “that, without losing charity, we rejoice at: the ruin of an enemy; and that without incurring the guilt of envy we feel sorrow at his exaltation, when by his downfall we think that others will be justly exalted, and when we fear that by his prosperity many will be unjustly oppressed.”

Spiritual Reading

SALVE, REGINA, MATER MISERICORDlAE! HAIL, HOLY QUEEN, MOTHER OF MERCY!

III.-HOW GREAT SHOULD BE OUR CONFIDENCE IN MARY WHO IS THE QUEEN OF MERCY

May it not, perhaps, be feared that Mary would not deign to interpose for some sinners because they are so overloaded with crimes? Or perhaps we ought to be overawed at the majesty and holiness of this great Queen? “No,” says St. Gregory VII, “for the higher and more holy she is, the greater is her sweetness and compassion towards sinners who have recourse to her with the desire to amend their lives.” Kings and queens, with their ostentation of majesty, inspire terror, and cause their subjects to fear to approach them: but what fear, says St. Bernard, can the miserable have of approaching this Queen of Mercy? “Why should human frailty fear to go to Mary? In her there is no austerity, nothing terrible: she is all sweetness, offering milk and wool to all.” Mary is not only willing to give, but she herself offers milk and wool to all: the milk of mercy to animate our confidence, and the wool of her protection against the thunderbolts of Divine justice.

Suetonius relates of the Emperor Titus that he could never refuse a favour, so much so that he sometimes promised more than he could grant; and when admonished of this he replied that a prince should never send away any person whom he admitted to his audience dissatisfied. Titus spoke thus, but in reality he must often have deceived or failed in his promises. Our Queen cannot deceive, and can obtain all that she wills for her clients. Moreover, “our Lord has given her so benign and compassionate a heart,” says Lanspergius, “that she cannot send away anyone dissatisfied who prays to her.” But how, to use the words of St. Bonaventure, canst thou, O Mary, who art the Queen of Mercy, refuse to succour the miserable? And “who,” asks the Saint, “are the subjects for mercy, if not the miserable? And since thou art the Queen of Mercy,” he continues, “and I am the most miserable of sinners, it follows that I am the first of thy subjects. How, then, O Lady, canst thou do otherwise than exercise thy mercy on me?” Have pity on us, then, O Queen of Mercy, and take charge of our salvation.

“Say not, O holy Virgin,” says St. George of Nicomedia, “that thou canst not assist us on account of the number of our sins, for thy power and thy compassion are such, that no number of sins, however great, can outweigh them. Nothing resists thy power, for our common Creator, honouring thee as His Mother, considers thy glory as His own”: and the Son, “exulting in it, fulfils thy petitions as if He were paying a debt”; meaning thereby, that although Mary is under an infinite obligation to the Son for having chosen her to be His Mother, yet it cannot be denied that the Son is under great obligation to her for having given Him His humanity; and therefore Jesus, to pay as it were what He owes to Mary, and glorying in her glory, honours her in a special manner by listening to and granting all her petitions.

How great, then, should be our confidence in this Queen, knowing her great power with God, and that she is so rich and full of mercy that there is no one living on the earth who does not partake of her compassion and favour. This was revealed by our Blessed Lady herself to St. Bridget, saying: “I am the Queen of Heaven and the Mother of Mercy; I am the joy of the just and the door through which sinners are brought to God. There is no sinner on earth so accursed as to be deprived of my mercy; for all, if they receive nothing else through my intercession, receive the grace of being less tempted by devils than they would otherwise have been.” “No one,” she adds, “unless the irrevocable sentence has been pronounced” (that is, the one pronounced on the damned), “is so cast off by God, who will not return to God and enjoy His mercy, if he invokes my aid. I am called by all the Mother of Mercy, and truly the mercy of my Son towards men has made me thus merciful towards them.” She concludes by saying that miserable will he be, and miserable will he be for all eternity, who, in this life, having it in his power to invoke her, who is so compassionate to all, and so desirous to assist sinners, is miserable enough not to invoke her, and so is damned.

Let us, then, have recourse, and always have recourse, to this most sweet Queen, if we would be certain of salvation; and if we are alarmed and disheartened at the sight of our sins, let us remember that, it is in order to save the greatest and most abandoned sinners who recommend themselves to her that Mary is made the Queen of Mercy. Such have to be her crown in Heaven, according to the words addressed to her by her Divine Spouse: Come from Libanus, my spouse; come from Libanus, come: thou shalt be crowned; … from the dens of the lions from the mountains of the leopards-(Cant. iv. 8). And what are these dens of beasts but miserable sinners whose souls have become the home of sin, the most frightful monster that can be found. “With such souls,” says the Abbot Rupert, addressing our Blessed Lady, “saved by thy means, O great Queen Mary, wilt thou be crowned in Heaven; for their salvation will form a, diadem worthy of, and well-becoming, a Queen of Mercy.”

Evening Meditation

THE PRACTICE OF THE LOVE OF JESUS CHRIST

IX.-HOW MUCH JESUS CHRIST DESERVES TO BE LOVED BY US ON ACCOUNT OF THE LOVE HE HAS SHOWN US IN INSTITUTING THE MOST HOLY SACRAMENT OF THE ALTAR

I.

St. Bernard calls the Eucharist “the love of loves”; because this gift comprehends all the other gifts bestowed Upon us by our Lord-creation, redemption, predestination to glory-so that the Eucharist is not only a pledge of the love of Jesus Christ, but of Paradise, which He desires also to give us. “In this Divine Banquet,” says the Church, “a pledge of future glory is given us.” Hence St. Philip Neri could find no other name for Jesus Christ in this Sacrament save that of Love: and so, when the Holy Viaticum was brought to him he was heard to exclaim: “Behold my Love! Give me my Love!”

The Prophet Isaias desired that the whole world should know the tender inventions our God has made use of wherewith to make men love Him. And who could ever have thought-if He Himself had not done it-that the Incarnate Word would hide Himself under the appearance of bread, in order to become Himself our Food? “Does it not seem folly,” says St. Augustine, “to say: Eat My Flesh; drink My Blood?” When Jesus Christ revealed to His disciples the Sacrament He desired to leave them they could not bring themselves to believe Him; and they left Him, saying: How can this man give us his flesh to eat? . . . This saying is hard, and who can hear it?-(John vi. 53, 61). But that which men could neither conceive nor believe the great love of Jesus Christ hath thought of and accomplished. Take ye and eat, said He to His disciples before He went to die; and through them to us all. Receive and eat: but what food shall that be, O Saviour of the world, which You desire to give us before You die? Take ye, and eat; this is my body. This is not earthly food; it is I Myself who give Myself entirely to you.


II.

And oh, with what desire does Jesus Christ pant to come into our souls in the Holy Communion! With desire I have desired to eat this pasch with you before I suffer (Luke xxii. 15). So He spoke on that night in which He instituted this Sacrament of love. With desire I have desired: so did the excessive love He bore us cause Him to speak, as St. Laurence Justinian remarks: “These are the words of most burning love.” And in order that everyone might easily receive Him, He desired to leave Himself under the appearance of bread; for if He had left Himself under the appearance of some rare or very costly food, the poor would have been deprived of Him: but no, Jesus would hide Himself under the form of bread, which costs but little, and can be found everywhere, in order that all in every country might be able to find Him and receive Him.