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

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Wednesday – Second Week After Easter
(Solemnity of St. Joseph)



Morning Meditation

THE PATRONAGE OF ST. JOSEPH

To understand how powerful is the intercession of St. Joseph with Jesus Christ, we need only know what the Gospel says, and he was subject to them-(Luke ii. 51). For thirty years, then, the Son of God most carefully obeyed Joseph and Mary. Joseph had only to indicate his will by a word or a sign, and he was immediately obeyed by Jesus. This humility of Jesus in obeying teaches us that the dignity of St. Joseph was above that of all the Saints, with the exception of the Divine Mother.

I.

Let us consider what St. Teresa says or the confidence we should have in the protection of St. Joseph; she says: “Our Lord seems to have granted power to other Saints to help in one necessity; experience proves that this Saint helps us in all; and our Lord wishes us to understand that, as on earth He was subject to Joseph, so also in Heaven He refuses him nothing that he asks. Other persons whom I advised to recommend themselves to St. Joseph have experienced this. I never knew anyone who served him, by practising some particular devotion in his honour, who did not always make progress in virtue. I entreat those who do not believe what I say to try it themselves. I cannot understand how it is possible to think of the Queen of Angels and of all the labours she underwent during the childhood of Jesus, without returning thanks to St. Joseph for all the Services he rendered at that time to the Mother and the Son.” We can, therefore, imagine that we hear our Lord, when He sees us afflicted in the midst of our miseries, address us all in the words in which Pharaoh addressed his people at the time of the famine in Egypt: Go to Joseph-(Gen. xli. 55) if you desire consolation.

My holy patron, St. Joseph, I choose thee, after Mary, for my principal advocate and protector. I promise to honour thee every day by some special devotion, and by placing myself under thy protection. I am unworthy of being thy servant; but through the love which thou dost bear to Jesus and Mary, accept me for thy perpetual servant. Through the sweet company of Jesus and Mary which thou didst enjoy during life, protect me during my whole life, that I may never be separated from God by losing His grace.


II.

We should especially be devout to St. Joseph in order that the Saint may obtain us a good death. He, on account of having saved the Infant Jesus from the snares of Herod, has the special privileges of delivering dying persons from the snares of the devil. Moreover, on account of the services he rendered for so many years to Jesus and Mary, having by his labours provided them a dwelling and food, he has the privilege of obtaining the special assistance of Jesus and Mary for his devout clients at death.

My holy protector, St. Joseph, on account of my sins I deserve a bad death; but if thou defendest me I shall not be lost. Thou wast not only a great friend of my Judge, but thou wast also His guardian and adopted father; recommend me to thy Jesus, Who loves thee so much. I place myself under thy protection; accept me for thy perpetual servant. And by that holy company of Jesus and Mary which thou didst enjoy on earth, obtain that I may never more be separated from their love; and, in fine, by the assistance of Jesus and Mary, which thou hadst at death, obtain for me, that at my death I also may have the special assistance of Jesus and Mary. Most holy Virgin, by the love which thou didst bear to thy holy spouse St. Joseph, help me at the hour of my death.

Spiritual Reading

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

1-THE GREATNESS OF THE LOVE THIS MOTHER BEARS US

Another motive for the love of Mary towards us arises from the fact that in us she sees souls that have been purchased at the price of the death of Jesus Christ. If a mother knew that a servant had been ransomed by a beloved son at the price of twenty years of imprisonment and suffering, how greatly would she esteem that servant on this account alone! Mary well knows that her Son came into the world only to save us poor creatures, as He Himself protested: I am come to save that which was lost-(Lukexix.10). And to save us He was pleased even to lay down His life for us: becoming obedient unto death-(Phil. ii. 8). If, then, Mary loved us but little, she would show that she valued but little the Blood of her own Son, which was the price of our salvation. To St. Elizabeth of Hungary it was revealed that Mary, from the time she dwelt in the Temple, did nothing but pray for us, begging that God would hasten the coming of His Son into the world to save us. And how much more must we suppose that she loves us, now that she has seen that we are valued to such a degree by her Son, that He did not disdain to purchase us at such a cost!

Because all men have been redeemed by Jesus, therefore Mary loves and protects them all. It was she who was seen by St. John in the Apocalypse, clothed with the sun: And a great sign appeared in heaven: a woman clothed with the sun-(Apoc. xii. 1). She is said to be clothed with the sun because, as there is no one on earth who can be hidden from the heat of the sun, so there is no one living who can be deprived of the love of Mary.

There is no one that can hide himself from its heat-(Ps. xviii. 7); that is, as Blessed Raymond Jordano applies the words, “from the love of Mary.” “And who,” exclaims St. Antoninus, “can ever form an idea of the tender care that this most loving Mother takes of all of us ” “offering and dispensing her mercy to everyone” ; for our good Mother desired the salvation of all, and co-operated in obtaining it. “It is evident,” says St. Bernard, “that she was solicitous for the whole human race.” Hence the custom of some of Mary’s clients, which consists in asking our Lord to grant them the graces that our Blessed Lady seeks for them, succeeds most advantageously. They say: Lord, grant me that which the most Blessed Virgin Mary asks for me. “And no wonder,” says Cornelius a Lapide, “for our Mother desires for us better things than we can possibly desire ourselves.” The devout Bernardine de Eustis says that Mary “loves to do us good and dispense graces to us far more than we to receive them.” On this subject Blessed Albert the Great applies to Mary the words of the Book of Wisdom: She preventeth them that covet her, so that she first showeth herself unto them-(Wisd. vi. 14). Mary anticipates those who have recourse to her by making them find her before they seek her. “The love that this good Mother bears us is so great,” says Richard of St. Laurence, ” that as soon as she perceives our want she comes to our assistance. She comes before she is called.”

Evening Meditation

THE PRACTICE OF THE LOVE OF JESUS CHRIST

XV.-ON THE GREAT CONFIDENCE WE OUGHT TO HAVE IN THE LOVE JESUS CHRIST HAS SHOWN US AND IN ALL HE HAS DONE FOR US

I.

The Blessed John of Avila has left us many beautiful thoughts on the great confidence we should have in the merits of Jesus Christ. “Do not forget,” he says “that Jesus Christ is the Mediator between the Eternal Father and ourselves; and that we are beloved by Him, and united to Him by such strong bonds of love that nothing can break them, so long as a man does not himself dissolve them by some mortal sin. The Blood of Jesus cries out and asks mercy for us; and cries out so loudly that the noise of our sins is not heard. The death of Jesus Christ hath put to death our sins: o death, I will be thy death!-(Osee xiii. 14). Those who are lost are not lost for want of means of satisfaction, but, because they do not avail themselves of the Sacraments as the means of profiting by the satisfaction made by Jesus Christ.”

Jesus has taken upon Himself the affair of remedying our evils, as if it had been personally His own affair. So that He has called our sins His own, although He did not commit them, and has sought pardon for them; and with the most tender love has prayed, as if He were praying for Himself, that all who should have recourse to Him might become objects of love. And as He sought, so He found, because God has so ordained that Jesus and ourselves should be so united in one, that either He and we should be loved or He and we hated: and since Jesus is not and cannot be hated, in the same way, if we remain united by love to Jesus, we also shall be loved. By His being loved by God, we are also loved, seeing that Jesus Christ can do more to make us loved that we can do to make ourselves hated; since the Eternal Father loves Jesus Christ far more than He hates sinners.”

My God, I love Thee; and because I love Thee I repent above all things for having offended Thee. In order not to lose a passing satisfaction, I have been willing, wretch that I am, to lose Thee so often, O Infinite Good! This thought torments me more than any pain: but it is a consolation to me to think that I have to do with infinite goodness, that knows not how to despise a heart that truly loves. Oh, that I could die for Thee, Who didst die for me! My dear Redeemer, I confidently hope for eternal salvation in the life to come, and in this life I hope for holy perseverance in Thy love; and therefore I propose always to ask it of Thee. And do Thou, by the merits of Thy Death, give me perseverance in praying to Thee. This, too, I ask and hope of you, O Mary my Queen!


II.

Jesus said to His Father: Father, I will that where I am, they also whom thou hast given me may be with me-(John xvii. 24). Love has conquered hatred; and thus we have been pardoned and loved, and are secure of never being abandoned, so strong is the tie of love that binds us. The Lord said by Isaias: Can a woman forget her infant? And if she should forget, yet will I not forget thee. Behold, I have graven thee in my hands-(Is. xlix. 15, 16). He has graven us in His hands with His own Blood. Thus we should not trouble ourselves about anything since everything is ordained by those hands which were nailed to the Cross in testimony of the love He bears us.”

“Nothing can trouble us on which Jesus Christ cannot reassure us. Let the sins I have committed surround me, let devils lay snares for me, let fears for the future accuse me; by demanding mercy of the most tender Jesus Christ, Who has loved me even until death, I cannot possibly lose confidence; for I see myself so highly valued that God gave Himself for me. O my Jesus, sure haven for those who seek Thee in time of peril! O most watchful Pastor, he deceives himself who does not trust in Thee, if only he has the will to amend his life! Therefore Thou hast said: “I am here, fear not; I am He Who afflicts and Who consoles. Some from time to time I place in desolations which seem equal to hell itself; but after a while I bring them out and console them. I am thine Advocate, Who have made thy cause My own. I am thy Surety, Who am come to pay thy debts. I am thy Lord, Who redeemed thee with My Blood, not in order to abandon thee but to enrich thee, having bought thee at a great price. How shall I fly from him who seeks Me, when I went forth to meet those who sought to outrage Me? I did not turn away My face from him who struck Me; and shall I from him who would adore Me?

How can My children doubt that I love them, seeing that out of love for them I placed Myself in the hands of My enemies? Whom have I ever despised that loved Me? Whom have I ever abandoned that sought My aid? Even I go seeking those that do not seek Me. If you believe that the Eternal Father has given you His Son, believe also that He will give you everything else which is infinitely less than His Son. Do not think that Jesus Christ is forgetful of you, since He has left you, as the greatest memorial and pledge of His love, Himself in the Most Holy Sacrament of the Altar.

O my Jesus, my Love, what joyful hope does Thy Passion give me! How can I possibly fear I may not receive from an Almighty God Who has given me all His Blood, the pardon of my sins, Paradise, and all other graces that I require! Ah, my Jesus, my Hope and my Love, Thou, in order that I might not perish, didst give Thy life; I love Thee above every good, my Redeemer and my God. Thou gavest Thyself entirely to me; I give Thee my whole will, and with it I repeat that I love ‘Thee, and I will always’ say I love Thee, I love Thee! So I always desire to say in this life, so I wish to die, breathing forth my last sigh with this dear word on my lips: My God, I love Thee! that from that moment I may commence a love towards Thee which shall last without cessation for all eternity.