St. Alphonsus Liguori: Daily Meditations for Second Week of Pentecost

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Wednesday – Second Week After Pentecost

Morning Meditation

THE GRATEFUL HEART OF JESUS

Jesus has offered for us all His merits, all His sufferings, all His ignominies, all His Blood and His very life; so that we are under not one, but infinite obligations to love Him. Alas! we are grateful towards the very animals. How can it be that we are so ungrateful towards God?

I.

The Heart of Jesus is so grateful, that our Lord cannot behold the most trifling works done for His love—our smallest word spoken for His glory, a single good thought directed towards pleasing Him-without giving to each its own reward. He is, besides, so grateful that he always returns a hundredfold for one: You shall receive a hundredfold-(Matt. xix. 29).

Men, when they are grateful and recompense any benefit done to them, recompense it only once; they, as it were, divest themselves of all the obligation, and then they think no more of it. Jesus Christ does not act thus with us, for He not only recompenses a hundredfold in this life every action that we perform to please Him, but in the next life He recompenses it an infinite number of times throughout eternity. And who will be so negligent as not to do as much as he can to please this most grateful Heart?

Tell me, O Jesus, what Thou wishest me to do, for I am ready to do everything with Thy help. I believe that Thou hast created me. Thou hast given Thy Blood and Thy life for the love of me. I believe also that for my sake Thou dost remain in the Blessed Sacrament; I thank Thee for it, O my Love. Oh, permit me not to be ungrateful in future for so many benefits and proofs of Thy love. Oh, bind me, unite me to Thy Heart, and permit me not, during the years that remain to me, to offend Thee or grieve Thee any more. I have displeased Thee too much, O my Jesus, it is time that I should love Thee now. Oh, that those many years I have lost would return! But they will return no more, and the life that remains for me may be short; but whether it be short or long, my God, I desire to spend it all in loving Thee, my sovereign Good, Who dost deserve an eternal and infinite love.

O Mary, my Mother, let me never again be ungrateful to thy Son. Pray to Jesus for me.


II.

But, O my God, how do men try to please Jesus Christ? Or rather, I will say, how can we be so ungrateful towards this our Saviour? If He had shed only a single drop of Blood, or one tear for our salvation, we should be under infinite obligation to Him; because this drop and this tear would have been of infinite value in the sight of God towards obtaining for us every grace. But Jesus would employ for us every moment of His life. He has offered for us all His merits, all His sufferings, all His ignominies, all His Blood, and His life; so that we are under not one, but infinite, obligations to love Him.

But, alas! we are grateful even towards animals: if a little dog shows us any sign of affection, it seems to constrain us to love it. How, then, can we be so ungrateful towards God? It would seem as if God’s benefits to men change their nature, and become ill-usage; for, instead of gratitude and love, they earn only offences and injuries. Do Thou, O Lord, enlighten these ungrateful ones, to know the love Thou bearest them.

O beloved Jesus, behold at Thy feet an ungrateful sinner. I have been grateful, indeed, towards creatures; but to Thee alone I have been ungrateful to Thee, Who hast died for me, and hast done the utmost that Thou couldst do to oblige me to love Thee. But the thought that I have to do with a Heart full of goodness and infinite in mercy, of One Who proclaims that He forgives all the offences of the sinner who repents and loves Him, consoles me and gives me courage. My dearest Jesus, I have in times past offended Thee and despised Thee; but now I love Thee more than everything more than myself.

Spiritual Reading

CORAM SANCTISSIMO

FOURTEENTH VISIT

Most amiable Jesus, I hear Thee say from this Tabernacle, in which Thou art present, This is my rest for ever and ever; here will I dwell for I have chosen it -(Ps. cxxxi. 14). Since then, Thou hast chosen Thy dwelling on our altars in the midst of us, remaining there in the most Holy Sacrament, and since Thy love for us makes Thee there find Thy repose, it is but just that our hearts also should ever dwell with Thee in affection, and should find all pleasure and repose in Thee. Blessed are you, O loving souls, who can find no sweeter repose in the world than in remaining near to your Jesus in the Most Holy Sacrament! And blessed shall I be, my Lord, if from this time forward I find no greater delight than in remaining always in Thy presence, or in always thinking of Thee, Who in the Most Holy Sacrament art always thinking of me and of my welfare.

Ah, my Lord, and why have I lost so many years in which I have not loved Thee? O miserable years, I curse you; and I bless thee, O infinite patience of my God, for having for so many years borne with me, though so ungrateful to Thy love. And still, notwithstanding this ingratitude, Thou waitest for me; and why, my God, why? It is, that one day, overcome by Thy mercies and by Thy love, I may yield wholly to Thee. Lord, I will no longer resist, I will no longer be ungrateful. It is but just that I should consecrate to Thee the time, be it long or short, which I have still to live. I hope for Thy help, O my Jesus, to become entirely Thine. Thou didst favour me so much when I fled from Thee and despised Thy love; how much more may I hope that Thou wilt favour me, now that I seek and desire to love Thee? Give me, then, the grace to love Thee, O God worthy of infinite love. I love Thee with my whole heart; I love Thee above all things: I love Thee more than myself, more than my life. I am sorry for having offended Thee, O infinite Goodness. Pardon me, and with Thy pardon grant me the grace to love Thee much in this life until death, and in the next life for all eternity. O Almighty God, show the world the greatness of Thy power, in the prodigy of a soul ungrateful as mine has been, becoming one of Thy greatest lovers. Do this by Thy merits, my Jesus. It is my ardent desire, and I resolve thus to love Thee during my whole life. Do Thou, Who inspirest me with this desire, give me also the strength to accomplish it.

Ejac. My Jesus, I thank Thee for having waited for me until now.


AN ACT OF SPIRITUAL COMMUNION

My Jesus, I believe that Thou art truly present in the Most Holy Sacrament. I love Thee above all things, and I desire to possess Thee within my soul. Since I am unable now to receive Thee sacramentally, come at least spiritually into my heart. I embrace Thee as already there, and unite myself wholly to Thee; never permit me to be separated from Thee.


VISIT TO MARY

St. Germanus, addressing the Most Blessed Virgin Mary, says: “No one is saved but through thee; no one is delivered from evils but through thee; there is no one on whom any gift is bestowed but through thee.” Therefore, my Lady and my hope, if thou dost not help me I am lost, and shall be unable to bless thee in Heaven. But Lady, I hear all the Saints say that thou never abandonest those who have recourse to thee. He only is lost who has not recourse to thee. I, then, miserable creature that I am, have recourse to thee, and in thee place all my hopes.

Ejac. Mary is my whole confidence; she is the whole ground of my hope!


Concluding Prayer

Most holy Immaculate Virgin and my Mother Mary, to thee, who art the Mother of my Lord, and Queen of the world, the advocate, the hope, the refuge of sinners, I have recourse today I, who am the most miserable of all. I render thee my most humble homage, O great Queen, and I thank thee for all the graces thou hast conferred on me until now, particularly for having delivered me from hell, which I have so often deserved. I love thee, O most amiable Lady; and for the love which I bear thee, I promise to serve thee always, and to do all in my power to make others love thee also. I place in thee all my hopes; I confide my salvation to thy care. Accept me for thy servant, and receive me under thy mantle, O Mother of Mercy. And since thou art so powerful with God, deliver me from all temptations, or rather obtain for me the strength to triumph over them until death. Of thee I ask a perfect love of Jesus Christ. From thee I hope to die a good death.

O my Mother, for the love which thou bearest to God, I beseech thee to help me at all times, but especially at the last moment of my life. Leave me not, I beseech thee, until thou seest me safe in Heaven, blessing thee, and singing thy mercies for all eternity. Amen. So I hope. So may it be.

Evening Meditation

THE PRACTICE OF THE LOVE OF JESUS CHRIST

XXVII.-HE THAT LOVES JESUS CHRIST SEEKS TO DETACH HIMSELF FROM EVERY CREATURE

I.

He who would possess God entirely must give himself up entirely to God: My beloved to me, and I to him -(Cant. ii. 16), says the Sacred Spouse. My beloved has given Himself entirely to me, and I give myself entirely to Him. The love which Jesus Christ bears us causes Him to desire all our love; and without all He is not satisfied. On this account we find St. Teresa thus writing to the prioress of one of her convents: “Endeavour to train souls to total detachment from everything created, because they are to be trained for the spouses of a King so jealous that He would have them even forget themselves.” St. Mary Magdalen de Pazzi took a little book of devotion from one of her novices, merely because she observed that she was too much attached to it. Many souls acquit themselves of the duty of prayer, of visiting the Blessed Sacrament, of frequenting Holy Communion; but nevertheless they make little or no progress in perfection, and all because they keep some fondness for something in their heart; and if they persist in living thus, they will not only be always miserable, but run the risk of losing all.


II.

We must, therefore, beseech Almighty God, with David, to rid our heart of all earthly attachments: Create a clean heart in me, O God-(Ps. 1. 12). Otherwise we can never be wholly His. He has given us to understand very plainly that whoever will not renounce everything in this world cannot be His disciple: Every one of you that doth not renounce all that he possesseth, cannot be my disciple-(Luke xiv. 33). For this reason the ancient Fathers of the Desert were accustomed first to put this question to any youth who desired to associate himself with them: “Dost thou bring an empty heart that the Holy Spirit may fill it?” Our Lord said the same thing to St. Gertrude when she besought Him to signify what He wished of her: “I wish nothing else He said, but to find a heart devoid of creatures.” We must therefore say to God with great resolution and courage: O Lord, I prefer Thee to all; to health, to riches, to honours and dignities, to applause, to learning, to consolations, to high hopes, to desires, and even to the very graces and gifts which I may receive of Thee! In short, I prefer Thee to every good which is not Thee, O my God! Whatever benefit Thou grantest me, O my God, nothing besides Thyself will satisfy me. I desire Thee alone, and nothing else.