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

[Stone]

Saturday -Third Week After Pentecost

Morning Meditation

IV.–HOW TO CONVERSE CONTINUALLY AND FAMILIARLY WITH GOD

When you are afflicted with sickness, temptation, persecution, or any other trouble, go at once to God, and beseech Him that His hand may help you. He will not, indeed, be displeased if in your desolation you go to your friends and find some relief. But after you have applied to creatures, and they have been unable to comfort your heart, have recourse to your Creator, and say to Him: Lord, men are full of words. They cannot comfort me. Thou art all my Hope and all my Love!


I.

When you are afflicted with sickness, temptation, persecution, or other trouble, go at once to God, and beseech Him that His hand may help you. It is enough for you to present the affliction before Him; to come and say: Behold, O Lord, I am in distress–(Lam. i. 20). He will not fail to comfort you, or at least to give you strength to suffer that grief with patience; and it will turn out a greater good to you than if He had altogether freed you from it. Tell Him all the thoughts of fear or of sadness that torment you; and say to Him: My God, in Thee are all my hopes; I offer Thee this affliction, and resign myself to Thy will; but do Thou take pity on me,-either deliver me out of it, or give me strength to bear it. And He will truly keep with you that promise made in the Gospel to all those who are in trouble, to console and comfort them as often as they have recourse to Him: Come to me, all you that labour and are burdened, and I will refresh you--(Matt. xi. 28).

He will not be displeased if in your desolation you go to your friends to find some relief; but He wills you chiefly to have recourse to Himself. At all events, therefore, after you have applied to creatures, and they have been unable to comfort your heart, have recourse to your Creator, and say to Him: Lord, men have only words for me; My friends are full of words–(Job xvi. 21); they cannot comfort me, nor do I any more desire to be comforted by them; Thou art all my hope, all my love. From Thee only will I receive comfort; and let my comfort be, on this occasion, to do what pleaseth Thee. Behold me ready to endure this grief through my whole life, through all eternity, if such be Thy good pleasure. Only do Thou help me.


II.

Fear not that God will be offended if you sometimes gently complain, and say to Him: Why, O Lord, hast Thou retired afar off?-(Ps. ix. 1). Thou knowest, Lord, that I love Thee, and desire nothing but Thy love; in pity help me and forsake me not. And when the desolation lasts long, and troubles you exceedingly, unite your voice to that of Jesus in agony and dying on the Cross, and beseech His mercy: My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?-(Matt. xxvii. 46). But let the effect of this be to humble you yet more at the thought that he deserves no consolation who has offended God; and yet all the more to enliven your confidence, knowing that God does all things, and permits all, for your good: All things work together unto good-(Rom. viii. 28). Say with great courage, even when you feel most troubled and disconsolate: The Lord is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear?-(Ps. xxvi. I). Lord, it is Thine to enlighten me; it is Thine to save me; in Thee do I trust: In thee, O Lord, have I hoped; let me never be confounded-(Ps. xxx. 2). And thus keep yourself in peace, knowing there never was anyone who placed his hopes in God and was lost: No one hath hoped in the Lord and hath been confounded-(Eccius. ii. 11). When you consider your God loves you more than you can love yourself, what do you fear? David comforted himself, saying: The Lord is careful for me-(Ps. xxxix. 18). Say to Him: therefore: Lord, into Thy arms I cast myself; I desire to have no thought but of loving and pleasing Thee; behold me ready to do what Thou requirest of me. Thou dost not only will my good, Thou art careful for it; unto Thee, then, do I leave the care of my salvation. In Thee do I rest, and will rest for evermore, since Thou willest that in Thee I should place all my hopes: In peace, in the self-same, I will sleep and I will rest; for thou, O Lord, hast singularly settled me in hope-(Ps. iv. 9).

Spiritual Reading

CORAM SANCTISSIMO

TWENTY-FOURTH VISIT

Verily thou art a hidden God-(Is. xlv. 15). In no other work of divine love are these words so fully verified as in this adorable mystery of the Most Holy Sacrament, where our God is entirely hidden. When the Eternal Word took Flesh, He hid His divinity, and appeared as a Man on earth; but remaining with us in this Sacrament, He hides even His humanity, and, as remarks St. Bernard, appears only under the form of bread, to show thereby the tenderness of the love He bears us: “The divinity is hid, the humanity is hid: the bowels of charity alone appear.” O my beloved Redeemer, at the sight of the excessive tenderness Thou hast for men, I am beside myself, O Lord, and know not what to say. In this Sacrament Thou goest so far for their love as to hide Thy majesty and lower Thy glory; Thou goest so far as even to consume and annihilate Thy divine life. And whilst Thou art on the altar Thou seemest to have nothing else to do than to love men, and to show them the affection Thou bearest them. And what gratitude do they show Thee in return, O great Son of God?

O Jesus, O too great Lover of men, allow me so to speak, for I see that Thou preferrest their advantage to Thine own glory. And didst Thou not know to how much contempt this loving design of Thine would expose Thee? I see, and before me Thou didst see it full well Thyself, that the greater part of men adore Thee not; neither will they acknowledge Thee in this Sacrament.

I know that these very men have gone so far as to trample on the consecrated Hosts, that they have thrown them on the ground, into water, and into fire. And I see the greater part even of those who believe in Thee, O my God, so far from repairing so many outrages by the homage of their devotion, either come to the church to offend Thee still more by their irreverences, or else abandon Thee on Thy altar, and sometimes even leave it unprovided with a lamp or the necessary ornaments!

Oh, that I could, my most sweet Saviour, but wash with my tears, or even with my blood, those unhappy places in which, in this Sacrament, Thy love and Thy enamoured Heart have been so greatly outraged! But if so much is not granted me, I desire at least, my Lord, and determine, to visit Thee often, in order to adore Thee as I now adore Thee, and this in compensation for the insults Thou receivest in this most divine Mystery. Accept, O Eternal Father, this scanty honour, which I, the most miserable of men, now offer Thee in reparation of the outrages offered to Thy Son in the Most Holy Sacrament; accept it in union with that infinite honour which Jesus Christ gave Thee on the Cross, and which He daily gives Thee in the Most Blessed Sacrament. O my Sacramental Jesus, would that I could fill all men with love for the Most Blessed Sacrament!

Ejac. O amiable Jesus, make Thyself known, make Thyself loved!


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

My most powerful Lady, in the midst of my misgivings as to my eternal salvation, how great is the confidence I feel when I have recourse to thee; and when I think that thou, my Mother, art, on the one hand, so rich in graces that St. John Damascene calls thee “a sea of graces”; St. Bonaventure, “the assemblage of graces,” that is, the source in which all graces are congregated; St. Ephrem, “a fountain of grace and of all consolation”; and St. Bernard, “the fullness of every good”-and on the other hand, I reflect that thy desire to do us good is so great that thou esteemest thyself offended, as St. Bonaventure says, by him who does not ask thee for graces: “They sin against thee, O Lady,” he says, “who do not ask of thee.” O most rich, O most wise, and most merciful Queen, I see that thou knowest far better than I do the wants of my soul and that thou lovest me far more than I can love thee! Know, then, the grace for which I now ask thee; obtain me the grace which thou knowest to be the most expedient for my soul. Ask this favour from God and I am satisfied.

Ejac. My God, grant me the graces which Mary asks Thee for me.


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

“Charity thinketh no evil, rejoiceth not in iniquity, but rejoiceth with the truth.”

XXXVII.-HE THAT LOVES JESUS CHRIST ONLY WISHES WHAT JESUS CHRIST WISHES

I.

Charity and truth always go together; so that charity, conscious that God is the only and the true Good, detests iniquity, which is directly opposed to the Divine will, and takes no satisfaction but in what pleases Almighty God. Hence the soul that loves God is heedless of what people say of her, and only aims at pleasing God. The Blessed Henry Suso says: “That man stands well with God who strives to conform himself to the truth, and for the rest is utterly indifferent to the opinion or treatment of mankind.”

And as we have already more than once asserted, the sanctity and perfection of a soul consists in renouncement of self and in submission to the will of God; but now it will be well to descend more into detail. If, then, we would become saints, our whole endeavour must be, never to follow our own will, but always the will of God; the substance of all the precepts and Divine counsels is comprised in doing and suffering what God wills, and in the manner He wills it. Let us, therefore, entreat the Lord to bestow on us a holy liberty of spirit: that liberty of spirit which leads us to embrace whatever is pleasing to Jesus Christ, regardless of all feelings of repugnance arising from self-love and human respect. The love of Jesus Christ, makes those who love Him utterly indifferent; so that all things are alike to them, whether bitter or sweet. They do not wish for anything that pleases themselves, but only for that which is pleasing to God; they employ themselves in little and great things, be they pleasant or unpleasant, with the same peace of mind. It is enough for them if they please God.


II.

St. Augustine says: “Ama, et fac quod vis: Love, and do what you like.” Whoever really loves God seeks only to do what pleases Him; and in this is all his pleasure. St. Teresa says: “He that seeks but the gratification of one he loves, is gratified with all that pleases that person. Love in its perfection produces this result; it makes a person heedless of all private interests and self-satisfaction, and concentrates all his thoughts on endeavouring to please the person beloved, and to do all he can to honour him himself, and to make him honoured by others. O Lord, all our ills come from not keeping our eyes fixed on Thee! Were we solely intent on advancing, we should soon come to the end of our journey; but we fall and stumble a thousand times, and we even lose our way, for want of looking attentively to the right path.” Here we may see what should be the single aim of all our thoughts, actions, desires, and prayers, namely, the pleasure of God; our way to perfection must be this, to walk according to the will of God.