St. Alphonsus Liguori: Daily Meditations for January 1st - 5th

[Stone]

First Friday of January

Morning Meditation

THE HEART OF JESUS FULL OF SUFFERINGS EVEN FROM HIS INFANCY

My sorrow is continually before me (Ps. xxvii. 18).

We have been accustomed to hear of the Creation, the Incarnation, the Redemption; of Jesus born in a stable, of Jesus dead upon the Cross. O my God, if we knew that another man had conferred on us any of these benefits we could not help loving him. O adorable Heart of my Jesus, Heart inflamed with the love of men, Heart created on purpose to love them, how is it possible that Thou canst be despised, and Thy love so ill corresponded with!

I.

Consider that in the moment that the soul of Jesus Christ was created and united to His little body in the womb of Mary, the Eternal Father intimated to His Son His will that He should die for the Redemption of the world; and in this same moment He presented to His view the entire dreadful scene of the sufferings He would have to endure, even unto death, in order to redeem mankind. Our Divine Redeemer saw in that moment all the labours, contempt, and poverty He would have to suffer during His whole life, in Bethlehem as in Egypt and in Nazareth; all the sufferings and ignominy of His Passion, the scourges, the thorns, the nails, and the Cross; all the weariness, the sadness, the agonies, and the abandonment in which he was to end His life upon Calvary.

When Abraham was leading his son to death, he would not inform him of it to his affliction beforehand, even during the short time that was necessary for them to arrive at the Mount. But the Eternal Father chose that His Incarnate Son, Whom He had destined to be the Victim of His justice in atonement for our sins, should, from the beginning, suffer all the pains to which He was to be subject during His life and at His death.

O sweet, O amiable, O loving Heart of Jesus! even from Thy infancy Thou wert full of bitterness; and Thou didst suffer agonies in the womb of Mary without consolation, and without any one to look upon Thee and to console Thee. All this Thou didst suffer, O my Jesus, in order to satisfy for the eternal sorrow and agony which I deserved to endure in hell for my sins. Thou didst suffer deprived of all relief, to save me who have had the boldness to forsake God, and to turn my back upon Him, in order to satisfy my miserable inclinations. I thank Thee, O afflicted and loving Heart of my Lord! I thank Thee and I sympathise with Thee, especially when I see that whilst Thou dost suffer so much for men, these very men do not even pity Thee. O love of God, O ingratitude of man! O men, O men, behold this little innocent Lamb Who is in agony for you, to satisfy the divine justice for the injuries you have committed against Him. See how He prays and intercedes for you with His Eternal Father; behold Him and love Him.

II.

Wherefore, from the first moment that He was in His Mother's womb, Jesus suffered continually that sorrow which He endured in the Garden, and which was sufficient to have taken away His life as He said: My soul is sorrowful even unto death (Matt. xxvi. 38). From that time forth He felt most vividly all the sorrows and contumely that awaited Him.

The whole life of our Blessed Redeemer was a life of pains and tears: My life is wasted with grief, and my years in sighs (Ps. xxx. 11). His divine Heart was never for one moment free from suffering. Whether He watched or slept, whether He laboured or rested, whether He prayed or spoke, He had continually before His eyes that bitter representation which tormented His holy Soul more than their sufferings tormented the holy Martyrs. The Martyrs suffered, but, assisted by grace, they suffered with joy and fervour. Jesus Christ suffered, but He suffered with a Heart full of weariness and sorrow; and He accepted all for love of us.

O my Redeemer, how few there are who think of Thy sorrows and Thy love! O God, how few there are who love Thee! Unhappy me, I also have lived so many years forgetful of Thee! Thou hast suffered so much in order to be loved by me, and I have not loved Thee. Forgive me, my Jesus, forgive me, for I will amend my life and I will love Thee. Ah, wretched me if I still resist Thy grace, and in resisting damn myself! All the mercies Thou hast shown me, and above all, Thy sweet voice now calling me to love Thee -- all these great graces will be, if I resist them, my greatest punishment in hell. O my beloved Jesus, have pity on me, and let me live no longer ungrateful to Thy love. Give me light; give me strength to conquer everything in order to accomplish Thy will. My dearest Mother Mary, help me. It is thou who hast obtained for me all the favours I have received from God.


Spiritual Reading

"THE GRACE OF GOD OUR SAVIOUR HATH APPEARED."

Alexander the Great, after he had conquered Darius and subdued Persia, wished to gain the affection of that people, and so went about dressed in the Persian costume. In like manner God would appear to act. In order to draw towards Himself the affections of men, He clothed Himself completely after the human fashion, and appeared as Man: in shape found as a man (Phil. ii. 7). By this means He wished to make known the depth of the love which He bore to man: The grace of God our Saviour hath appeared to all men (Tit. ii. 11).

Man does not love Me, God would seem to say, because he does not see Me. I wish to make Myself seen by him and to converse with him, and thus make Myself loved: He was seen upon earth, and conversed with men (Baruch iii. 38).

The Divine love for man was extreme, and had been from all eternity: I have loved thee with an everlasting love, therefore have I drawn thee, taking pity on thee (Jer. xxxi. 3). But heretofore it had not appeared how great and inconceivable this love was that manifested itself when the Son of God showed Himself a little One in a stable on a bundle of straw: The goodness and kindness of God our Savour appeared (Tit. ii. 4). The Greek text reads: The singular love of God towards men appeared. St. Bernard says that from the beginning the world had seen the Power of God in creation, and His Wisdom in the government of the world; but only in the Incarnation of the Word was it seen how great was His Mercy. Before God made Man was seen upon earth, men could not conceive an idea of the Divine Goodness; therefore did He take mortal flesh, that, appearing as Man, He might make plain to men the greatness of His benignity.

And in what other way could the Lord better display to thankless man His goodness and His love? Man, by despising God, says St. Fulgentius, put himself aloof from God forever; and as man was unable to return to God, God came in search of him on earth. St. Augustine had already said this: "Because we would not go to the Mediator, He condescended to come to us."

I will draw them with the cords of Adam, with the bands of love (Osee. xi. 4). Men allow themselves to be drawn by love; the tokens of affection shown to them are a sort of chain which binds them, and, in a sense, forces them to love those by whom they are loved. For this end the Eternal Word chose to become Man, to draw to Himself by the greatest proof of affection the love of men. God was made Man that God might be more easily loved by man. It seems that our Redeemer wished to signify this very thing to a devout Franciscan called Father Francis of St. James, as is related in the Franciscan Diary for the 15th of December. Jesus frequently appeared to him as a lovely Infant; and the holy friar longed in his fervour to hold Him in his arms, but the sweet Child always fled away; whereupon the servant of God lovingly complained of this. One day the divine Child again appeared to him; but how? He appeared with golden chains in His hands wherewith they should be bound as prisoners one with the other and never to be separated. Francis, emboldened at this, fastened the chains to the foot of the Infant, and bound Him to his heart; and, in very truth, from that time forward it seemed to him as if he saw the beloved Child in the prison of his heart, a perpetual Prisoner. That which Jesus did with this His servant He really has done with all men when He Himself became Man; He wished to be, as it were, enchained by us with such a prodigy of love and at the same time to enchain our hearts by obliging them to love Him, according to the prophecy of Osee: I will draw them with the cords of Adam, with the bands of love.

In divers ways, says St. Leo, had God already benefited man; but in no way has He more clearly exhibited the excess of His bounty than in sending him a Redeemer to teach him the way of salvation, and to procure for him the life of grace. "The Goodness of God has imparted gifts to the human race in various ways; but it surpassed the ordinary bounds of its abundant kindness when, in Christ, Mercy Itself came down to those who were in sin, Truth to those who were wandering in error, and Life to those who were dead."


Evening Meditation

THE KINDNESS OF JESUS OUR GOD

I.

Forget not the kindness of thy surety (Ecclus. xxix. 19).

St. Francis of Sales called Mount Calvary the mountain of lovers. It is impossible to remember that Mount and not love Jesus Christ, Who died there for love of us.

O God! how is it that men do not love this God Who has done so much to be loved by men! Before the Incarnation of the Word, man might have doubted whether God loved him with a true love; but after the coming of the Son of God, and after His dying for the love of men, how can we possibly doubt His love? "O man," says St. Thomas of Villanova, "look on that Cross, on those torments, and that cruel death, which Jesus has suffered for thee: after so great and so many tokens of His love, thou canst no longer entertain a doubt that He loves thee, and loves thee exceedingly." And St. Bernard says that "the Cross and every Wound of our Blessed Redeemer cry aloud to make us understand the love He bears us."

In this grand Mystery of man's Redemption, we must consider how Jesus employed all His thoughts and zeal to discover every means of making Himself loved by us. Had He merely wished to die for our salvation, it would have been sufficient had He been slain by Herod with the other children; but no, He chose before dying to lead for thirty-three years a life of hardship and suffering; and during that time, in order to win our love, He appeared in several different guises. First of all, as a poor child, born in a stable; then as a little boy helping in the workshop; and finally, as a criminal, executed on a Cross. But before dying on the Cross, we see Him in many different states, one and all calculated to excite our compassion, and to make Himself loved: in agony in the Garden, bathed from head to foot in a sweat of blood; afterwards, in the court of Pilate, torn with scourges; then treated as a mock king, with a reed in His hand, a ragged garment of purple on His shoulders, and a crown of thorns on His head; dragged publicly through the streets to death with the Cross upon His shoulders; and at length, on the hill of Calvary, suspended on the Cross by three iron nails. Tell me, does He merit our love or not, this God Who has vouchsafed to endure all these torments, and to use so many means in order to captivate our love? Father John Rigouleux used to say: "I would spend my life in weeping for the love of a God Whose love induced Him to die for the salvation of men."

O most beautiful and most loving Heart of Jesus, miserable is the heart which does not love Thee! O God, for the love of men Thou didst die on the Cross, helpless and forsaken, and how then can men live so forgetful of Thee? O love of God! O ingratitude of man!


II.

Forget not the kindness of thy surety; for he hath given his life for thee (Ecclus. xxix. 19). Be not unmindful of Him Who has stood surety for thee; Who, to satisfy for thy sins, was willing to pay off, by His death, the debt of punishment due by thee. Oh, how desirous is Jesus Christ that we should continually remember His Passion! And how it saddens Him to see that we are so unmindful of it! Were a person to endure for one of his friends, affronts, blows, and imprisonment, how afflicting would it be for him to know that that friend afterwards never gave it a thought, and cared not even to hear it spoken of! On the contrary, how gratified would he be to know that his friend constantly spoke of it with the warmest gratitude, and often thanked him for it. So it is pleasing to Jesus Christ when we preserve in our minds a grateful and loving recollection of the sorrows and death which He suffered for us. Jesus Christ was the Desired of all the ancient Fathers; He was the Desired of all nations before He was yet come upon earth. Now, how much more ought He to be our only desire and our only Love, now that we know that He is really come, and are aware how much He has done and suffered for us -- so that He even died upon the Cross for love of us!

O men, O men! do but cast one look on the innocent Son of God, agonising on the Cross and dying for you, in order to satisfy the divine justice for your sins, and by this means to allure you to love Him. Observe how, at the same time, He prays His Eternal Father to forgive you. Behold Him, and love Him. Ah, my Jesus, how small is the number of those who love Thee! wretched, too, am I, for I also have lived so many years unmindful of Thee, and have grievously offended Thee, my beloved Redeemer! It is not so much the punishment I have deserved that makes me weep, as the love which Thou hast borne me. O sorrows of Jesus! O ignominies of Jesus! O wounds of Jesus! O death of Jesus! O love of Jesus! rest deeply engraved in my heart, and may your sweet recollection be forever fixed there, to wound me and inflame me continually with love. I love Thee, my Jesus; I love Thee, my Sovereign Good; I love Thee, my Love and my All; I love Thee and I will love Thee for ever. Oh, suffer me never more to forsake Thee, never more to lose Thee! By the merits of Thy death make me entirely Thine. In this I firmly trust. And I have great confidence in thy intercession, O Mary, my Queen; make me love Jesus Christ, and make me also love thee, my Mother and my hope!

† † †

First Saturday of January

Morning Meditation

MARY’S PRAYERS FOR US ARE ALWAYS HEARD.

St. Bernard exhorts us to seek grace and to seek it through Mary, for, he says, she is a Mother to whom nothing can be denied. If, then, we wish to be saved, let us recommend ourselves to Mary for her prayers will always be heard.

I.

Jesus is the Mediator of Justice; Mary, the Mediatrix of Grace. For, as St. Bernard, St. Bonaventure, St. Bernardine of Sienna, St. Germanus, St. Antoninus and others say it is the will of God to dispense through the hands of Mary whatever graces He is pleased to bestow upon us. With God, the prayers of the Saints are the prayers of His friends, but the prayers of Mary are the prayers of His Mother! The most pleasing devotion to the Blessed Virgin is ever to have recourse to her and to say: O Mary, intercede for me with thy Son Jesus.

Jesus is omnipotent by nature; Mary is omnipotent by grace; she obtains whatever she asks. It is impossible, says St. Antoninus, that this Mother should ask any favour of her Son for those who are devout to her and the Son not grant her request. Jesus delights to honour His Mother by granting whatever she asks of Him. Hence St. Bernard exhorts us to seek for grace and to seek it through Mary; because she is a Mother to whom nothing can be denied. If, then, we would be saved, let us recommend ourselves to Mary, that she may intercede for us, because her prayers are always heard. O Mother of Mercy, have pity on me. Thou art styled the advocate of sinners; assist me, therefore, a sinner who places his confidence in thee.


II.

Let us not doubt that Mary will hear us when we address our prayers to her. It is her delight to exercise her powerful influence with God in obtaining for us whatever graces we stand in need of. It is sufficient to ask favours of Mary to obtain them. If we are unworthy of them, she renders us worthy by her powerful intercession; and she is very desirous that we should have recourse to her, that she may save us. What sinner ever perished, who, with confidence and perseverance, had recourse to Mary, the refuge of sinners? He is lost who has not recourse to Mary.

O Mary, my Mother and my hope! I take refuge under thy protection; reject me not, as I have deserved. Protect me and have pity on me, a miserable sinner. Obtain for me the forgiveness of my sins; obtain for me holy perseverance, the love of God, a good death, and a happy eternity. I hope all things of thee, because thou art most powerful with God. Make me holy, since, by thy holy intercession, thou hast it in thy power to do so. O Mary, in thee, next to thy divine Son Jesus, do I confide; in thee do I place all my hope.


Spiritual Reading

OUR ETERNAL SALVATION IS IN PRAYER.

Prayer is not only useful, but necessary for salvation; and therefore God, Who desires that we should be saved, has enjoined it as a precept: Ask, and it shall be given you (Matt. vii. 7). It was an error of Wickliff, condemned by the Council of Constance, to say that prayer was only a Divine counsel to us and not a command. It is necessary — not it is advisable or fitting — always to pray (Luke xviii. 1). Wherefore Doctors of the Church always maintain that he cannot be held guiltless of grievous sin who neglects to recommend himself to God, at least once in a month, and at all times when he finds himself assailed by severe temptation.

The reason of this necessity of recommending ourselves often to God arises from our inability to do any good work, or to entertain any good thoughts, of ourselves: Without me ye can do nothing (Jo. xv. 5). We are not sufficient to think anything of ourselves as of ourselves (2 Cor. iii. 5). Therefore, St. Philip Neri says that he despaired of himself. On the other hand, St. Augustine writes that God desires to bestow His graces, but only on those who beg them. And especially, said the Saint, as God gives the grace of perseverance only to those who seek it.

It is a fact that the devil never ceases to go about seeking to devour us, and therefore we need ever to defend ourselves by prayer. “Continual prayer is necessary for man,” says St. Thomas. Jesus Christ first taught us: We must always pray, and not faint (Luke xviii. 1). Otherwise, how can we resist the constant temptations of the world and the devil? It was the error of Jansenius, condemned by the Church, that the observance of certain precepts was impossible, and that sometimes grace itself failed to render it possible to us. God is faithful, says St. Paul, Who does not suffer us to be tempted above our strength. Yet He desires that, when we are tried, we should have recourse to Him for help to resist. St. Augustine writes: “The law is given, that grace may be sought; grace is given that the law may be fulfilled.” Granting that the law cannot be fulfilled by us without grace, God has yet given us the law, in order that we may seek the grace to fulfil it; and, therefore, He gives grace that we may fulfil it. All this was well expressed by the Council of Trent in these words: “God does not command things that are impossible, but, in commanding, He counsels thee both to do what thou canst, and seek for aid for what thou canst not do, and He helps thee that thou mayst be able to do it.”

Thus the Lord is ever ready to give His help, in order that we may not be overcome by temptation; but He gives this help only to those who fly to Him in the time of trial, and especially in temptations against chastity, as the Wise Man wrote: And as I knew that I could not otherwise be continent, except God gave it, and this also was a point of wisdom to know whose gift it was, I went to the Lord and besought him (Wis. viii. 21). Let us rest assured that we can never overcome our carnal appetites if God does not give us help, and we cannot have this help without prayer; but if we pray we shall assuredly have power to overcome the devil in everything, through the grace with which God will strengthen us; as St. Paul says: I can do all things in him who strengtheneth me (Phil. iv. 13).

It is also most useful to us, in order to obtain divine grace, to have recourse to the intercession of the Saints, who have great power with God, especially for the benefit of those who have a particular devotion to them. This is not a mere devotion dependent upon our private fancy, but it is a duty; for St. Thomas says that the Divine law requires that we mortals should receive the aid which is necessary for our salvation, through the prayers of the Saints. This aid comes especially through the intercession of Mary, whose prayers are of more value than those of all the Saints. So true is this that St. Bernard says it is through her intercession that we have access to Jesus Christ our Mediator and Saviour. “Through thee we have access to the Son, O thou giver of grace, and Mother of our salvation, that through thee He may receive us, Who through thee was given to us.” This, indeed, I have sufficiently proved in my book called The Glories of Mary (Pt. I. Ch. 5), and also in my work On Prayer, in which I have brought forward the opinion of many Saints, especially St. Bernard, and of many Theologians, that through Mary we receive all the graces which we receive from God. Hence St. Bernard says: “Let us seek for grace, and let us seek it through Mary; for he that seeks finds, and cannot be disappointed.” The same was said by St. Peter Damian, St. Bonaventure, St. Bernardine of Sienna, St. Antoninus, and others.

Let us, then, pray, and pray with confidence, says the Apostle. Let us go confidently to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help us in time of need. Jesus Christ now sits on the throne of grace to comfort all who fly to Him, and says: Ask, and it shall be given to you. On the Day of Judgment He will also sit upon His throne, but it will be a throne of Judgment. What madness, then, it is in those who, having it in their power to be delivered from their miseries by going to Jesus, now that He sits on His throne of grace, wait till He becomes their Judge, and will not avail themselves of His mercy. He says to us that whatever we ask of Him, if we have confidence, He will give us. And what more can one friend do to another to show his love than say: “Ask what thou wilt, and I will give it thee.” St. James goes further and says: If any of you need wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all men abundantly and upbraideth not, and it shall be given him (James i. 5). By “wisdom” is here meant the knowledge of the salvation of the soul. To have this “wisdom” we must seek of God the graces necessary to bring us to salvation. And will God give them? Most assuredly He will give them, and in still greater abundance than we ask them. Let us observe also the words: Upbraideth not. If the sinner repents of his sins, and asks salvation from God, God does not that which men do, that is, reproach the ungrateful with their ingratitude, and deny them what they ask; but He gives to them willingly, and even more than they beg for. If, then, we would be saved, we must have our lips ever open in prayer, and say: My God, help me! My God have mercy! Mary, have mercy! If we cease to pray, we are lost. Let us pray for ourselves: let us pray for sinners, for this is most pleasing to God. Let us also pray daily for the Holy Souls in Purgatory. Those holy Prisoners are most grateful to all who pray for them.

Whenever we pray, let us seek the grace of God through the merits of Jesus Christ, for He Himself assures us that He will give whatever we ask in His Name.

O my God, this is the grace which, above all others, I ask through the merits of Jesus Christ: grant that throughout my life, and especially in time of temptation, I may recommend myself to Thee, and hope for Thy help through the love of Jesus and Mary. O holy Virgin, obtain for me this grace on which depends my salvation.

Evening Meditation

THE SOLITUDE OF JESUS IN THE STABLE

I.

Jesus chose at His birth the stable of Bethlehem for His hermitage and oratory; and for this purpose He so disposed events as to be born outside the city in a solitary cave, in order to commend to us the love of solitude and silence. Jesus remains in silence in the manger; Mary and Joseph adore and contemplate Him in silence. It was revealed to Sister Margaret of the Blessed Sacrament, a Discalced Carmelite, who was called the “Spouse of the Infant Jesus,” that all that passed in the Cave of Bethlehem, even the visit of the shepherds and the adoration of the holy Magi, took place in silence, and without a word.

Silence in other infants is due to helplessness; but in Jesus Christ it was virtue. The Infant Jesus does not speak, but oh! how eloquent is His silence! Oh, blessed is he that converses with Jesus, Mary and Joseph, in this holy solitude of the manger! The shepherds, though admitted there but for a very short time, came out from the stable all inflamed with the love of God; for they did nothing but praise and bless Him: They returned glorifying and praising God (Luke ii. 20). Oh, happy is the soul that shuts itself up in the solitude of Bethlehem to contemplate the divine mercy, and the love that God has borne, and still bears, to men! I will lead her into the wilderness, and I will speak to her heart (Os. ii. 14). There the divine Infant will speak, not to the ear, but to the heart, inviting the soul to love a God Who has loved her so much. When we see there the poverty of this wandering little Hermit, Who remains in that cold cave, without fire, with a manger for a cradle, and a little Straw for a bed; when we hear the cries, and behold the tears of this innocent Child, and consider that He is our God — how is it possible to think of anything but of loving Him! Oh, what a sweet hermitage for a soul that has Faith in the stable of Bethlehem!

My dearest Saviour, Thou art the King of Heaven, the King of kings, the Son of God; and how is it that I see Thee in this cave, forsaken by all? I see no one assisting Thee but Joseph and Thy holy Mother. I desire to unite myself to them in keeping Thee company. Do not reject me. I do not deserve it, but I feel that Thou dost invite me, by Thy sweet voice speaking to my heart. Yes, I come, O my beloved Infant! I will leave all things to pass my whole life alone with Thee, my dear little Hermit, the only Love of my soul. Fool that I was, to have hitherto forsaken Thee and left Thee alone, O my Jesus, whilst I was seeking miserable and empoisoned pleasures from creatures; but now, enlightened by Thy grace, I desire nothing but to live in solitude with Thee, Who didst Thyself will to live in solitude on this earth: Who will give me wings like a dove, and I will fly and be at rest? (Ps. liv. 7).


II.

Let us also imitate Mary and Joseph, who, burning with love, remain contemplating the great Son of God clothed in flesh, and made subject to earthly miseries — Wisdom become an Infant that cannot speak — the Great One become little — the Supreme One become so abased — the rich One become so poor — the Omnipotent so weak. In short, let us meditate on the Divine Majesty shrouded beneath the form of a little Infant, despised and forsaken by the world, Who does and suffers everything in order to make Himself loved by men; and let us beseech Him to admit us into this sacred retreat — there to stop, there to remain, and never to leave it again. “O solitude,” says St. Jerome, “in which God speaks and converses familiarly with His servants.” O beautiful solitude, in which God speaks and converses with His chosen souls, not as a sovereign, but as a friend, as a brother, as a spouse! Oh, what a paradise it is to converse alone with the Infant Jesus in the little grotto of Bethlehem!

Ah, who will enable me to fly from this world, where I have so often found my ruin — to fly, and to come and remain always with Thee, Who art the joy of Paradise and the true Lover of my soul? Oh, bind me, I pray Thee, to Thy feet, so that I may no longer be separated from Thee, but may find my happiness in continually remaining in Thy company! Ah, by the merits of Thy solitude in the Cave of Bethlehem, give me a constant interior recollection, so that my soul may become a solitary little cell, where I may attend to nothing but to conversing with Thee; where I may take counsel with Thee in all my thoughts and actions; where I may dedicate to Thee all my affections; where I may always love Thee, and sigh to leave the prison of this body to come and love Thee face to face in Heaven. I love Thee, O infinite Goodness, and I hope always to love Thee, in time and in eternity. O Mary, thou who canst do all things, pray to Jesus to enchain me with His love, and not to permit me ever again to lose His grace.