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

[Stone]

Second Sunday After Pentecost



Morning Meditation

THE HEART OF JESUS LONGING FOR OUR LOVE

Jesus has no need of us. He is equally happy, rich and powerful, with or without our love, and yet He loves us so intensely that He desires our love as much as if man were His God. This so filled Job with astonishment that he cried out: What is man that thou shouldst magnify him? Or why dost thou set thy heart upon him?


I.

Jesus has no need of us. He is equally happy, rich, and powerful with or without our love; and yet, as St. Thomas says He loves us so intensely that He desires our love as much as if man were His God, and His felicity depended on that of man. This so filled holy Job with astonishment that he cried out: What is man that thou shouldst magnify him? Or why dost thou set thy heart upon him?-(Job vii. 17).

What! can God desire or ask with such eagerness for the love of a worm? It would have been a great favour if God had only permitted us to love Him. If a vassal were to say to his king: “Sire, I love you!” he would be considered impertinent. But what would one say if the king were to tell his vassal, “I desire you to love me”? The princes of the earth do not humble themselves to this; but Jesus, Who is the King of Heaven, is He Who with so much earnestness demands our love: Love the Lord thy God with thy whole heart-(Matt. xxii. 37). So pressingly does He ask for our hearts: My son, give me thy heart-(Prov. xxiii. 26). And if He is driven from a soul, He does not depart, but stands outside the door of the heart, and calls and knocks to be allowed to return: I stand at the gate and knock-(Apoc. iii. 20). Jesus beseeches the soul to open to Him, calling her sister and spouse: Open to me, my sister, my love -(Cant. v. 2). In short, He takes a delight in being loved by us, and is quite consoled when we say, arid repeat often: “My God! My God, I love Thee!”

My dearest Redeemer, I will say to Thee with St. Augustine, Thou dost command me to love Thee, and dost threaten me with hell if I do not love Thee; but what more dreadful hell, what greater misfortune, can happen to me than to be deprived of Thy love! If, therefore, Thou desirest to terrify me, Thou shouldst threaten me only that I should live without loving Thee; for this threat alone will terrify me more than a thousand hells. If, in the midst of the flames of hell, the damned could burn with Thy love, O my God, hell itself would become a Paradise; and if, on the contrary, the Blessed in Heaven could not love Thee, Paradise would become a hell.

I see, indeed, my dearest Lord, that I, on account of my sins, did deserve to be forsaken by Thy grace, and at the same time condemned to be incapable of loving Thee; but still I understand that Thou dost continue to command me to love Thee, and I also feel within me a great desire to love Thee. This my desire is the gift of Thy grace, and it comes from Thee. Oh, give me also the strength necessary to put it into execution, and make me, from this day forth, say to Thee earnestly, and from the bottom of my heart, and to repeat to Thee always: My God, I love Thee! I love Thee! I love Thee!


II.

The great desire of Jesus’ Heart to be loved by us is the effect of His own great love for us. He who loves necessarily desires to be loved. The heart requires the heart; love seeks love: “Why does God love, but that He may be loved,” said St. Bernard; and God Himself first said: What doth the Lord thy God require of thee, but that thou fear the Lord thy God, .. and love him? -(Deut. x. 12). Therefore He tells us that He is that Shepherd Who, having found the lost sheep, calls all the others to rejoice with Him: Rejoice with me, because I have found my sheep that was lost-(Luke xv. 6). He tells us that He is that Father Who, when His lost son returns and throws himself at His feet, not only forgives him, but embraces him tenderly. Jesus tells us he that loves Him not is condemned to death: He that loveth not abideth in death-(1 John iii. 14). And, on the contrary, that He takes him who loves Him and keeps possession of him: He that abideth in charity, abideth in God, and God in him-(1 John iv. 16). Oh, will not such invitations, such entreaties, such threats, and such promises move us to love God Who so much desires to be loved by us?

Thou, then, desirest my love, O Jesus. I also desire Thine. Blot out, therefore, from Thy remembrance, O my Jesus, the offences that in past times I have committed against Thee; let us love each other henceforth forever. I will not leave Thee, and Thou wilt not leave me. Thou wilt always love me, and I will always love Thee. My dearest Saviour, in Thy merits do I place my hope; oh, do Thou make Thyself to be loved forever, and loved greatly, by a sinner who has so greatly offended Thee.

O Mary, Immaculate Virgin, do thou help me; do thou pray to Jesus for me.

Spiritual Reading

CORAM SANCTISSIMO

ELEVENTH VISIT

“Let us be careful,” says St. Teresa, “never to be at a distance from Jesus, our beloved Shepherd, or to lose sight of Him: for the sheep which are near their shepherd are always more caressed and better fed, and always receive some choice morsels of that which he himself eats. If by chance the shepherd sleeps, still the lamb remains near him and either waits until his slumber ends, or itself wakens him; and it is then caressed with new favours.”

My Redeemer, present in this Most Holy Sacrament, hehold me near Thee. The only favour which I ask of Thee is fervour and perseverance in Thy love. I thank thee, O holy Faith, for thou teachest and assurest me that in the divine Sacrament of the Altar, in that heavenly Bread, bread does not exist; but that my Lord Jesus Christ is all there, and that He is there for love of me. My Lord and my All, I believe that Thou art present in the Most Holy Sacrament; and though unknown to eyes of flesh, by the light of holy Faith I discern Thee in the consecrated Host, as the Monarch of Heaven and earth, and as the Saviour of the world. Ah, my most sweet Jesus, as Thou art my hope, my salvation, my strength, my consolation, so also I will that Thou shouldst be all my love, and the only object of all my thoughts, of my desires, and of my affections. I rejoice more in the supreme happiness which Thou enjoyest, and wilt enjoy for ever, than in any good thing I could ever have in time or in eternity. My supreme satisfaction is that Thou, my beloved Redeemer, art supremely happy, and that Thy happiness is infinite. Reign, reign, my Lord, over my whole soul; I give it all to Thee; do Thou ever possess it. May my will, my senses, my faculties be all servants of Thy love, and may they never in this world serve anything else than to give Thee satisfaction and glory. Such was thy life, O first lover and Mother of my Jesus! Most Holy Mary, do thou help me; do thou obtain for me the grace to live henceforward, as thou didst always live, in the happiness of belonging to God alone.

Ejac. My Jesus, may I be all Thine, and be Thou all mine!


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

Blessed is the man … that watcheth daily at my gates, and waiteth at the posts of my doors-(Prov. viii. 34). Blessed is he, who, like the poor who stand before the gates of the rich, is careful to seek for the alms of graces before the doors of the mercy of Mary! And thrice blessed is he, who, moreover, seeks to imitate the virtues which he remarks in Mary, and more especially her purity and her humility.

Ejac. My hope, succour 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 Mediation

THE PRACTICE OF THE LOVE OF JESUS CHRIST

XXIV.-HE THAT LOVES JESUS CHRIST DESIRES NOTHING BUT JESUS CHRIST

I.

Oh, what security is found in the hidden life for such as wish cordially to love Jesus Christ! Jesus Christ set us the example, by living hidden and despised for thirty years in a workshop. And with the same view of escaping the esteem of men, the Saints went and hid themselves in deserts and caves. It was said by St. Vincent de Paul, that love of appearing in public, and of being spoken of in terms of praise, and of hearing our conduct commended, or that people should say that we succeed admirably and work wonders, is an evil which, while it makes us unmindful of God, contaminates our best actions, and proves the most fatal drawback to the spiritual life. Whoever, therefore, would make progress in the love of Jesus Christ, must absolutely give a death–blow to self-esteem. But how shall we inflict this blow? Behold how St. Mary Magdalen de Pazzi instructs us: “That which keeps alive the appetite of self-esteem is the occupying a favourable position in the minds of all; consequently the death of self-esteem is to keep oneself hidden so not to be known to anyone. And till we learn to die in this manner, we shall never be true servants of God.”

O my Jesus, grant me a desire to please Thee, and make me forget all creatures and myself also. What will it profit me to be loved by the whole world if I be not loved by Thee, the only love of my soul! My Jesus, Thou camest into the world to win our hearts; if I am unable to give Thee my heart, do Thou be pleased to take it and replenish it with Thy love, and never allow me to be separated from Thee any more. I have, alas, turned my back upon Thee in the past; but now that I am conscious of the evil I have done, I grieve over it with my whole heart, and no affliction in the world can so distress me as the remembrance of the offences I have so often committed against Thee. I am consoled to think that Thou art Infinite Goodness; that Thou dost not disdain to love a sinner who loves Thee. My beloved Redeemer, O sweetest Love of my soul, I have heretofore slighted Thee, but now at least I love Thee more than myself! I offer Thee myself and all that belongs to me.


II.

In order, then, to be pleasing in the sight of God, we must avoid all ambition of appearing and of making a parade in the eyes of men. And we must shun with still greater caution the ambition of governing others. Sooner than behold this accursed ambition set foot in her convent, St. Teresa declared she would prefer to have the whole convent burnt, and all the nuns with it. So that she signified her wish, that if ever one of her Religious should be caught aiming at superiorship, she should be expelled from the community, or at least undergo perpetual confinement. St. Mary Magdalen de Pazzi says, “The honour of a spiritual person consists in being put below all, and in abhorring all superiority over others.” The ambition of a soul that loves God should be to excel all others in humility, according to the counsel of St. Paul: In humility let each esteem others better than themselves-(Philipp. ii. 3). In a word, he that loves God must make God the sole object of his ambition.

O my dear Jesus, I have only one wish: to love Thee and to please Thee. This forms all my ambition; accept of it, and be pleased to increase it, and exterminate in me all desire of earthly goods. Thou art indeed deserving of love, and great indeed are my obligations of loving Thee. Behold me, then, I wish to be wholly Thine; and I will suffer whatever Thou pleasest, Thou who for love of me didst die of sorrow on the Cross! Thou wishest me to be a saint; in Thee I place my trust. And I also confide in thy protection, O Mary, great Mother of God!