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

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Saturday After Low Sunday

Morning Meditation

MARY’S CHARITY TOWARDS HER NEIGHBOUR

All who love Me love what I love, said Jesus to St. Catharine of Genoa. Now, as there never was and never will be anyone who loved God as much as Mary loved Him, so there never was and never will be anyone who loved her neighbour as much as she did. Great was the mercy of Mary towards the wretched when she was an exile here on earth, but far greater is it now that she reigns in Heaven.


I.

Love of God and love of our neighbour are commanded by the same precept: And this commandment we have from God, that he who loveth God love also his brother-(l John iv. 21). St. Thomas says that the reason for this is that he who loves God loves all that God loves. St. Catharine of Genoa one day said: “Lord, Thou willest that I should love my neighbour, and I can love none but Thee.” God answered her in these words: “All who love Me love what I love.” But as there never was, and never will be, anyone who loved God as much as Mary loved Him, so there never was, and never will be, anyone who loved her neighbour as much as she did.

Father Cornelius a Lapide, on these words of the Canticles, King Solomon hath made him a litter of the wood of Libanus . . . the midst he covered with charity for the daughters of Jerusalem-(Cant. iii. 9, 10), says, “this litter was Mary’s bosom, in which the Incarnate Word dwelt, filling it with charity for the daughters of Jerusalem; for Christ, Who is love itself, inspired the Blessed Virgin with charity in its highest degree, that she might succour all who had recourse to her.”

So great was Mary’s charity when on earth that she succoured the needy without even being asked; as was the case at the marriage-feast of Cana, when she told her Son that family’s distress, They have no wine-(John il. 3), and asked Him to work a miracle. Oh, with what speed did she fly when there was question of relieving her neighbour! When she went to the house of Elizabeth to fulfil an office of charity, she went into the hill-country with haste-(Luke i. 39). She could not, however, more fully display the greatness of her charity than she did in the offering which she made of her Son to death for our salvation. On this subject St. Bonaventure says: “Mary so loved the world as to give her only-begotten Son.” Hence St. Anselm exclaims: “O blessed amongst women, thy purity surpasses that of the Angels, and thy compassion that of the Saints!” “Nor has this love of Mary for us,” says St. Bonaventure, ” diminished now that she is in Heaven; but it has increased, for now she better sees the miseries of men.” And therefore the Saint goes on to say: “Great was the mercy of Mary towards the wretched when she was still in exile on earth; but far greater is it now that she reigns in Heaven.”

O Mother of mercy, thou wast all filled with the love of God, obtain for me His pure and holy love. Thou wast all love towards thy neighbour, obtain for me charity towards my neighbour. O Mary, make me a Saint.

St. Agnes assured St. Bridget that “there was no one who prayed without receiving grace through the charity of the Blessed Virgin.” Unfortunate, indeed, should we be, did not Mary intercede for us! Jesus Himself, addressing the same Saint, said: “Were it not for the prayers of My Mother, there would be no hope of mercy.” Blessed is he, says the Divine Mother, who listens to my instructions, pays attention to my charity, and, in imitation of me, exercises it himself towards others: Blessed is the man that heareth me, and that watcheth daily at my gates, and waiteth at the posts of my doors -(Prov viii. 34). St. Gregory Nazianzen assures us that “there is nothing by which we can with greater certainty gain the affection of Mary than by charity towards our neighbour.” Therefore, as God exhorts us, saying, Be ye merciful, as your Father is also merciful -(Luke vi. 36), so also does Mary seem to say to all her children: “Be ye merciful, as your Mother is also merciful.” It is certain that our charity towards our neighbour will be the measure of that which God and Mary will show us: Give, and it shall be given, to you. For with the same measure that you shall mete withal, it shall be measured to you again.-(Luke vi. 38). St. Methodius used to say, ” Give to the poor, and receive Paradise.” For the Apostle writes that charity towards our neighbour renders us happy both in this world and in the next: But piety is profitable to all things, having promise of the life that now is, and of that which is to come-(1 Tim. iv. 8). St. John Chrysostom, on these words of Proverbs, he that hath mercy on the poor lendeth to the Lord-(Prov. xix. 17), makes a remark to the same effect, saying, “He who assists the needy makes God his debtor.”

O Mother of Mercy, thou art full of charity for all; forget not my miseries; thou seest them full well. Recommend me to God, who denies thee nothing. Obtain for me the grace to imitate thee in holy charity, as well towards God as towards my neighbour. Amen.

Spiritual Reading

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

V.-HOW MUCH OUR CONFIDENCE IN MARY SHOULD BE INCREASED BECAUSE SHE IS OUR MOTHER

The second occasion on which Mary became our spiritual Mother, and brought us forth to the life of grace, was when she offered to the “Eternal Father the life of her beloved Son on Mount Calvary, with so hitter sorrow and suffering. So that St. Augustine declares that “as she then co-operated by her love in the birth of the faithful to the life of grace, she became the spiritual Mother of all who are members of the one Head, Christ Jesus.” This we are given to understand by the following verse of the sacred Canticles, and which refers to the most Blessed Virgin: They have made me keeper in the vineyards; my vineyard I have not kept-(Cant. i. 5), St. William says that “Mary, in order that she might save many souls, exposed her own to death”; meaning that to save us she sacrificed the life of her Son. And who but Jesus was the soul of Mary? He was her life, and all her love. And therefore the Prophet Simeon foretold that a sword of sorrow would one day transpierce her own most blessed soul-(Luke ii. 35). And this was precisely the lance which transpierced the side of Jesus, Who was the soul of Mary. Then it was that this most Blessed Virgin brought us forth by her sorrows to eternal life: and thus we can all call ourselves the children of the sorrows of Mary. Our most loving mother was always, and in all things, united to the will of God. “And therefore,” says St. Bonaventure, “when she saw the love of the Eternal Father towards men to be so great that, in order to save them He willed the death of His very own Son; and, further, seeing the love of the Son in wishing to die for us, in order to conform herself to this excessive love of both the Father and the Son towards the human race, she also with her entire will offered, and consented to, the death of her Son, in order that we might be saved.”

It is true that, according to the Prophecy of Isaias, Jesus in dying for the redemption of the human race, chose to be alone. I have trodden the winepress alone -(Is. lxiii. 3), but, seeing the ardent desire of Mary to aid in the salvation of man, He disposed it so that she, by the sacrifice and offering of the life of her Jesus, should co-operate in our salvation, and thus become the Mother of our souls. This our Saviour signified, when, before expiring, He looked down from the Cross on His Mother and on the disciple St. John, who stood at its foot, and, first addressing Mary, He said: Behold thy son-(John xix. 26); as it were, saying: Behold, the whole human race, which by the offer thou makest of My life for the salvation of all, is even now being born to the life of grace. Then, turning to the disciple, Jesus said, Behold thy mother-(John xix. 27}. ” By these words,” says St. Bernardine of Sienna, “Mary, by reason of the love she bore them, became the Mother, not only of St. John, but of all men.” And Silveira remarks that St. John himself, in stating this fact in his Gospel, says: “After that He saith to the disciple Behold thy mother.” Here observe well that Jesus Christ did not address Himself to St. John, but to the disciple, in order to show that He then gave Mary to all who are His disciples, that is to say to all Christians, that she might be their Mother. “John is but the name of one, whereas the word disciple is applicable to all; therefore our Lord makes use of a name common to all, to show that Mary was given as a Mother to all.”

The Church applies to Mary these words of the sacred Canticles: I am the mother of fair love-(Ecclus. xxiv. 24); and a commentator explaining them says that the Blessed Virgin’s love renders our souls beautiful in the sight of God, and also makes her, as a most loving Mother, receive us as her children, ” she being all love towards those whom she has thus adopted.” And what Mother, exclaims St. Bonaventure, loves her children and attends to their welfare as thou lovest us and carest for us, O most sweet Queen! “For dost thou not love us and seek our welfare far more without comparison than any earthly mother?”

Evening Mediation

THE PRACTICE OF THE LOVE OF JESUS CHRIST

XI.-HOW MUCH JESUS CHRIST DESERVES TO BE LOVED BY US ON ACCOUNT OF THE LOVE HE HAS SHOWN US IN INSTITUTING THE MOST HOLY SACRAMENT OF THE ALTAR

I.

“It was Thy wish, in short,” says St. Laurence Justinian, ” O God, enamoured of our souls, to make by means of this Sacrament, Thine own Heart, by an inseparable union, one and the same heart with ours!” St. Bernardine of Sienna adds that” the gift of Jesus Christ to us as our food was the last step of His love, since He gives Himself to us in order to unite Himself wholly with us, in the same way as food becomes united with him who partakes of it.” Oh, how delighted is Jesus Christ to be united with our souls! He one day said to His beloved servant, Margaret of Ypres, after Communion: ” See, my daughter, the beautiful union that exists between Me and thee! Come, then, love Me; and let us remain ever united in love, and let us never separate again.”

We must, then, be persuaded that a soul can neither do, or think of doing, any thing which gives greater pleasure to Jesus Christ, than to communicate frequently with dispositions suitable to the great Guest Whom she has to receive into her heart. I have said suitable, not indeed worthy dispositions; for if worthy were necessary who could ever communicate? Another God would alone be worthy to receive God. By suitable I mean such dispositions as become a miserable creature clothed with the unhappy flesh of Adam. Ordinarily speaking, it, is sufficient if a person communicates in a state of grace, and with a great desire of growing in the love of Christ. St. Francis de Sales said: “It is by love alone that we must receive Jesus Christ in the Communion, since it is through love alone that He gives Himself to us.” For the rest, with regard to the number of times a person should communicate, in this he should be guided by the advice of his spiritual father. Nevertheless, we should be aware that no state of life or employment, neither the married state nor business, prevents frequent Communion, when the director thinks it advisable, as Pope Innocent XI. has declared in his Decree of 1679, when he, says: “Frequent Communion must be left to the judgment of the confessors. . who, for lay persons in business or in the married state, must recommend it according as they see it will be profitable for their salvation.”


II.

We must next understand that there is nothing from which we can derive such profit as from Holy Communion. The Eternal Father has made Jesus Christ the Possessor of all His own heavenly treasures. The Father hath given all things into his hands-(John xiii. 3). Hence, when Jesus Christ comes to a soul in the Holy Communion, He brings with Him boundless treasures of grace; and consequently after Communion we can justly say, Now all good things came to me together with it. St. Denis says that the Sacrament of the Eucharist is far more powerful for the sanctification of souls than all other spiritual means of grace; and St. Vincent Ferrer, that one Communion does more for the soul than a week’s fasting on bread and water. In the first place, as the Council of Trent teaches, Communion is that great remedy which frees us from daily faults, and preserves us against mortal sins. It is said from daily faults, because, according to St. Thomas, a man is excited by means of this Sacrament to make acts of love, by which venial sins are forgiven. And it is said that we are preserved from mortal sins, because Communion increases grace, which will preserve us from great faults. Hence, Innocent III says that Jesus Christ delivered us from the power of sin by His Passion, but that by the Eucharist He delivers us from the power of sinning.

Frequent and daily Communion, inasmuch as it is most pleasing to Christ Our Lord and to the Catholic Church, is open to all the faithful of every class and condition; so that nobody who is in the state of grace and approaches the Sacred Table with a pure and devout intention should be prohibited therefrom.

“The right intention consists in this:-That whoever approaches the Sacred Table should do so-not from habit or vainglory. or impelled by human respect, but from a desire to please God. and to be closely united to Him, and to provide a Divine remedy for their infirmities and defects . . .

“In order that daily Communion should be promoted with greater prudence and more fruitful results, it is necessary that the advice of the confessor should previously be obtained. Let confessors beware. However, lest they should persuade anyone from daily Communion who is in the state of grace and approaches it with a right intention . . . “Extract from, the Decree of the Sacred Congregation of the Council on the Reception of Daily Communion which was graciously ratified, confirmed and ordered to be issued by His Holiness Pope Pius X. December 17. 1905.