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

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Friday – Fifth Week After Easter

Morning Meditation

“IN ALL THINGS YOU ARE MADE RICH IN HIM.”

The Wounds of Jesus are now the blessed Fountains from which we can draw forth all graces if we pray unto Him with Faith. You shall draw waters with joy out of the Saviour’s fountains, and you shall say in that day: Praise ye the Lord, and call upon his name-(Is. xii. 3, 4). In short, as St. Paul says: In all things you are made rich in him . . so that nothing is wanting to you in any grace-(l Cor. i. 5, 7).

I.

Having, therefore, a great High-Priest who hath passed into the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession. For we have not a high-priest who cannot have compassion on our infirmities, but one tempted in all things like as we are, without sin-(Heb. iv. 14). Since, says the Apostle, we have this Saviour, Who has opened to us Paradise which was at one time closed to us by sin, let us always have confidence in His merits; because from having of His goodness willed to suffer in Himself all our miseries, He well knows how to compassionate us: Let us, therefore, go with confidence to the throne of grace that we may obtain mercy, and find grace in seasonable aid-(Heb. iv. 16). Let us, then, go with confidence to the throne of the Divine mercy, to which we have access by means of Jesus Christ, that so we may there find all the graces that we need. And how can we doubt, adds St. Paul, but that God, having given us His Son, has given us together with that Son all His goods: He delivered him up for us all; how hath he not, with him, given us all things?-(Rom. viii. 32). Cardinal Hugo comments on this: “He will give the lesser, that is to say, eternal life, Who hath given the greater, that is to say, His own Son.” That Lord will not deny us the lesser, which is eternal life, Who has gone so far as to give us the greater, which is His own Son Himself.

O my chief and only Good, what shall I render Thee, miserable as I am, in return for so great a gift as that which Thou hast given me of Thy Son? To Thee will I, with David say: The Lord will repay for me-(Ps. cxxxvii. 8). Lord, I have not wherewith to recompense Thee. That same Son of Thine can alone render Thee worthy thanks; let Him thank Thee in my stead. O my most merciful Father, by the Wounds of Jesus, I pray Thee to save me. I love Thee, O infinite Goodness, and because I love Thee I repent of having offended Thee. My God, my God, I wish to be all Thine own; accept me for the sake of the love of Jesus Christ. Ah, my sweet Creator, is it possible that Thou, after having given me Thy Son, shouldst deny me the good things that belong to Thee-Thy grace, Thy love, Thy Paradise?


II.

St. Leo declares that Jesus Christ, by His Death, has brought us more good than the devil brought us evil in the sin of Adam: “We have gained greater things through the grace of Christ than we had lost through the envy of the devil.” And this the Apostle distinctly says, when writing to the Romans: Not as the offence so also the gift . . . Where sin abounded, grace did more abound-(Rom. v. 15, 20). Cardinal Hugo explains it: “The grace of Christ is of greater efficacy than is the offence.” There is no comparison, says the Apostle, between the sins of man and the gift which God has made us in giving us Jesus Christ; great was the sin of Adam, much greater by far was the grace which Jesus Christ, by His Passion, merited for us: I have come that they may have life, and may have it more abundantly -(John x. 10). I am come into the world, the Saviour protests, to the end that men who were dead through sin may receive through Me not only the life of grace, but a life yet more abundant than that which they had lost by sin. Therefore it is that Holy Church calls the sin happy which has merited to have such a Redeemer: “O felix culpa, qure talem ac tantum meruit habere Redemptorem!”

Behold, God is my Saviour, I will deal confidently, and will not fear-(Is. xii. 2). If, then, oh my Jesus, Thou, Who art an Omnipotent God, art also my Saviour, what fear shall I have of being damned? If, in time past, I offended Thee, I repent of it with all my heart. From this time forth I wish to serve Thee, to obey Thee, and to love Thee. I firmly hope that Thou, my Redeemer, Who hast done and suffered so much for my salvation, wilt not deny me any grace that I shall need in order to be saved: “I will act with confidence, firmly hoping that nothing necessary to salvation will be denied me by Him Who has done and suffered so much for my salvation.”

Spiritual Reading

VITA, DULCEDO! HAIL, OUR LIFE, OUR SWEETNESS!

XXV.-MARY IS OUR SWEETNESS; SHE RENDERS DEATH SWEET TO HER CLIENTS

When Father Emmanuel Padial, of the Society of Jesus, was at the point of death Mary appeared to him, and to console him she said: “See at length the hour is come when the Angels congratulate thee, and exclaim: ‘O happy labours, O mortifications well requited!'” And in the same moment an army of demons was seen taking flight, and crying out in despair: Alas! we can do nought, for she who is without stain defends him. In like manner Father Gaspar Haywood was assaulted by devils at his death and greatly tempted against the Faith; he immediately recommended himself to the most Blessed Virgin, and was heard to exclaim: “I thank thee, Mary, for thou hast come to my aid.”

St. Bonaventure tells us that Mary sends without delay the Prince of the heavenly court, St. Michael, with all the Angels, to defend her dying servants against the temptations of the devils, and to receive the souls of all who, in a special manner and perseveringly, have recommended themselves to her. The Saint, addressing our Blessed Lady, says: “Michael, the leader and Prince of the heavenly army, with all the ministering spirits, obeys thy commands, O Virgin, and defends and receives the souls of the faithful who day and night have particularly recommended themselves to thee, O Lady.”

The Prophet Isaias tells us that when a man is on the point of leaving the world, hell is opened and sends forth its most terrible demons, both to tempt the soul before it leaves the body and also to accuse it when presented before the tribunal or Jesus Christ for judgment. The Prophet says: Hell below was in an uproar to meet thee at thy coming; it stirred up the giants for thee-(Is. xiv. 9). But Richard of St. Laurence remarks that when the soul is defended by Mary the devils dare not even accuse it, knowing that the Judge never condemned, and never will condemn, a soul protected by His august Mother. He asks: “Who would dare accuse one who is patronized by the Mother of Him Who is to judge?” Mary not only assists her beloved servants at death and encourages them, but she herself accompanies them to the judgment seat of God.

Evening Meditation

THE PRACTICE OF THE LOVE OF JESUS CHRIST

XXXI.-“CHARITY ENVIETH NOT “-HE THAT LOVES JESUS DOES NOT ENVY THE GREAT ONES OF THE WORLD, BUT ONLY THOSE WHO ARE GREATER LOVERS OF JESUS CHRIST.

I.

St. Gregory explains this next characteristic of Charity in saying that, as Charity despises all earthly greatness, nothing in the world can possibly provoke her envy. “She envieth not, because as she desireth nothing in this world, she cannot envy earthly prosperity.” We must distinguish two kinds of envy, one evil and the other holy. The evil kind is that which envies and repines at the worldly goods possessed by others on this earth. But holy envy, so far from wishing to be like, rather compassionates the great ones of the world who live in the midst of honours and earthly pleasures. She seeks and desires God alone, and has no other aim besides that of loving Him as much as she can; and therefore she has a pious envy of those who love Him more than she does, for she would, if possible, surpass the very seraphim in loving Him.


II.

This is the sole end pious souls have in view on earth, an end which so charms and ravishes the Heart of God with love that it causes Him to say: Thou hast wounded my heart, my sister, my spouse, thou hast wounded my heart with one of thy eyes-(Cant. iv. 9). By one of thy eyes is meant that one end which the espoused soul has in all her devotions and thoughts, namely, to please Almighty God. Men of the world look on things with many eyes, that is, have several inordinate views in their actions; as, for instance, to please others, to become honoured, to obtain riches, and, if nothing else, at least to please themselves; but the Saints have but a single eye, with which they keep in view, in all that they do, the sole pleasure of God; and with David they say: What have I in heaven, and besides thee what do I desire upon earth-(Ps. lxxii. 25). What do I wish, O my God, in this world or in the next, save Thee alone? Thou art my riches, Thou art the only Lord of my heart. “Let the rich,” said St. Paulinus, “enjoy their riches, let the kings enjoy their kingdoms, Thou, O Christ, art my treasure and my kingdom!”