St. Alphonsus Liguori: Daily Meditations for the Week after the Ascension

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Friday Within the Octave of Ascension

Morning Meditation

DIVINE LOVE A SACRED BOND THAT BINDS THE SOUL TO GOD

As the Holy Ghost is the indissoluble bond which unites the Father and the Eternal Word, so also is He the bond that unites our souls and God. O Love, Thy bond is so strong that it is able to bind even God and unite Him to our souls!


I.

As the Holy Ghost, Who is uncreated Love, is the indissoluble bond uniting the Father and the Eternal Word, so also He unites the soul with God: “Charity is a virtue,” says St. Augustine, “uniting us with God.” Hence St. Laurence Justinian with great joy exclaims: “O love, how strong is thy bond, which is capable of binding God!” The bonds of the world are bonds of death, but the bonds of God are bonds of life and salvation: Her bands are a healthful binding-(Ecclus. vi. 31), because the bonds of God, by means of love, unite us with God Who is our true and only life.

Before the coming of Jesus Christ men turned away from God, and being attached to the earth, refused to be united with their Creator; but our loving Lord has drawn us to Him by the bonds of love, as the Prophet Osee foretold: I will draw them with the cords of Adam, with the bands of love-(Osee xi. 4). These bonds are His benefits, His lights, His calls to love Him, and His promises of Heaven; but, above all, they are the gifts which Jesus Christ has bestowed upon us in giving us Himself in the Sacrifice of the Cross, and in the Sacrament of the Altar, and ultimately in sending down upon us the Holy Ghost.

My dear Jesus, Thou hast indeed done too much to oblige me to love Thee, too dearly hast Thou paid to purchase my love; too ungrateful, therefore, should I be if I were to love Thee but little, or to divide my heart between Thee and creatures, after Thou hast shed Thy Blood and laid down Thy life for me. I desire to detach myself from all things else, in order to give my whole affections to Thee. But I am too weak of myself to execute this desire; do Thou, Who inspirest me with it, give me strength to execute it.


II.

The Prophet Isaias exclaims: Loosing the bonds from off thy neck, 0 captive daughter of Zion-(lii. 2). O my soul, thou who art created for Heaven, loose from off thy neck the bonds of the earth, and unite thyself to God by the bonds of love. Have charity, which is the bond of perfection-(Colos. iii. 14). Love is a bond which unites with itself all other virtues, and makes the soul perfect. “Love,” says St. Augustine, “and do what thou pleasest.” Yes, love God and do what thou wilt, because he who loves God, carefully avoids giving any offence to his Beloved, and seek in all things to please Him.

O my Jesus, pierce my poor heart with the sweet dart of Thy love that I may ever languish with the desire of Thee, and be dissolved with the love of Thee. May I ever seek only Thee, desire only Thee, and find only Thee! O Jesus, I desire only Thee alone. Grant that I may ever repeat during life, and especially at the hour of my death: I desire Thee alone! O Mary, my Mother, pray that from henceforth I may never desire anything but God.

Spiritual Reading

GOING FREQUENTLY TO HOLY COMMUNION

You say again: I abstain from Communion to escape the censure of others that see my imperfections and rebuke me for communicating so frequently. To this pretext I answer: If you communicate with the advice of your director, and through a motive of advancing in divine love or of correcting your defects, be not disturbed by the complaints or censures of others. According to Blessed John of Avila, they who censure others for frequent Communion perform the office of the devil. Will you then pay attention to their remarks? Listen to the words of St. Francis de Sales: “If,” he says, “they ask you why you communicate so often, tell them that two classes of persons should communicate frequently, the perfect to preserve perfection; and the imperfect, to attain perfection; the strong, lest they become weak; and the weak, to grow strong; the sick to be cured, and the healthy, to prevent sickness. And as to yourself, tell them that, because you are imperfect, weak, and infirm, you stand in need of frequent Communion. Tell them that all who are free from worldly occupations, because they have the opportunity, and all who are engaged in them, because they have need of Communion, should communicate frequently.” In conclusion, he says: “Philothea, communicate often, and as often as possible, with the advice of your spiritual Father; and believe me that, as the hares on our mountains become white because they feed only on snow, so, by eating purity itself in this Sacrament you will become all pure.” To St. Frances of Rome, as she was going to Communion, the devil said: “How can you, who are so full of venial sins, dare receive the Immaculate Lamb?” Perceiving that the enemy wished to deprive her of Communion, she banished him by spitting in his face. The Blessed Virgin immediately appeared to her, and, after having praised her conduct, said that our defects, instead of being an obstacle, should be an incentive to Communion, since; in Communion, we find the remedy of all our miseries.

You will perhaps say: I have not time to prepare as I ought for Holy Communion. I answer: if your time is spent in useless occupations or discourses, then your excuse is frivolous. But if you be employed in performing the duties of your office, or of obedience, rest assured that the discharge of these duties, with a view to please God, will be an excellent preparation for Communion. St. Mary Magdalen de Pazzi was once engaged in making bread, when the bell rang for Communion; she instantly obeyed the call, and in an ecstasy received the Holy Sacrament. Hence she was accustomed to say to her Sisters: “Offer to God all your actions as a preparation for Communion, perform them with the intention of pleasing Him, and communicate.” Whenever the want of time arises from your being employed in the performance of your duties, in the care of the sick, or in the performance of any work of charity that cannot be deferred, you should never abstain from Communion in consequence of not having sufficient time for preparation. But be careful to avoid as much as possible all unnecessary conversations and amusements, and when you foresee that in the morning you will not have time to prepare for Communion, endeavour on the preceding evening to make some preparation, by reading a book of piety, and by making the acts that ought to be made in the morning; or rise a little before the usual hour and spend whatever time may be at your disposal in preparation for the Holy Sacrament. Oh! what great and continual progress is made in divine love by those who, with a strong desire, frequent Holy Communion! Oh! how wonderfully does the Lord draw them to His love! St. Mary Magdalen de Pazzi once saw a soul suffering in Purgatory for having through carelessness omitted one Communion. And we read in her Life that she several times burst into tears because a Sister in her Community abstained from Communion through negligence. Be assured that of all your devotions there is none more dear to Jesus Christ than your Communions. For all perfection consists in a perfect union with God; and Holy Communion is the action that unites the soul most closely to Jesus, and consequently you can do nothing more pleasing in His sight. Hence, the same St. Mary Magdalen de Pazzi used to say: “I would rather die than omit a Communion permitted by obedience.”

Evening Meditation

THE PRACTICE OF THE LOVE OF JESUS CHRIST

VIII.-THE MEANS OF AVOIDING LUKEWARMNESS AND ATTAINING PERFECTION

I.
He that leaves off prayer, will leave off loving Jesus Christ. Prayer is the blessed furnace where the fire of holy love is enkindled and kept alive: And in my meditation a fire shall flame out-(Ps. xxxviii. 4). It was said by St. Catherine of Bologna: “The person that foregoes the practice of prayer breaks the chain which binds the soul to God.” It follows that the devil, finding the soul cold in Divine love, will have little difficulty in inducing her to partake of some poisonous fruit or other, St. Teresa said, on the contrary: “Whosoever perseveres in prayer, let him hold for a certainty, that with however many sins the devil may surround him, the Lord will eventually bring him into the haven of salvation.” In another place the Saint says: “Whoever halts not in the way of prayer arrives sooner or later.” And elsewhere she writes that it is on this account the devil labours so hard to withdraw souls from prayer, because he well knows that he has missed gaining those who faithfully persevere in prayer.

Oh, how great are the benefits that flow from prayer! In prayer we conceive holy thoughts, we practise devout affections, we excite great desires, and form efficacious resolutions to give ourselves wholly to God; and thus the soul is led for His sake to sacrifice earthly pleasures and all disorderly appetites. It was said by St. Aloysius Gonzaga: “There will never be much perfection without much prayer.” Let him who longs for perfection mark well this notable saying of the Saint.


II.

We should not go to prayer in order to taste the sweetness of Divine love; whoever prays from such a motive will lose his time, or at least derive little advantage from it. A person should go to prayer solely to please God, that is, solely to learn what the will of God is in, his regard, and to beg of Him the help to put it in practice. The Venerable Father Antony Torres said: “To carry the cross without consolation makes souls fly to perfection. Prayer unattended with sensible consolations confers greater fruit on the soul. But pitiable is the poor soul that leaves off prayer because she finds no relish in it.” St. Teresa said: “When a soul leaves off prayer, it is as if she cast herself into hell without any need of devils.”