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

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Tuesday – Fifth Week After Easter

Morning Meditation

TO BECOME HOLY A SOUL MUST GIVE ITSELF UNRESERVEDLY TO GOD

St. Jerome says God is jealous of our hearts. He desires to reign alone in our hearts and to have no companions there. There are souls called by God to become Saints, but coming to Him with reserve, and not giving Him their entire love but retaining some affection for earthly things, they will never become holy. To gain all we must give all.


I.

St. Philip Neri said that so much of our love as we fix upon creatures we take away from God; and therefore our Saviour, as St. Jerome wrote, is jealous of our hearts. As He Himself has loved us so abundantly He desires to reign alone in our hearts, and to have no companions there who may rob Him of a portion of that love which He desires to have wholly for Himself; and therefore it displeases Him to see us attached to any affection which is not for Him. And does our Saviour ask too much, after having given His own Blood and Life, dying for us upon a Cross? Does He not deserve to be loved by us with all our hearts, and without reserve.

St. John of the Cross said that every attachment to creatures hinders us from belonging wholly to God. Who will give me the wings of a dove, that I may flee away and be at rest? says the Psalmist-(Ps. liv. 7). There are souls called by God to become Saints, but, coming to Him with reserve and not giving Him their whole love but retaining some affection for earthly things, they will never become holy. They fain would fly, but being held down by some attachment, they cannot but remain fixed on earth. We must, therefore, strip ourselves of everything. Every thread, says the same St. John, whether great or small, hinders the soul from flying to God.

St. Gertrude once prayed to the Lord that He would teach her what He would have her to do. The Lord answered: I desire nothing from thee but a devoted heart. And it was this which David sought from God: Create in me a clean heart, O God!-(Ps. 1. 12). O my God, give me a pure heart; a heart emptied and stripped of every earthly affection.

“All for all,” wrote Thomas a Kempis. To gain all, we must give all. To possess God we must leave all that is not God. Then the soul can say to the Lord: “My Jesus, I have left all for Thee; now give Thyself wholly to me.” To attain this we must not cease to beg of God that He would fill us with His holy love. Love is that mighty fire that burns up in our hearts every affection that is not for God.

O my Jesus, my Love, my All! How can I see Thee dying upon a shameful Cross, despised by all, and consumed by anguish, and then seek earthly pleasures and glories? I will be wholly Thine. Forget the offences I have committed against Thee, and receive me. Teach me to know from what things I ought to separate myself, and what I must do to please Thee-all this I desire to do. Give me strength to follow Thy will, and to be faithful to Thee.


II.

St. Francis de Sales said that when a house is in flames we throw all the furniture out of the windows; by which he meant that when a soul is inflamed and the Divine love takes possession of it, it has no need of sermons or spiritual directors to detach it from the world; the love of God will itself cleanse the heart and despoil it of every earthly desire.

Holy love is spoken of in the Canticles under the symbol of a cellar of wine: He brought me into the cellar of wine; he set in order charity in me-(Cant. ii. 4). In this blessed cellar souls that are the brides of Christ, inebriated with the wine of holy love, lose all taste for the things of the world, admire God alone, in all things seek God alone, speak only of God, and desire to think only of God; and when they hear others speak of riches, dignities, pleasures, they turn to God and say to Him, with a burning sigh: My God and my All! What of the world, or pleasures, or honours? Be Thou all my joy, all my contentment! St. Teresa wrote, when speaking of the prayer of union with God, that this union consists in dying to all worldly things in order to possess nothing but God.

That a soul may give itself wholly to God, three things are especially necessary: First, the avoidance of all defects, even the very least, accompanied with conquests over our inordinate desires, such as to abstain from observing such and such an object of sight or hearing, from certain little pleasures of sense, from certain witty or unnecessary conversations, and such-like. Secondly, among things which are good the constant choice of those that are the best and the most pleasing to God. Thirdly, the receiving with peace of mind and thanksgiving from the Divine hands, things displeasing to our self-love. Oh, my beloved Redeemer, Thou willest that I should give myself to Thee without reserve, that I may unite myself wholly to Thy Heart. Behold, this day I give myself wholly, and without reserve, to Thee, my Jesus; from Thee I hope for the grace to be faithful even to death. O Mother of God, and my own Mother, Mary, obtain for me the grace of holy perseverance.

Spiritual Reading

VITA, DULCEDO! HAlL, OUR LIFE, OUR SWEETNESS!

XXII.-MARY IS OUR LIFE, BECAUSE SHE OBTAINS FOR US PERSEVERANCE.

In the following words of the Book of Proverbs, which are applied to her by the Church, Mary says: 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)-as if she would say: Blessed is he that hears my voice and is constantly attentive to apply at the door of my mercy, and seeks light and help from me. For clients who do this Mary does her part, and obtains them the light and strength they require to abandon sin and walk in the paths of virtue. For this reason Innocent III beautifully calls her “the moon at night, the dawn at break of day, and the sun at mid-day.” She is a moon to enlighten those who blindly wander in the night of sin, and makes them see and understand the miserable state of damnation in which they are; she is the dawn, that is the forerunner of the sun, to those whom she has already enlightened, and makes them abandon sin and return to God, the true Sun of Justice; finally, she is a, sun to those who are in a state of grace, and prevents them from again falling into the abyss of sin.

Learned writers apply the following words of Ecclesiasticus to Mary: Her bands are a healthful binding-(Ecclus. vi. 31). “Why bands?” asks: St. Laurence Justinian, “except it be that she binds her servants and thus prevents them from straying into the paths of vice.” And truly this is the reason for which Mary binds her servants. St. Bonaventure also, in his commentary on the words of Ecclesiasticus frequently used in the Office of Mary, My abode is in the full assembly of saints-(Ecclus. xxiv. 16), says that Mary not only has her abode in the full assembly of Saints, but also preserves them from falling, keeps a constant watch over their virtue that it may not fail, and restrains the evil spirits from injuring them. Not only has she her abode in the full assembly of Saints, but she keeps the Saints, there by preserving their merits that they may not lose them, by restraining the devils from injuring them, and by withholding the arm of her Son from striking sinners. In the Book of Proverbs we are told that all Mary’s clients are clothed with double garments. For all her domestics are clothed with double garments-(Prov. xxxi. 21). Cornelius a Lapide explains what this double clothing is. He says that it “consists in her adorning her faithful servants with the virtues of her Son and with her own”; and thus clothed they persevere in virtue.

Therefore St. Philip Neri, in his exhortations to penitents, used always to say: “My children, if you desire perseverance be devout to our Blessed Lady.” St. John Berchmans, of the Society of Jesus, used also to say: “Whoever loves Mary will have perseverance.” Truly beautiful is the reflection of the Abbot Rupert on this subject in his commentary on the Parable of the Prodigal Son. He says that, “if this dissolute youth had had a mother living he would never have abandoned the paternal roof, or at least would have returned much sooner than he did”; meaning thereby that a son of Mary either never abandons God, or, if he has this misfortune, by her help he soon returns.

Oh, did all men but love this most benign and loving Lady, had they but recourse to her always and without delay in their temptations, who would fall? Who would ever be lost? He falls and is lost who has not recourse to Mary. St. Laurence Justinian applies to Mary the words of Ecclesiasticus: I have walked in the waves of the sea-(Ecclus. xxiv. 8), and makes her say: “I walk with my servants in the midst of the tempests to which they are constantly exposed, to assist and preserve them from falling into sin.”

Evening Meditation

THE PRACTICE OF THE LOVE OF JESUS CHRIST

XXVIII.-“CHARITY IS KIND”-HE THAT LOVES JESUS CHRIST LOVES MEEKNESS

I.

The spirit of meekness is peculiar to God: My spirit is sweet above honey-(Ecclus. xxiv. 27}. Hence it is that a soul that loves God loves also all those God loves, namely, her neighbours; so that she eagerly seeks every occasion of helping all, of consoling all, and of making all happy as far as she can. St. Francis de Sales, who was the master and model of holy meekness, says: “Humble meekness is the virtue of virtues which God has so much recommended to us; therefore we should endeavour to practise it always and in all things.” Hence the Saint gives us this rule: What you see can be done with love, do it; and what you see cannot be done without offence, leave it undone. He means, when it can be omitted without offending God; because an offence of God must always, and as quickly as possible, be prevented by him who is bound to prevent it.

This meekness should be particularly observed towards the poor, who, by reason of their poverty, are often harshly treated by men. It should likewise be especially practised towards the sick who are suffering under infirmities, and, for the most part, meet with small help from others. Meekness is more especially to be observed in our behaviour towards our enemies: Overcome evil with good-(Rom. xii. 21). Hatred must be overcome by love, and persecution by meekness; thus the Saint acted, and so they conciliated the affections of their most exasperated enemies.


II.

“There is nothing,” says St. Francis de Sales, “that gives so much edification to our neighbour as meekness of behaviour.” The Saint, therefore, was generally seen smiling and with a countenance beaming with charity, which gave a tone to all his words and actions. This gave occasion to St. Vincent de Paul to declare that he never knew a kinder man in his life. He said, further, that it seemed to him that in this his lordship of Sales was a true likeness of Jesus Christ. Even in refusing what he could not in conscience give, he did so with such sweetness that all, though unsuccessful in their requests, went away satisfied and well-disposed towards him. He was gentle towards all, towards superiors, towards equals and inferiors, at home and abroad; in contrast with some, who, as the Saint used to say, seemed angels abroad, but were devils at home. Moreover, the Saint, in his conduct towards servants, never complained of their remissness; at most he would give them an admonition, but always in the gentlest terms. And this is a thing most praiseworthy in superiors. The superior should use all kindness towards those under him. When telling them what they have to do, he should request rather than command. St. Vincent de Paul said: “A superior will never find a better means of being readily obeyed than meekness.” And to the same effect was the saying of St. Jane Frances de Chantal: “I have tried various methods of governing, but I have not found any better than that of meekness and forbearance.”