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

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Monday Within the Octave of Ascension

Morning Meditation

DIVINE LOVE IS A DEW THAT FERTILIZES

“In aestu temperies: dulce refrigerium.”

Divine Love fertilizes the good desires, the holy purposes, and the good works of our souls, and these are the flowers and fruits which the grace of the Holy Ghost produces. O holy and Divine Spirit, I will no longer live to myself. I will spend all these days that remain to me of life in loving and pleasing Thee.

I.

Divine Love is a dew that fertilizes the soul. Thus does the Holy Church teach us to pray: May the infusion of the Holy Ghost cleanse our hearts, and fertilize them by the inward sprinkling of his dew. Love fertilizes our good desires, our holy purposes, and the good works of our souls; these are the flowers and the fruits which the grace of the Holy Ghost produces. Love is also called dew, because it cools the heat of bad desires and temptations. Hence the Holy Ghost is also called refreshment in the excess of heat, and solace in our grief. In aestu temperies; dulce refrigerium.

O Holy and Divine Spirit, I will live no longer to myself; the days which may remain to me of life, I will spend entirely in loving and pleasing Thee. On this account I beseech Thee to grant me the gift of prayer. Come, Thou, into my heart, and teach me to pray as I ought. Give me strength not to neglect prayer in the time of dryness and weariness; and give me the spirit of prayer; that is, the grace of praying to Thee in such a manner, and of offering Thee such prayers as may be most acceptable to Thee.


II.

This dew descends into our hearts in the time of prayer. A quarter of an hour’s prayer is sufficient to appease any passion of hatred or of inordinate love, however ardent it may be: He brought me into the cellar of wine, he set in order charity in me-(Cant. ii. 4). Holy meditation is this cellar of wine, where love is set in order, to love God above all things, and our neighbours as ourselves. He who loves God loves prayer; and he who loves not prayer will find it morally impossible to overcome his passions.

I was lost by my sins, O my God, but I now see from the favour which Thou hast shown me, that Thou desirest my sanctification and salvation; and I certainly desire to become holy, that I may please Thee, and love more ardently Thy infinite Goodness. I love Thee, my sovereign Good, my Love, and my All; and because I love Thee, I give my whole self to Thee. O Blessed Virgin Mary, protect me.

Spiritual Reading

GRANDEUR OF THE PRIESTLY POWER

The dignity of the priest is also estimated by the power that he has over the real and the mystic body of Jesus Christ.

With regard to the power of priests over the real Body of Jesus Christ, it is of Faith that when they pronounce the words of Consecration the Incarnate Word has obliged Himself to obey and to come into their hands under the sacramental species. We are struck with wonder when we hear that God obeyed the voice of Josue-The Lord obeying the voice of man-and made the sun stand when he said: Move not, 0 sun, towards Gabaon, … and the sun stood still-(Jos. x. 12-13). But our wonder should be far greater when we find that in obedience to the words of His priests-HOC EST CORPUS MEUM-God Himself descends on the altar, that He comes wherever they call Him, and as often as they call Him, and places Himself in their hands, even though they should be His enemies. And after having come, He remains entirely at their disposal; they move Him as they please, from one place to another; they may, if they wish, shut Him up in the Tabernacle, or expose Him on the altar, or carry Him outside the church. They may, if they choose, eat His flesh, and give Him as food to others. “Oh, how very great is their power,” says St. Laurence Justinian, speaking of priests; “a word falls from their lips and the Body of Christ is there substantially formed from the matter of bread, and the Incarnate Word come down from Heaven, is found really present on the table of the altar! Never did Divine goodness give such power to the Angels. The Angels abide by the order of God, but the priests take Him in their hands, distribute Him to the faithful, and partake of Him as food for themselves.”

With regard to the mystic body of Christ, that is, all the faithful, the “priest has the power of the keys, or the power of delivering sinners from hell, of making them worthy of Paradise, and of changing them from the slaves of Satan into the children of God. And God Himself is obliged to abide by the judgment of His priests, and either not to pardon or to pardon, according as they refuse or give absolution, provided the penitent is capable of it. “Such,” says St. Maximus of Turin, “is this judiciary power ascribed to Peter that its decision carries with it the decision of God.” The sentence of the priest precedes, and God subscribes to it, writes St. Peter Damian. Hence St. John Chrysostom thus concludes: “The Sovereign Master of the universe only follows the servant by confirming in Heaven all that the latter decides upon earth.”

Priests are the dispensers of the divine graces, and the companions of God. “Consider the priests,” says St. Ignatius, Martyr, “as the dispensers of divine graces and the associates of God.” “They are,” says St. Prosper, “the glory and the immovable columns of the Church; they are the doors of the eternal city; through them all reach Christ; they are the vigilant guardians to whom the Lord has confided the keys of the kingdom of Heaven; they are the stewards of the king’s house, to assign to each according to his good pleasure his place in the hierarchy.” Were the Redeemer to descend into a church; and sit in a confessional to administer the Sacrament of Penance, and a priest to sit in another confessional, Jesus would say over each penitent, Ego te absolvo. The priest would likewise say over each of his penitents, Ego te absolvo, and the penitents of each would be equally absolved. How great the honour that a king would confer on a subject whom he should empower to rescue ill from prison as many as he pleased! But far greater is the power that the Eternal Father has given to Jesus Christ, and that Jesus Christ has given to His priests, to rescue from hell not only the bodies but also the souls of the faithful: “The Son,” says St. John Chrysostom, “has put into the hands of the priests all judgment; for having been as it were transported into Heaven, they have received this divine prerogative. If a king gave to a mortal the power to release from prison all prisoners, all would pronounce such a one happy; but the priests have received from God a far greater power, since the soul is more noble than the body.”

Evening Meditation

THE PRACTICE OF THE LOVE OF JESUS CHRIST

IV.-THE MEANS OF AVOIDING LUKEWARMNESS AND ATTAINING PERFECTION

I.

The second means of perfection is the resolution to belong wholly to God. Many are called to perfection; they are urged on towards it by grace, they conceive a desire of it; but because they never really resolve to acquire it, they live and die in the ill-odour of their tepid and imperfect life. The desire of perfection is not enough if it be not followed up by a stern resolve to attain it. How many souls feed themselves on desires alone, but never make withal one step in the way of God! It is of such desires that the Wise Man speaks when he says: Desires kill the slothful-(Prov. xxi. 25}. The slothful man is ever desiring, but never resolves to take the means suitable to his state of life to become a saint. He says: “Oh, if I were but in solitude, and not in this house! Oh, if I could but go and reside in another monastery, I would give myself up entirely to God!” And meanwhile he cannot support a certain companion; he cannot put up with a word of contradiction; he is dissipated about many useless cares; he commits a thousand faults of gluttony, of curiosity, and of pride; and yet he sighs out to the wind: “Oh, if I had but … !” or “Oh, if I could but .. , !” Such desires do more harm than good; because some regale themselves upon them, and in the meantime go on leading a life of imperfection. It was a saying of St. Francis of Sales: “I do not approve of a person who, being engaged in some duty or vocation, sighs for some other kind of life than is compatible with his actual position, or for other exercises unfitted for his present state; for it merely serves to dissipate his heart, and makes him languish in his necessary duties.”


II.

We, must, therefore, desire perfection, and resolutely take the means towards it. St. Teresa says: “God only looks for one resolution on our part, and will afterwards do all the rest Himself: the devil has no fear of irresolute souls.” For this reason mental prayer must be used, in order to take the means which lead to perfection. Some make much prayer, but never come to a practical conclusion. The Saint again says: “I would rather have a short prayer, which produces great fruits, than a prayer of many years, wherein a soul never gets further than resolving to do something worthy Of Almighty God.” And elsewhere she says: “I have learnt by experience that whoever, at the beginning, brings himself to the resolution of doing some great work, however difficult it may be, if he does so to please God, he has no reason to be afraid.”