Long Post Alert…
ST ALPHONSUS LIGUORI
“The devil has always attempted, by means of the heretics, to deprive the world of the Mass, making them precursors of the Anti-Christ, who, before anything else, will try to abolish and will actually abolish the Holy Sacrament of the altar, as a punishment for the sins of men, according to the prediction of Daniel,’ And strength was given him against the continual sacrifice’ (Daniel 8:12).” St. Alphonsus Liguori, Doctor of the Church.
Alphonsus was born of noble parents near Naples, Italy, in 1696, and died in 1787. In the midst of many evils he appeared with a three-fold mission as Doctor, Bishop, and founder of a new religious Order. As Doctor he became the great teacher of Moral Theology; he found the middle way between the two extremes of the lax and the over rigorous, and by his ascetic writings he spread amongst the people Catholic piety, devotion to Our Lady, to Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament, to the Passion, and defended the supreme rights of the Church and of the Pope.
As apostle and bishop St. Alphonsus sought to imitate Our Divine Redeemer in His evangelizing journeys through the villages of Galilee and Judea. Hence he founded his own society of missionaries whom he destined to labor among the poor peasants and mountaineers rather than the inhabitants of the towns. As founder of a new Order, the saint has the merit of having adapted the scope of his work to the needs of the time, and of having brought it to completion in spite of innumerable difficulties. Although approved by the Pope, the King of Naples refused to permit the new Order to establish itself. St. Alphonsus himself was excluded from the houses of his own Order in the Kingdom of Naples. This schism existed until his death. After his death the whole scene changes; the rejected founder is raised to the altars, and his Congregation extends its boundaries beyond the confines of Italy and of Europe.
Pope Saint Stephen I, Martyr
Pope Saint Stephen I
Pope Saint Stephen I, Martyr who by birth was a Roman. He was made Pope on May 3, 253, and governed the Church for three years. He decided the question of the validity of Baptism when administered by heretics, ordering that the tradition should be preserved according to which it was sufficient that they receive confirmation. He was murdered by the Emperor’s soldiers while seated in his episcopal chair in the catacombs, during the celebration of Mass, August 2, 257.
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Double Feast of Saint Alphonsus Liguori, Bishop, Confessor and Doctor of the Church – Commemoration of Pope St. Stephen I, Martyr
Missa “Spíritus Dómini”
INTROIT: Luke 4: 18; Psalm 77: 1
The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, wherefore He hath anointed me, to preach the gospel to the poor, He hath sent me to heal the contrite of heart. (Ps. 77: 1) Attend, O My people, to My law: incline your ear to the words of My mouth. Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Ghost, as it was in the beginning, is now and ever shall be, world without end. Amen. Repeat The Spirit of the Lord…
COLLECT
God, Who through blessed Alphonsus Mary, Thy confessor and bishop, fired with zeal for souls, didst cause Thy Church to bring forth a new progeny, we beseech Thee that, being taught by his wholesome precepts, and strengthened by his example, we may be enabled happily to come unto Thee. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, Thy Son, Who liveth and reigneth with Thee in the unity of the Holy Ghost, God,
Forever and ever.
Commemoration of Pope St. Stephen I
Let us pray. O Eternal Shepherd, do Thou look favorably upon Thy flock, which we beseech Thee to guard and keep for evermore through the Blessed Stephen Thy Martyr and Supreme Pontiff, whom Thou didst choose to be the chief shepherd of the whole Church. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, Thy Son, Who liveth and reigneth with Thee in the unity of the Holy Ghost, one God Forever and ever.
EPISTLE: 2 Timothy 2: 1-7
Dearly beloved, be strong in the grace which is in Christ Jesus, and the things which thou hast heard of me before many witnesses, the same commend to faithful men, who shall be fit to teach others also. Labor as a good soldier of Christ Jesus. No man being a soldier to God, entangleth himself with worldly business: that he may please Him to whom he hath engaged himself. For he also that striveth for the mastery, is not crowned, except he strive lawfully. The husbandman that laboreth, must first partake of the fruits. Understand what I say: for the Lord will give thee understanding in all things. Thanks be to God.
GRADUAL: Psalm 118: 52, 53; 39:11
I remembered, O Lord, Thy judgments of old, and I was comforted; a fainting hath taken hold of me because of the wicked that forsake Thy law.
(39:11) – I have not hid Thy justice within my heart. I have declared Thy truth and Thy salvation. Alleluia, alleluia.
ALLELUIA: Eccl. 49: 3, 4
He was directed by God unto the repentance of the nation, and he took away the abominations of wickedness: and he directed his heart toward the Lord; and in the days of sinners he strengthened godliness. Alleluia.
GOSPEL: Luke 10: 1-9
At that time, The Lord appointed also other seventy-two; and He sent them two and two before His face into every city and place whither He Himself was to come. And He said to them, “The harvest indeed is great, but the laborers are few: pray ye therefore the Lord of the harvest, that He send laborers into His harvest. Go, behold I send you as lambs among wolves. Carry neither purse, nor scrip, nor shoes; and salute no man by the way. Into whatsoever house you enter, first say, Peace be to this house: and if the son of peace be there, your peace shall rest upon him: but if not, it shall return to you. And in the same house remain, eating and drinking such things as they have: for the laborer is worthy of his hire. Remove not from house to house. And into what city whatsoever you enter, and they receive you, eat such things as are set before you; and heal the sick that are therein; and say to them, The kingdom of God is come nigh unto you.”
Sermon on the Great Doctor of Moral Theology of the Universal, the Catholic Church – St. Alphonsus Liguori.
OFFERTORY: Proverbs 3: 9, 27
Honor the Lord with thy substance, and give Him of the first of all thy fruits. Do not withhold him from doing good who is able: if thou art able, do good thyself also.
SECRET
Let us pray. O Lord Jesus Christ, burn our hearts thoroughly with the heavenly fire of this sacrifice for an odor of sweetness, Thou Who didst grant to blessed Alphonsus Mary both to celebrate these mysteries and, through them, to offer himself to Thee a holy victim. Who livest and reignest, with God the Father, in the unity of the Holy Ghost, God
Commemoration Secret of Pope St. Stephen I
Let us pray. In Thy loving kindness, we beseech Thee, Lord, be moved by the offering of our gifts and enlighten Thy Church: that Thy flock may prosper everywhere and the shepherds, under Thy guidance, may be rendered acceptable to Thee. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, Thy Son, Who liveth and reigneth with Thee in the unity of the Holy Ghost, one God
PREFACE of the Apostles
It is truly meet and just, right and for our salvation, to entreat Thee humbly, O Lord, that Thou would not desert Thy flock. O everlasting Shepherd; but through Thy blessed Apostles, wouldst keep it under Thy constant protection; that it may be governed by those same rulers, whom as vicars of Thy work, Thou didst set over it to be its pastors. And therefore with Angels and Archangels, with Thrones and Dominations, and with all the hosts of the heavenly army, we sing the hymn of the glory, evermore saying:
COMMUNION: Ecclus 50: 1, 9
A great priest, who in his life propped up the house, and in his days fortified the temple as a bright fire, and frankincense burning in the fire.
POSTCOMMUNION
God, who didst cause blessed Alphonsus Mary, Thy confessor and bishop, faithfully to dispense and preach this divine mystery, grant, by his merits and prayers, that Thy faithful may both frequently receive it, and, receiving it, praise it forever. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, Thy Son, Who liveth and reigneth with Thee in the unity of the Holy Ghost, God, Forever and ever.
Commemoration Postcommunion of Pope St. Stephen I
Let us pray. Since Thy Church has been nourished by the sacred repast, govern her in Thy clemency, we beseech Thee, O Lord, so that under the guidance of Thy mighty rule she may enjoy greater freedom and abiding integrity of religion. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, Thy Son, Who liveth and reigneth with Thee in the unity of the Holy Ghost, one God…
‘The saved are few, but we must live with the few if we would be saved with the few. O God, too few indeed they are: yet amongst those few I wish to be!’ St. Alphonsus
REFLECTION – By: Dom Guéranger
Yesterday, with Pierre and the Maccabees , we admired the substructures of the palace that the eternal Wisdom built in time to last forever . Today, we are abiding by the divine morals of this Wisdom is playing in reaching from one end to the other, this is on top of the work, the last seating currently laid, that is given to us to contemplate the progress of the glorious edifice. However, at the top as in the foundation, the work is, the materials are priceless: witness stone water so pure that, at this time, sends us his lights.
Alphonsus Liguori is, as both Doctor and Saint as the newest blessed that addresses the universal homage of the world. Great by his works and doctrine, it is directly applied to the oracle of the Holy Spirit: Those who teach justice more shine like stars in the endless eternities.
When he appeared, an odious sect wanted to remove the Father who is in heaven His mercy and gentleness; she triumphed in the practical conduct of souls, with even those that repelled his Calvinist theories. Under color of reaction against an imaginary school release denouncing noisily condemned the proposals actually a few isolated characters, new Pharisees were zealots laid in the Act. Exaggerating the precept, exaggerating the penalty, they loaded the consciences of the same intolerable burdens which the God-man blamed their predecessors to crush the human shoulders; but the cry of alarm thrown by them on behalf of the corporation at risk, had not deceived less simple and ended up misplacing the best. With ostentation austerity of its members, Jansenism, clever the rest prudently conceal its dogmas, was only too successfully, according to its program, to impose on the Church in spite of the Church; unconscious allies engaged him in the holy city of the wells of salvation. Soon, too many places, the sacred keys no longer use that to open the hell had; the holy table, compiled to maintain and develop all life was no longer accessible to perfect: and they were judged as to the extent, by a strange reversal of the words of the Apostle, they subjected the spirit of adoption of children in the spirit of bondage and fear; as the faithful who did not rise to the height of the new asceticism, finding the tribunal of penance, in place of fathers and doctors, as taskmasters and executioners, they did not have before them that abandonment of despair or indifference. However, forensic and parliaments everywhere lend a hand to reformers, without worrying about the flood of hate disbelief that rose around them, without seeing the storm clouds piling her.
Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites close to the kingdom of men; because you will go in point and do not let others enter. Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites compass sea and land to make one proselyte, and when done, the appointment son of hell as you twice. It is not your conventicles it is said that the son of Wisdom are the congregation of the righteous; because it is also said that people just is obedience and love. It is not fear that you are the apostles, the Psalmist sang: The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom; because of this salutary fear, under the same law of Sinai, the Holy Spirit said, “You who fear the Lord, believe in him and you will not lose your reward; You who fear the Lord, hope in Him, and His mercy come upon you with joy; You who fear the Lord, love him, and your hearts will be filled with light “. Any difference, whether from rigor as well as weakness, faces justice in his rectitude; but especially from Bethlehem and Calvary, there is no sin that reaches more divine than mistrust heart; it is the unpardonable fault in despair Judas Cain as saying: “My crime is too great to be forgiven”.
Who, however, in the dark impasse where doctors had brought in vogue strongest minds would find the key of knowledge! But Wisdom kept in its treasures, says the Holy Spirit, the formulas of manners . As in other dogma attacked each time she raised new avengers: in front of a heresy which, despite the speculative claims of its beginnings, that there was not really sustainable range, it produced Alphonsus Liguori as rectifying the distorted law and Doctor par excellence of Christian morality. Also far from a fatal rigor and pernicious indulgence, he was able to make justices of the Lord, to speak like Psalm, their righteousness along with their gift to rejoice the hearts His commandments their luminous clarity which is justified by themselves its oracles purity that attracts souls and faithfully led small and simple beginnings of Wisdom in its vertices.
It was not in effect only on the ground of casuistry that St. Alphonsus succeeded in his Moral Theology, to ward off the virus that threatens to infect the whole Christian life. Whereas, moreover, his valiant pen did not leave unanswered any time attacks against revealed truth, its ascetic and mystical works of piety brought back to traditional sources of attendance of the Sacraments of the Lord’s love and His divine mother. The Sacred Congregation of Rites, which must consider the name of the Holy See the works of our Saint, and declared not find nothing worthy of censure, was stored under forty different titles innumerable writings. Alphonse had not yet resolved until much later to communicate to the public, through the press, the lights which his soul was flooded; his first book, which was the golden book Visits to the Blessed Sacrament and the Blessed Virgin appeared only to the fiftieth year of the author. But if it is true God extended his life beyond the ordinary limits, he spared himself or the double burden of the episcopate and the government beyond congregation he had founded, nor the most painful infirmities or moral suffering more still painful.
I have not hid thy justice within my heart: I published the truth and salvation. So on your behalf the Church she sings today, grateful for the outstanding service you have rendered him in these days where sinners piety seemed lost. Exposed to the assaults of an exaggerated under the skeptical eye of the mocking philosophy righteousness, good themselves hesitant on the direction of the paths of the Lord. While moralists of the time did not know what to build awareness absurd barriers, the enemy had a field day shouting breaking their chains, and cast away their yoke Compromise by these foolish doctors, the ancient wisdom of revered ancestors was not for people eager to emancipation, a building in ruins. In this unprecedented end, you were, O Alphonse, the desired prudent man of the church, and every mouth which contains the words that strengthen the hearts.
Long before you were born, a great Pope had said that the Doctors own is “to enlighten the Church, to adorn virtues, form his manners; by them, he added, it shines in the darkness as the morning star; their word fertilized from above solves the riddles of the Scriptures, to undo the difficulties, the darkness cleared, interpreter which is doubtful; their profound works, and identified by the eloquence of speech are all precious pearls ennobling the house of God not unless they make it shine. ” Thus spoke the thirteenth century Boniface VIII, when was the double solemnity laughs feasts of the Apostles, the Evangelists and the four Doctors recognized then, Pope Gregory, Augustine, Ambrose and Jerome . But is not that, as a striking prophecy, as a faithful portrait, especially the description of what you were given to be.
Glory to you so that, in our time of decline, renew the youth of the Church, by which you embrace once more earthly justice and peace in the meeting of mercy and truth. This is the letter you gave unqualified for such a result your time and forces. “The love of God is never idle, Gregory said: if it exists, it does great things; if he refuses to act, it is not love “. Now what loyalty was not yours in the fulfillment of the dreaded wish that you were kidnapped by the possibility of even a moment’s respite! When intolerable pain had appeared to justify any otherwise controlling the rest, you saw a supporting hand to your forehead marble seemed somewhat temper the suffering, and the right writing your valuable items.
But greater still was the example that God wanted to give to the world, when he allowed qu’accablé years, the betrayal of one of your son might bring disgrace upon you this Apostolic See for which had burned your life, and in return you retrenched as unworthy, the institute that you founded! Hell then had license to join his shots to those of heaven; and you, Dr. Peace, connûtes appalling attacks against the faith and holy hope. So your work is finished it in more powerful than any [infirmity; and you deserve to troubled souls in support of the power of Christ. However, become a child again by blind obedience required in these painful events, you were closer to the time and the kingdom of heaven and the manger sung by you in accents sweet; and under the God-Man felt out of it during his life escaped you with such an abundance of small sick children reported by their mothers to your blessing, she healed them all!
What now ended with tears and toil, yet always watch over us. Keep the fruits of your work in the Church. Religious family that you must existence has not degenerated; more than once, in persecutions of this century, the enemy has honored special events of his hatred; already as the halo of the Blessed has been seen from the father to his son: may they always keep these noble traditions dearly! May the sovereign Father, the baptism, all of us also worthy to have part in the inheritance of the saints in light, lead us happily through your teachings and your example, following the holy Redeemer in the kingdom of the Son of His love.
‘We owe God a deep regret of gratitude for the purely gratuitous gift of the true faith with which he has favored us. How many are the infidels, heretics and schismatic who do not enjoy comparable happiness? The earth is full of them and they are all lost!’ St. Alphonsus
OFFICE – Lessons of Matins before 1960
Fourth lesson. Alphonsus Liguori was born in Naples, noble parents, and soon gave his toddler obvious signs of his future sanctity. His parents offered still young to St. Francis of Hieronimo, the Society of Jesus; thereof, after having prayed, said that the child would nonagenarian, it would be raised to the episcopal dignity, and he would make a great good in the Church. From childhood, Alphonse away games and formed by his word and example, noble teenagers Christian modesty. As a young man he became part of pious brotherhoods and put his happiness to serve patients in public hospitals to attend to long prayer in churches and frequent the sacraments. A piety unites so the study of letters, barely sixteen years old, he received a doctorate in either law at the University of his country. In obedience to his father, he embraced the legal career, but although should obtain great success, he abandoned himself, after recognizing the dangers of the bar. He then gave a very brilliant marriage that his father offered him, abdicated his birthright and his sword hung at the altar of Our Lady of Mercy, to devote himself to the divine ministry. Become a priest, he attacked the vices with so much zeal and so fills the office of apostle, standing for quickly here and there to rescue sinners, many were converted. Full of compassion for the poor and peasants in particular, he established the Congregation of the Most Holy Redeemer, who, following in the footsteps of the Redeemer himself, would work to evangelize the poor in rural areas, towns and villages.
Fifth lesson. For nothing écartât its purpose, he forced by a perpetual vow never to lose a moment. And consequently inflamed with zeal, he put all his application to win souls to Jesus Christ and to bring them to a more perfect life, or preaching the word of God, either by writing books filled with sacred erudition and piety. It’s really wonderful thing to see how he stifled hatred and brought people to the right path of salvation which they had discarded. Devoted servant of the Mother of God, he published a book to glorify; and several times, when preaching he put more heat in his praise, while the audience watched his face shone with a wonderful glow projected onto him by the Virgin, and it was in a trance. He propagated beautifully worship the Lord’s Passion and of the Holy Eucharist, where he was an avid viewer. While he was praying before the altar and he celebrated the Holy Sacrifice, he never omitted, the vehemence of his love made him burst into seraphic ardor, or agitated extraordinary movements, or he removed the sense of external things. In the whole course of his life, he committed no mortal sin, and joined a wonderful innocence to equal penance. He chastised his body by abstinence, iron chains, the sackcloth and bloody floggings. Among other gifts he received the prophecy, the double privilege of scrutinizing the hearts and be in two places at once, and the power of miracles.
Sixth lesson. Ecclesiastical dignities he was offered never tried. However the authority of Pope Clement XIII laid his charge to govern the Church of St. Agatha of the Goths. If, now Bishop, he changed his clothes, he did nothing to modify the severity of his way of life. It was the same frugality, the same incomparable zeal for the Christian discipline, the same application to suppress vice and destroy error, the same care to fulfill pastoral obligations. Liberal to the poor, he distributed all their income from his church; charity even brought for sale during a famine, the furniture of his house, to feed the hungry. Is doing everything to everyone, he brought the nuns to form more perfect life and took care of founding a monastery of nuns of the congregation. Serious and common diseases induced him to abandon the burden of the episcopate: poor leaving his disciples, he returned to the poor among them. Finally it was all broken with age, fatigue, long suffering from gout and other diseases yet, his mind continued to be very lucid, and he continued to speak and write about things sky, the day he died peacefully, aged ninety years on the Kalends of August, one thousand seven hundred eighty-seven, Nocera Pagani degli amid tears religious children. His virtues and miracles having shown, the Sovereign Pontiff Pius VII enrolled in the annals of the Blessed; and new miracles that added to his earthly glory, Gregory XVI solemnly began the catalog of Saints, the feast of the Holy Trinity, in the year one thousand eight hundred thirty and nine. Finally, the Sovereign Pontiff Pius IX, in the opinion of the Sacred Congregation of Rites, the declared Doctor of the Universal Church.
Reading of the Holy Gospel according to Luke. Cap. 10, 1-9.
At that time: The Lord appointed seventy-two other disciples and sent them two and two before his face into every city and every place whither he himself would come. And the rest.
Homily of St. Gregory, Pope
Seventh lesson. Our Lord and Savior taught us, my beloved brethren, sometimes by his words, and sometimes by his works. His works themselves are the precepts, and when it is, even without saying anything, it teaches us that we have to do. So that the Lord sent his disciples to preach; he sent two by two, because there are two precepts of charity, love of God and love of neighbor, and must be at least two to their place to practice charity. Because, strictly speaking, we do not practice singing to oneself; but love to become charity must be to another person.
. Eighth lesson then, is that the Lord sent his disciples two by two to preach; it makes us tacitly understand that he who has no love of neighbor should in no way take charge of the ministry of preaching. It is with reason that the Lord said he sent his disciples to him, in all the cities and all the places where he had come himself. The Lord follows those who proclaim. Preaching occurs first; and the Lord has established his dwelling in our souls, when the words of those who call us have accelerated, and thus the truth has been received by our mind.
. Ninth lesson is why Isaiah said the same preachers: “Prepare the way of the Lord; make straight the paths of our God “. In turn, the Psalmist says to God’s children: “Make a path to one that rises above the setting”. The Lord is indeed risen above the setting; because the more it is lowered into his passion, the more he manifested his glory in his resurrection. It really is mounted above the setting for, resurrecting, he trampled death he suffered. We prepare the way for Him who is mounted above the sunset when we preach his glory, that itself, then from, enlighten your souls by his presence and his love.
Vespers
V /. Amávit eum Dominus and ornávit eum. V /. The Lord loved him and adorned.
R /. Stolam Gloriae induced eum. R /. He robbed of glory.
Ad Magnificat Ant. O Doctor Optime * Lumen Ecclesiae Sanctae, Beate Alfonso María Divinae legis Amator, deprecáre pro nobis FILIUM Dei. Ant. Magnificat O Doctor excellent * Light of the Holy Church, Blessed Alphonsus, so zealous for the law of God, implore for us the Son of God.
Oratio Deus, which per beatum Alfónsum Mariam Confessórem tuum atque Pontificem, animarum zelo succénsum, Ecclesiam tuam nova prole fœcundásti: quǽsumus; ut eius salutáribus Monitis edócti and exémplis roboráti ad perveníre congratulate you valeámus.
Prayer
God, you have fertilized your Church a new family by the Department of Blessed Alphonsus, your Confessor and Pontiff, who burned with zeal for the salvation of souls made, we beseech Thee, that, taught by his salutary lessons and strengthened by his example, we can happily send to you.
‘All persons desire to be saved, but the greater part, because they will not adopt the means of being saved, fall into sin and are lost. . . In fact, the Elect are much fewer than the damned, for the reprobate are much more numerous than the Elect.’ St. Alphonsus
Saturday–Seventh Week after Pentecost
Morning Meditation – MARY IS THE HOPE OF SINNERS
One of the titles which is the most encouraging for poor sinners and under which the Church teaches us to invoke Mary, in the Litany of Loretto, is that of “Refuge of sinners.” Therefore a devout author exhorts all sinners to take refuge under the mantle of Mary: “Fly, O Adam and Eve, and all you, their children, who have outraged God, fly and take refuge in the bosom of this good Mother, for know you not that she is your only city of refuge?”
In the first Chapter of the Book of Genesis we read that God made two great lights; a greater light to rule the day; a lesser light to rule the night (Gen. i. 16). Cardinal Hugo says that “Christ is the greater light to rule the just, and Mary the lesser to rule sinners”; meaning that the sun is a figure of Jesus Christ, Whose light is enjoyed by the just who live in the clear day of Divine grace; and that the moon is a figure of Mary, by whose means those who are in the night of sin are enlightened. Since Mary is this auspicious luminary, and is so for the benefit of poor sinners, should any one have been so unfortunate as to fall into the night of sin, what is he to do? Innocent III replies, “Whoever is in the night of sin, let him cast his eyes on the moon, let him implore Mary.” Since he has lost the light of the sun of justice by losing the grace of God, let him turn to the moon, and beseech Mary; and she will certainly give him light to see the misery of his state, and strength to leave it without delay. St. Methodius says that “by the prayers of Mary well nigh countless sinners are converted.”
One of the titles which is the most encouraging to poor sinners, and under which the Church teaches us to invoke Mary, in the Litany of Loretto, is that of “Refuge of Sinners.” In Judea in ancient times there were cities of refuge in which criminals who fled there for protection were exempt from the punishments which they had deserved. Nowadays those cities are not so numerous; there is but one, and that is Mary, of whom the Psalmist says: Glorious things are said of thee, O city of God (Ps. lxxxvi. 3). But this city differs from the ancient ones in this respect–that in these ancient cities all kinds of criminals did not find refuge, nor was the protection extended to every class of crime; but under the mantle of Mary all sinners, without exception, find mercy for every sin that they may have committed, provided only that they go there to seek this protection. “I am the city of refuge,” says St. John Damascene, in the name of our Queen, “to all who fly to me.” And it is sufficient to have recourse to her, for whoever has the good fortune to enter this city need not speak to be saved. Assemble yourselves, and let us enter into the fenced city, and let us be silent there (Jer. viii. 14), to speak in the words of the Prophet Jeremias. This city, says Blessed Albert the Great, is the most holy Virgin fenced in with grace and glory. And let us be silent there, that is, continues an interpreter, “because we dare not invoke the Lord, whom we have offended, she will invoke and ask.” For if we do not presume to ask our Lord to forgive us, it will suffice to enter this city and be silent, for Mary will speak and ask all we may require. And for this reason a devout author exhorts all sinners to take refuge under the mantle of Mary, exclaiming: “Fly, O Adam and Eve, and all you, their children, who have outraged God; fly, and take refuge in the bosom of this Good Mother; know you not that she is our only city of refuge?”–the only hope of sinners.
Spiritual Reading – PRAYER, CONDITIONS OF PRAYER
PERSEVERANCE.
Our Prayers, then, must be humble and confident; but this is not enough to obtain final perseverance, and thereby eternal life. Individual prayers will obtain the individual graces which they ask of God; but unless they are persevering, they will not obtain final perseverance, which, as it is the accumulation of many graces, requires many Prayers that are not to cease till death. The grace of salvation is not a single grace, but a chain of graces, all of which are at last linked with the grace of final perseverance. Now, to this chain of graces there ought to correspond another chain (as it were) of our prayers; if we, by neglecting to pray, break the chain of our prayers, the chain of graces will be broken too; and as it is by this that we have to obtain salvation, we shall not be saved.
It is true that we cannot merit final Perseverance as the Council of Trent teaches: “It cannot be had from any other source but from Him Who is able to confirm the man who is standing, that he may stand with perseverance.” Nevertheless, says St. Augustine, this great gift of Perseverance can in a manner be merited by our prayers; that is, can be obtained by praying: “This gift, therefore, can be suppliantly merited (suppliciter emereri potest), that is, can be obtained by supplication.” And Father Suarez adds that the man who prays infallibly obtains it. But to obtain it, and to save ourselves, says St. Thomas, a persevering and continual Prayer is necessary: “After Baptism continual Prayer is necessary to a man in order that he may enter Heaven.” And before this our Saviour Himself had told us over and over again: We ought always to pray, and not to faint (Luke xviii. 1). Watch ye, therefore, praying at all times, that you may be accounted worthy to escape all these things that are to come, and to stand before the Son of Man (Luke xxi. 36). The same had been previously said in the Old Testament: Let nothing hinder thee from praying always (Ecclus. xviii. 22). Bless God at all times, and desire him to direct thy ways (Tob. iv. 20). Hence the Apostle inculcated on his disciples never to neglect Prayer: Pray without ceasing (1 Thess. v. 17). Be instant in prayer, watching in it with thanksgiving (Col. iv. 2). I will, therefore, that men pray in every place (1 Tim. 8). God does indeed wish to give us Perseverance, says St. Nilus, but He will only give it to him who prays for it perseveringly: “He willeth to confer benefits on him who perseveres in prayer.” Many sinners by the help of God’s grace come to be converted, and to receive pardon. But then, because they neglect to ask for perseverance, they fall again, and lose all.
Nor is it enough, says Bellarmine, to ask the grace of Perseverance once, or a few times; we ought always to ask it, every day till our death, if we wish to obtain it: “It must be asked day by day, that it may be obtained day by day.” He who asks it one day, obtains it for that one day; but if he does not ask it the next day, the next day he will fall.
And this is the lesson which our Lord wished to teach us in the Parable of the man who would not give the loaves to his friend who asked him for them, until he had become importunate in his demand: Although he will not rise and give him because he is his friend, yet because of his importunity, he will rise and give him as many as he needeth (Luke xi. 8). Now if this man, solely to deliver himself from the troublesome importunity of his friend, gave him even against his own will the loaves for which he asked, “how much more,” says St. Augustine, “will the good God give, Who both commands us to ask, and is angry if we ask not!” God, then, does indeed wish to give us eternal life, and therein all graces; but He wishes also that we should never omit to ask Him for them, even to the extent of being troublesome. Cornelius a Lapide says on the text just quoted, “God wishes us to be persevering in Prayer to the extent of importunity.” Men of the world cannot bear the importunate; but God not only bears with them, but wishes us to be importunate in praying to Him for graces, and especially for Perseverance. St. Gregory says that ” God wills to be called upon, He wills to be forced, He wills to be conquered by importunity … Happy violence, by which God is not offended, but appeased!”
So that to obtain Perseverance we must always recommend ourselves to God morning and night, at Meditation, at Mass, at Communion, at all times; especially in time of temptation, when we must keep repeating: Lord, help me! Lord, assist me! Keep Thy hand upon me; leave me not; have pity upon me! Is there anything easier than to say: Lord, help me, assist me! The Psalmist says: With me is prayer to the God of my life (Ps. 9). On which the Gloss is as follows: “A man may say, I cannot fast, I cannot give alms; but if he is told to pray, he dare not say I cannot.” For there is nothing easier than to pray. But we must never cease praying; we must (so to speak) continually do violence to God, that He may assist us always–a violence which is delightful and dear to Him. This violence is agreeable to God,” says Tertullian; and St. Jerome says that the more persevering and importunate our Prayers are, so much the more are they acceptable to God: “Prayer, even though it is importunate, is more acceptable.”
Blesseth is the man that heareth me, and that watcheth daily at my gates (Prov. viii. 34). Happy is that man, says God, who listens to Me, and watches continually with holy prayers at the gates of My Mercy. And Isaias says: Blessed are all they that wait for him (Is. xxx. 18). Blessed are they who till the end wait (in Prayer) for their salvation from God. Therefore in the Gospel Jesus Christ exhorts us to pray; but how? Ask, and ye shall receive; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened to you (Luke xi. 9). Would it not have been enough to have said, ask? Why add seek and knock? No, it was not superfluous to add them; for thereby our Saviour wished us to understand that we ought to do as the poor who go begging. If they do not receive the alms they ask, they do not cease asking; they return to ask again; and if the master of the house does not show himself any more, they set to work to knock at the door till they become troublesome. That is what God wishes us to do: to pray, and to pray again, and never leave off praying, that He would assist us and succour us, that He would enlighten us and strengthen us, and never allow us to forfeit His grace. The learned Lessius says that the man cannot be excused from mortal sin who does not pray when he is in sin, or in danger of death; or, again, if he neglects to pray for any notable time, as (he says) for one or two months, but this is not understood to refer to the time of temptations; because whoever finds himself assailed by any grievous temptation without doubt sins mortally if he does not have recourse to God at once, to ask for assistance to resist it; seeing that otherwise he places himself in a proximate, nay, in a certain occasion of sin.
But some one will say: Since God can give and wishes to give me the grace of Perseverance, why does He not give it to me all at once, when I ask Him?
The Holy Fathers assign many reasons. God does not grant it at once, but delays it:
(1) That He may prove our confidence.
(2) And, further, says St. Augustine, that we may long for it more vehemently. Great gifts, he says, should be greatly desired; for good things soon obtained are not held in the same estimation as those which have been long looked for: “God wills not to give quickly, that you may learn to have great desire for great things; for things long desired are all the more pleasant when obtained; but things soon given are cheapened.”
(3) Again, the Lord does so that we may not forget Him; if we were already secure of persevering and of being saved, and if we had not the continual need of God’s help to preserve us in His grace and to save us, we should soon forget God. Want makes the poor keep resorting to the houses of the rich; so God, to draw us to Himself, as St. Chrysostom says, and to see us often at His feet, in order that He may thus be able to do us greater good, delays giving us the complete grace of salvation till the hour of our death: “It is not because He rejects our prayers that He delays, but by this contrivance He wishes to make us careful, and to draw us to Himself.” Again, He does so in order that we, by persevering in Prayer, may unite ourselves closer to Him with the sweet bonds of love: “Prayer,” says the same St. Chrysostom, “which accustoms us to converse with God, is no slight bond of love with Him.” This continual recourse to God in Prayer, and this confident expectation of the graces we desire–oh, what a great incentive to inflame us with love, and what a firm chain to bind us more closely to God!
But how long have we to pray? Always, says the same Saint, till we receive favourable sentence of eternal life: that is to say, till our death: “Do not leave off till you receive.” And he adds: “If you say, I will not give up till I have received, you will assuredly receive.” The Apostle writes that many run for the prize, but that he only receives it who runs till he wins: Know you not that they who run in the race, all run indeed, but one receiveth the prize? So run that you may obtain (1 Cor. ix. 24). It is not, then, enough for salvation to simply pray; but we must pray always, that we may at last receive the crown which God promises, but promises only to those who are constant in Prayer till the end.
So that if we wish to be saved, we must do as David did, who always kept his eyes turned to God, to implore His aid against being overcome by his enemies: My eyes are ever towards the Lord, for he shall pluck my feet out of the snare (Ps. xxiv. 15). As the devil does not cease continually spreading snares to devour us, as St. Peter writes: Your adversary, the devil, as, a roaring lion, goeth about, seeking whom he may devour (1 Pet. v. 8); so ought we ever to stand with our arms in our hands to defend ourselves against such a foe, and to say, with the royal Prophet, I will pursue after my enemies; and I will not turn again till they are consumed (Ps. xvii. 38). I will never cease fighting till I see my enemies conquered. But how can we obtain this victory, so important for us and so difficult? “By most persevering prayers,” says St. Augustine–only by prayers, and those most persevering; and till when? As long as the fight shall last. “As the battle is never over,” says St. Bonaventure, “so let us never give over asking for Mercy.” As we must be always in the combat, so should we be always asking God for aid not to be overcome. Woe, says the Wise Man, to him who in this battle leaves off praying: Woe to them that have lost patience (Ecclus. 16). We may be saved, the Apostle tells us, but on this condition, if we hold fast the confidence and the glory of hope unto the end (Heb. iii. 6); if we are constant in praying with confidence until death.
Let us, then, take courage from the Mercy of God, and His promises, and say with the same Apostle: Who, then shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or danger, or persecution, or the sword? (Rom. viii. 35). Who shall succeed in estranging us from the love of Jesus Christ? Tribulation, perhaps or the danger of losing the goods of this world? The persecutions of devils or men? The torments inflicted by tyrants? In all these we overcome (it is St. Paul who encourages us), because of Him that hath loved us (Rom. viii. 37). No, he says, no tribulation, no misery, danger, persecution, or torture, shall ever be able to separate us from the love of Jesus Christ; because with God’s help we shall overcome all, if we fight for love of Him Who gave His life for us.
Father Hippolitus Durazzo, the day when he resolved to relinquish his dignity of prelate at Rome, and to give himself entirely to God by entering the Society of Jesus (which he afterwards did), was so afraid of being faithless by reason of his weakness that he said to God: “Forsake me not, Lord, now that I have given myself wholly to Thee! For pity’s sake do not forsake me!” But he heard the whisper of God in his heart: “Rather should I say to thee: Do not thou forsake Me!” And so at last the servant of God, trusting in His goodness and help, concluded, “Then, O my God, Thou wilt not leave me, and I will not leave Thee.”
Finally, if we wish not to be forsaken by God, we ought never cease praying to Him not to leave us. If we do this, He will certainly always assist us, and will never allow us to perish, or be separated from His love. And to this end let us not only take care always to ask for final Perseverance, and the graces necessary to obtain it, but let us, at the same time, always by anticipation, ask God for grace to go on praying; for this is precisely that great gift which He promised to His Elect by the mouth of the Prophet: And I will pour out upon the house of David, and upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the spirit of grace and of prayers (Zach. xii. 10). Oh, what a great grace is the spirit of Prayer; that is, the grace which God confers on a soul to enable it to pray always! Let us, then, never neglect to beg God to give us this grace, and this spirit of continual Prayer; because if we pray always, we shall certainly obtain from God Perseverance and every other gift which we desire, since His promise of hearing whoever prays to Him cannot fail. For we are saved by hope (Rom. viii. 24). With this hope of always praying we may reckon ourselves saved. “Confidence,” says the Venerable Bede, “will give us a broad entrance into this City.” This hope will give us a safe passage into the City of Paradise.
Evening Meditation – THE PRACTICE OF THE LOVE OF JESUS CHRIST
“Charity endureth all things”
HE THAT LOVES JESUS CHRIST WITH A STRONG LOVE DOES NOT CEASE TO LOVE HIM IN THE MIDST OF TEMPTATIONS AND DESOLATIONS
God permits temptations with a view to detach us more thoroughly from this life; and to kindle in us a desire to go and behold Him in Heaven. Hence pious souls, finding themselves attacked day and night by so many enemies, come at length to feel a loathing for life, and exclaim: “Woe is me, that my sojourning is prolonged! (Ps. cxix. 5). And they sigh for the moment when they can say: The snare is broken and we are delivered (Ps. cxxiii. 7). The soul would willingly wing her flight to God; but as long as she lives upon this earth she is bound by a snare which detains her here below, where she is continually assailed with temptations; this snare is only broken by death; so that the souls that love God sigh for death, which will deliver them from all danger of losing Him.
Almighty God, moreover, allows us to be tempted, to make us richer in merits, as it was said to Tobias: And because thou wast acceptable to God, it was necessary that temptations should prove thee (Tob. xii. 13). Thus a soul need not imagine herself out of God’s favour because she is tempted, but should make it rather a motive of hope that God loves her. It is a delusion of the devil to lead some pusillanimous persons to suppose that temptations are sins that contaminate the soul. It is not bad thoughts that make us lose God, but the consenting to them; let the suggestions of the devil be everso violent, let those filthy imaginations which overload our minds be ever so lively, they cannot cast the least stain on our souls, provided only we yield no consent to them; on the contrary, they make the soul purer, stronger, and dearer to Almighty God. St. Bernard says that every time we overcome a temptation we win a fresh crown in Heaven: “As often as we conquer, so often are we crowned.” An Angel once appeared to a Cistercian monk, and put a crown into his hands, with orders that he should carry it to one of his fellow-Religious, as a reward for the temptation that he had lately overcome. Neither must we be disturbed if evil thoughts do not forthwith disappear from our minds, but continue obstinately to persecute us; it is enough if we detest them, and do our best to banish them.
God is faithful, says the Apostle; He will not allow us to be tempted above our strength: God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that which you are able; but will make also with the temptation issue, that you may be able to bear it (1 Cor. x. 13).
So far from losing anything by temptations, a person derives great profit from them. On this account God frequently allows the souls dearest to Him to undergo the severest temptations, that they may turn them into a source of greater merit on earth, and of greater glory in Heaven. Stagnant waters soon grow putrid; a soul at ease, without any struggle or temptation, stands in great danger of perishing from some self-conceit of her own merit. She perhaps imagines herself to have already attained to perfection, and therefore has little to fear; and consequently takes little pains to recommend herself to God and to secure her salvation; but when, on the contrary, she is agitated by temptations, and sees herself in danger of rushing headlong into sin, then she has recourse to God; she goes to the Divine Mother; she renews her resolution rather to die than to sin; she humbles herself, and casts herself into the arms of the Divine mercy: in this manner, as experience shows us, the soul acquires fresh strength and closer union with God.
This must not, however, lead us to seek after temptations; on the contrary, we must pray God to deliver us from temptations, and from those more especially by which God foresees we should be overcome; and this is precisely the object of that petition of the Our Father: Lead us not into temptation. But when, by God’s permission, we are beset with temptations, we must then, without being either alarmed or discouraged by those foul thoughts, rely wholly on Jesus Christ, and beseech Him to help us; and He, on His part, will not fail to give us the strength to resist. St. Augustine says: “Throw thyself on Him, and fear not; He will not withdraw to let thee fall.”
‘To obtain salvation we must tremble at the thought of being lost, and tremble not so much at the thought of hell, as of sin, which alone can send us thither. He who dreads sin avoids dangerous occasions, frequently recommends himself to God, and has recourse to the means of keeping himself in the state of grace. He who acts thus will be saved; but for him who lives not in this manner it is morally impossible to be saved.’
‘We were so fortunate to be born in the bosom of the Roman Church, in Christian and Catholic kingdoms, a grace that has not been granted to the greater part of men, who are born among idolaters, Mohammedans, or heretics. . . How thankful we ought to be, then, to Jesus Christ for the gift of faith! What would have become of us if we had been born in Asia, in Africa, in America, or in the midst of heretics and schismatic? He who does not believe is lost. He who does not believe shall be condemned. And thus, probably, we also would have been lost.’
‘What is the number of those who love Thee, O God? How few they are! The Elect are much fewer than the damned! Alas! The greater portion of mankind lives in sin unto the devil, and not unto Jesus Christ. O Saviour of the world, I thank Thee for having called and permitted us to live in the true faith which the Holy Roman Catholic Church teaches. . . But alas, O my Jesus! How small is the number of those who live in this holy faith! Oh, God! The greater number of men he buried in the darkness of infidelity and heresy. Thou hast humbled Thyself to death, to the death of the cross, for the salvation of men, and these ungrateful men are unwilling even to know Thee. Ah, I pray Thee, O omnipotent God, O sovereign and infinite Good, make all men know and love Thee!’
St. Alphonsus Liguori ora pro nobis!
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