Advent Meditation~By St. Alphonsus de Liguori (December 10)

[Dawn Marie]

THE MYSTERIES OF THE FAITH

THE INCARNATION

Discourse by Saint Alphonsus de Liguori

December 10, 2014

 

Discourse 11

 

Say to the faint-hearted, “Take courage, and fear not: behold your God will bring the revenge of recompense; God Himself will come and will save you.”

Fear not, then, says the prophet; be no more in despair, O poor sinners!  What fear can you have not to be pardoned, when the Son of God comes down from Heaven to save you? Has not He Himself made compensation to God by the sacrifice of His life for that just vengeance which our sins demanded? If you cannot by your own works appease and offended God, behold One that can appease Him; this very Infant which you now see reposing on straw, trembling with cold, and weeping, He, with His tears, propitiates Him.

 

“You have no grounds for being any more sad,” says St. Leo, on account of the sentence of death fulminated against you, now that life itself is born for you; nor is there any lawful room for sadness, when it is the birthday of life.”  And St. Augustine:  “O sweet day for penitents, today sin is taken away, and shall the sinner despair?”

If you are unable to render due satisfaction to the Divine justice, look on Jesus who does penance for you; already does He commence to do it in this little cave; He will persevere in doing penance all His life, and finally bring it to a conclusion in the Cross, to which, according to the saying of St. Paul, He will affix the decree of your condemnation, cancelling  it with His own blood:  “Blotting out the handwriting of the decree that was against us, which was contrary to us. And He hath taken the same out of the way, fastening it to the Cross.”

 

The same Apostle says that Jesus Christ, by dying for us, was made our justification:  “He is made unto us wisdom, and justice, and sanctification, and redemption.”  “Justice,” comments St. Bernard, “in the washing away of sins.”

Yes; for God, accepting on our behalf the torments and death of Jesus Christ, is obliged to pardon us by virtue of the compact made: Him that knew no sin, for us He hath made sin, that we might be made the justice of God in Him.

The innocent One was made a victim for our sins, in order that forgiveness through His merits might of right belong to us. For this reason David prays God to save him, not only for His mercy’s sake, but likewise for the sake of His justice:  “Deliver me in Thy justice.”

 

The eagerness of God to save sinners was always immense. This eagerness led Him to approach them with that cry:  “Return, ye transgressors, to the heart.”  Sinners, enter once more into your own hearts; think of the benefits you have received from Me, on the love I have borne you, and offend Me no more.  “Turn ye to Me, and I will turn to you.”  Turn back to Me, and I will receive you in My embraces:  “Why will you die, O house of Israel? Return ye and live.”  My children, why will you destroy yourselves, and of your own free will condemn yourselves to everlasting death? Return to Me and you shall live.

 

In a word, His infinite mercy induced Him to descend from Heaven to Earth to come and free us from eternal death:  “Through the bowels of the mercy of our God, in which the Orient from on high hath visited us.”  But here we must be mindful of what St. Paul says: previously to God becoming man He reserved mercy for us; but He could not feel compassion for our miseries, because compassion implies some suffering, and God is incapable of suffering. Now, says the Apostle, in order to be moved also with compassion for us the Eternal Word willed to become man, capable of suffering, and similar to other men who are afflicted with compassion, so that He might be able not only to save us, but also to compassionate us:  “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.”  And in another passage:  “It behoved Him in all things to be made like unto His brethren, that He might become merciful.”

 

Oh, what a tender compassion has Jesus Christ for poor sinners! This makes Him say, that He is that Shepherd who goes about seeking the lost sheep, and on finding it He arranges a festival, saying:  “Rejoice with Me, because I have found My sheep that was lost. And He lays it upon His shoulders rejoicing;”  and thus He carefully keeps possession of it in His fond embraces for fear He should again lose it. This, too, caused Him to say that He is that loving Father who, whenever a prodigal son that has left Him returns to His feet, does not thrust him away, but embraces him, kisses him, and as it were faints away for the consolation and fondness which He feels in beholding His repentance:  “And running to him, He fell upon his neck and kissed him.”  This causes Him to say, “I stand at the gate and knock;”  that is, that, although driven away from the soul by sin, He does not abandon her, but He places Himself outside the door of her heart and knocks by His calls to gain readmittance.

 

This made Him say to His disciples, who with an indiscreet zeal would have called down vengeance on those who repulsed them:  “You know not of what spirit you are. You see that I have so much compassion on sinners; and do you desire vengeance on them? Go, go away, for you are not of My spirit.”

 

Finally, this compassion made Him say:  “Come to Me, all ye that labor and are burdened, and I will refresh you. Come to Me, all you that are afflicted and tormented with the weight of your sins, and I will give you ease.”

 

And, in fact, with what tenderness did our amiable Redeemer, the moment she repented, forgive Magdalene, and change her into a saint! With what kindness did He forgive the paralytic, and at the same moment restore him to bodily health! And with what sweet gentleness, above all, did He treat the woman taken in adultery! The priests brought that sinner before Him, that He might condemn her; but Jesus turning towards her said:  “Hath no man condemned thee? Neither will I condemn thee.”  As if He would thereby say:  None of those who conducted thee hither hath condemned thee, and how, then, shall I condemn thee, I who came to save sinners?  “Go in peace, and sin no more.”