Advent Meditation~By St. Alphonsus de Liguori (December 15)

[Dawn Marie]

THE MYSTERIES OF THE FAITH

THE INCARNATION

Discourse by Saint Alphonsus de Liguori

December 15, 2014

Discourse 16

 

We then, also, by our sins contribute to make the whole life of our Saviour embittered and afflicted. But let us thank His goodness in giving us time to remedy the evil which has been done.

 

How, then, are we to remedy it? By bearing patiently all the crosses He sends us for our good. And He Himself tells us how we can bear these troubles with patience:  “Put Me as a seal upon thy heart.”  Put upon thy heart the image of Me crucified, which means to say, consider My example and the pains which I have suffered for thee, and so shalt thou bear all crosses in peace.

 

St. Augustine says that this heavenly Physician made Himself weak, that He might heal our weakness by His own infirmity:  “Wondrous medicine! The Physician deigns to become sick, to heal His patient by His own infirmity,” according to that which Isaiah says , “By His bruises we are healed.”  To heal our souls, which are weakened by sin, this medicine of suffering was the only one necessary, and Jesus Christ desired to be the first to taste it, that we who are the true sinners should not refuse to take it also:  “The Physician drinks first, that the sick man may not hesitate to drink alone.”

 

Believing this, says St. Epiphanius, as true followers of Jesus Christ, we ought to thank Him when He sends us crosses:  “It is a virtue peculiar to a Christian to give thanks when in adversity.”  And this is reasonable, because by sending us crosses He makes us like to Himself. St. John Chrysostom makes an observation which is very consoling; he says that when we thank God for His benefits, we do but give Him that which we owe Him, but that when we suffer some pain with patience for His love, then God in a certain way becomes our debtor:  “If you thank God for good things, you may pay a debt; if you thank Him for evil things, you make Him your debtor.”

If thou wouldst render love to Jesus Christ, says St. Bernard, learn from Him how thou must love Him:  “Learn from Christ how to love Christ.”  Be happy to suffer something for that God who has suffered so much for thee. The desire of pleasing Jesus Christ, and of making known to Him the love they bore Him, was that which rendered the saints hungry and thirsty, not for honors and pleasures, but for sufferings and contempt. This made the Apostle say, “God forbid that I should glory, save in the Cross of our Lord Jesus Christ.”  Being a happy companion of his crucified God, he desired no other glory than that of seeing Himself on the cross.

 

This was also what made St. Teresa say, “Either to suffer or to die,” as if she had said, my Spouse, if it is Thy will to draw me to Thyself by death, behold I am ready to come, and I thank Thee for it, but if Thou wilt leave me any longer on this earth, I cannot trust myself to remain without suffering: “Either to suffer or to die.”

It was this that made St. Mary Magdalene of Pazzi go still further: “To suffer and not to die,” by which she meant, my Jesus, I desire to be in Heaven, that I may love Thee more, but I desire still more to suffer, that I may repay, in part, the love which Thou hast shown towards me by suffering so much for me.  And the Venerable Sister Mary of Jesus Crucified, a Sicilian nun, was so enamored of sufferings that she went so far as to say, “Truly Paradise is beautiful, but one thing is wanting, because there, there is not suffering.”  For the same reason also, St. John of the Cross, when Jesus appeared to Him with His Cross on His shoulders, and said to him, “John, ask what thou wilt of Me,” would ask for nothing but sufferings and contempt:  “Lord, that I may suffer and be despised for Thy sake.”