Alphonsus Liguori

“ Thou hast loved me above measure, so that, overcome by Thy love, I could no longer resist its winning appeals, and at last I now surrender myself, and fix all my love on Thee. I love Thee, then, O infinite Goodness! I love Thee, O most lovable God! Do Thou never cease to enkindle more and more in my heart the flames and fiery darts of love. For Thy Own glory cause Thyself to be greatly loved by one who has greatly offended Thee. Mary, my Mother, thou art the hope, the refuge of sinners; assist a sinner who desires to prove faithful to his God ”

“ Behold, then, how Jesus voluntarily sacrifices Himself as a victim of love for us; behold Him, how as a mute lamb he puts Himself into the hands of the shearer, and although innocent, He comes to suffer from men the greatest ignominies and torments, without even opening His mouth: He shall be dumb as a lamb before His shearer, and He shall not open His mouth. [Ibid.] Behold, in fine, our loving Redeemer, Who to save us chose to suffer death and the punishment deserved by us: Surely He hath borne our infirmities, and carried our sorrows. ”

“ I wish to make compensation by my love as much as possible for the past ingratitude which I have shown Thee. An innocent soul loves Thee as innocent, and thanks Thee for having preserved it from the death of sin. I must love Thee as a sinner; that is, as one who has rebelled against Thee, as one condemned to Hell, as often as I deserved it; and then so often graciously received back by Thee and re-established in the way of salvation, and over and above enriched with lights, with helps, with invitations to become a Saint. O Redeemer, and Redeemer again and again of my soul! ”

“ Augustine "O fire, ever burning, inflame me." O Word Incarnate, Thou wert made man to enkindle divine love in our hearts: and how couldst Thou have met with such a want of gratitude in the hearts of men? Thou hast spared nothing to induce them to love Thee; Thou hast even gone so far as to give Thy blood and Thy life for them: and how, then, can men still remain so ungrateful? Do they, perchance, not know it? Yes, they know it, and they believe that for them Thou hast come down from Heaven to put on mortal flesh, and to load Thyself with our miseries ”

“ Ah! my Great King, my beloved Jesus, as before the Redemption Thou couldst not assume man into Heaven, whose gates remained closed by sin, Thou camest down upon earth to converse with men as their brothers, and to give Thyself wholly to them, from the excess of the love Thou bearest them! He loved us and delivered Himself up for us." Yes, exclaims St. Augustine, this most loving and most merciful God, through His love to man, chose to give him not only His goods, but even His very self. ”

“ Do we know how to love this amiable Redeemer Who is come at last, Who has already ransomed us from the hands of our foes, has freed us by His Own death from the eternal death which we had deserved, has thrown open Paradise for us, has provided us with so many Sacraments, and with so many aids to serve Him and to love Him in peace during this life, that we might go and enjoy Him forever in the life to come? ”

“ It is as if He had said, "O man! behold, it is nothing but the love of thee that has brought me on earth to seek after thee. Why wilt thou flee from Me? Stay with Me, love Me do not avoid Me, for I greatly love thee."
God came, then, to seek lost man ; and that man might the more easily comprehend the love of this his God for him, and might surrender his love in return to one who so deeply loved him, he willed, the first time of his appearance under a visible form, to show himself as a tender infant, laid upon straw. ”

“ How many Martyrs have gone rejoicing and making merry on their way to torments and to death! How many tender young virgins have refused the proffered hands of the great ones of this world, in order to go and die for Jesus Christ, and so repay in some measure the affection of a God Who stooped down to become incarnate and to die for love of them! ”

“ If We would oblige him without fail to love Us, what better occasion can We find that that, in order to redeem him, I, Thy Son, should go upon earth, should there assume human flesh, and pay by my death the penalty due him. In this manner Thy justice is fully satisfied, and at the same time man is thoroughly convinced of Our love!" "but think," answered the Heavenly Father---"think, O My Son, that in taking upon Thyself the burden of man's satisfaction, Thou wilt have to lead a life full of sufferings!" ”

“ He has made known his love, that he may experience thine." O man, whoever thou art, thou hast witnessed the love which God has borne thee in becoming man, in suffering and dying for thee; how long shall it be before God shall know by experience and by deeds the love thou bearest him? Ah! truly every man at the sight of a God clothed in flesh, and choosing to lead a life of such durance, and to suffer a death of such ignominy, ought to be enkindled with love towards a God so loving. ”

“ Behold, then, the Immensity become an Infant, Whom the heavens cannot contain: see Him imprisoned in poor rags, and laid in a narrow vile manger on a bundle of straw, which was at once His only bed and pillow. "See," says St. Bernard---" see power is ruled, wisdom instructed, virtue sustained. God taking milk and weeping, but comforting the afflicted!" A God Almighty so tightly wrapped in swathing-bands that He cannot stir! A God Who knows all things, made mute and speechless! A God Who rules Heaven and earth needing to be carried in the arms! ”

“ O God of mercy, lest Thy Divine wisdom might reproach us with our offences against Thee, Thou hast hidden it under an Infant's form: "Thy justice under humility, lest it should condemn." Thou hast concealed Thy justice under the most profound abasement, that it might not condemn us: Thy power under weakness, lest it should torment." Thou hast disguised Thy power in feebleness, that it might not visit us with chastisement. ”

“ It is of having loved mankind too dearly: "Thy love is Thy crime." Yes, it is this love, more than Pilate, that condemns Thee to death; because it is to payoff the penalties due from mankind that Thou hast willed to suffer death.
As the time of the Passion of our Blessed Redeemer drew near, He besought His Father that He would hasten to glorify Him, by permitting Him to offer to Him the sacrifice of His life: Father, glorify Thy Son. ”

“ Since, as I hope, I am now Thine, suffer me never more to cast myself away by rebelling against Thee. I am resolved to suffer death, and a thousand deaths, rather than see myself ever again Thy enemy and the slave of the devil. But Thou knowest my weakness. Thou knowest my past treacheries. Thou must give me strength to resist the assaults which Hell will make upon me. I know that I shall be assisted by Thee in temptation whenever I shall have recourse to Thee, since I have Thy promise for it: Ask, and you shall receive. ”

“ To compass the idea of the immense love of God men in becoming Himself a Man and a feeble child for our love, it would be necessary to comprehend His greatness. But what mind of man or Angel can conceive the greatness of God, which is indeed infinite?
St. Ambrose says that to say God is greater than the heavens, than all kings, all Saints, all Angels, is to do an injury to God; just as it would be an injury to a prince to say that he was greater than a blade of grass, or a small fly. God is greatness itself, and all greatness together is but the smallest atom of the greatness of God. ”

“ I love Thee, and that so dearly, O my Jesus, that even if I knew that all mankind were about to rebel against Thee and to forsake Thee, yet I promise never to leave Thee, though it should cost me my life a thousand times. ”

“ But this heart He will not have divided, He will have it whole and entire; He wishes us to love Him with our whole heart: Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with thy whole heart, otherwise He is not content. For this end He has given us all His Blood, His whole life, His whole Self, in order that we may give our entire selves to Him, and be wholly His. ”

“ O ye men, go to the cave of Bethlehem; there adore the Infant, Which you will find laid on the straw, in a manger, and shivering with cold; know that He is your God, Who would not consent to send anyone else to save you, but would come Himself, that He might gain for Himself all your love. ”

“ But this much has Jesus Christ done for you, most vile worm; and you, with the blackest ingratitude, have tried oftentimes to take away His life; and your sins---would have done so, were Jesus liable to die any more.
How much viler are you in the sight of God than is a worm in your own sight! What difference would it make to God had you remained dead and forever reprobate in your sins, as you well deserved? Nevertheless, this God had such a love for you that, to release you from eternal death, He first became a worm like you ”

“ Let us miserable sinners do in like manner. We have offended God; already has sentence of everlasting death been passed upon us; Divine justice requires satisfaction, and with right. What have we to do? To despair? God forbid! let us offer up to God this Infant, Who is His Own Son, and let us address Him with confidence: O Lord, if we cannot of ourselves render Thee satisfaction for our offences against Thee, behold this Child, Who weeps and moans, Who is benumbed with cold on His bed of straw in this cavern; He is here to make atonement for us, and He pleads for Thy mercy on us. ”

“ Ah! let us beg Jesus Christ to impart to us that fire which He came on earth to enkindle; that so we may no longer find it difficult to despise goods of dirt, and to undertake great things for God. "He that loves, labors not," says St. Augustine; the soul that loves God only finds it neither irksome nor painful to suffer, to pray, to mortify itself, to humble itself, and to detach itself from the pleasures of earth. The more it works and suffers, the more it is eager to do and to suffer: Jealousy is hard as Hell ”

“ Francis de Sales says that this grace of loving God was the grace for which we ought to ask God more than for any other; because with Divine love all good comes to a soul: All good things come together with her. This made St. Augustine say, "Love, and do whatever you like." Whoever loves a person avoids everything that may offend him, and always seeks what may give him most pleasure. Thus is it with one who really loves God; he can never deliberately do anything to offend Him, but he studies in every possible manner to please Him. ”

“ Hence, Origen says, if it be that Jesus Christ has given Himself to each one, what great thing will a man do if he give himself wholly to Jesus Christ? "If Christ gave Himself, will man do much in giving himself to God, Who was the first to give Himself to man?" Let us, then, with a good will give our heart and our love to this God, Who, in order to gain it, has had to give His Blood, His life, and His whole self: If thou didst know the gift of God, and Who He is that saith to thee, Give Me to drink. ”

“ Augustine, if thou canst meet with something better than God: "Desire something better, if thou dost deserve something better." Go, find thyself a prince more courteous; a master, a brother, a friend more amiable, and who has shown thee a deeper love. Go, seek for thyself one who is better qualified than God to make thee happy in the present life and in the life to come. ”

“ I am able for all things, not by my own strength, but by the strength which my Redeemer has obtained for me through His merits: Have confidence, I have overcome the world. [John 16:33] Take courage, my children, Jesus Christ says to us; if you are unable to resist your enemies, I have overcome the world, and know that I have overcome it for you. My conquest was to give you the spoils; avail yourselves now of the arms which I leave you to defend yourselves, for you are sure to triumph. ”

“ And the Saint then replies to his own question for Jesus Christ: "Yes, since it is for My beloved ones, I esteem it a glory." Yes, so immense is the love I entertain for mankind that it makes Me regard it My glory to suffer and to die for their sake. ”

“ Oh, how God longs to see, and how dearly He loves a heart that is wholly His! Oh, what delicate and loving caresses does God show, what good things, what delights, what glory does God prepare in Paradise for a heart that is wholly His! The Venerable Father John Leonard of Lettera, a Dominican, one day beheld Jesus Christ under the appearance of a hunter, and traversing the forest of this earth with an arrow in His hand. ”

“ What excuse, I say, would that man have for having been vanquished by his enemy, who, when the requisite arms for his defence were presented him, had despised and refused them? Were such a man to allege his weakness, who would not instantly condemn him with these words,---And you, knowing as you did your own weakness, why did you not avail yourself of the arms that were offered you? St. Augustine says that the devil was put in chains by Jesus Christ; he can bark, but he cannot bite anyone, except those who wish to be bitten. ”

“ So, then, for us miserable worms, and to captivate our love, has a God deigned to become man? Yes, it is a matter of faith, as the Holy Church teaches us: For us men, and for our salvation, He came down from Heaven ... and was made man. Yes, indeed, so much has God done in order to be loved by us. ”

“ Let us consider on this first day how the Eternal Word had no other end in becoming man than to inflame us with His Divine love. Let us ask light of Jesus Christ and of His most holy Mother, and so let us begin. ”

“ And how comes it, then, that Jesus Christ, though He has laid down His life for thee, has still failed to win thy love?
Alas! men hold in contempt the Divine love, because they do not, or, rather let us say, because they will not understand what a treasure it is to enjoy Divine grace, which, according to the Wise Man, is an infinite treasure: An infinite treasure to men, which they that use become the friends of God. [Wisd. 7:14] Men appreciate the good graces of a prince, of a prelate, of a nobleman, of a man of letters, and even of a vile animal ”