{"id":10351,"date":"2025-07-25T17:03:23","date_gmt":"2025-07-25T17:03:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/societyofthemostholyredeemer.org\/?page_id=10351"},"modified":"2025-08-16T22:45:00","modified_gmt":"2025-08-16T22:45:00","slug":"daily-meditations-ninth-week-after-pentecost","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/societyofthemostholyredeemer.org\/es\/daily-meditations-ninth-week-after-pentecost\/","title":{"rendered":"DAILY MEDITATIONS: NINTH WEEK AFTER PENTECOST"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/i><\/span>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/i><\/span>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tVOLUME III - PART II, pp. 248-301<\/a>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t
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(For the 25th July)<\/em><\/p>

Meditaci\u00f3n matutina:\u00a0 EL DESEO QUE JES\u00daS TUVO DE SUFRIR POR NOSOTROS<\/em><\/b><\/p>

\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0What a subject of wonder to the Angels must not the great love of God have been when they saw the Eternal Word become Man for the Redemption of fallen man!\u00a0 How is it possible, indeed, that God should be so enamoured of men and that men, who are so grateful to one another, should be so ungrateful to God?<\/p>

Meditaci\u00f3n I:
<\/b>\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0Jesus could have saved us without suffering; but He chose rather to embrace a life of sorrow and contempt, deprived of every earthly consolation, and a death of bitterness and desolation, only to make us understand the love He bore us, and the desire He had that we should love Him.\u00a0 He passed His whole life in sighing for the hour of His death, which He desired to offer to God to obtain for us eternal salvation.\u00a0 And it was this desire which made Him exclaim: I have a baptism wherewith I am to be baptized; and how am I straitened until it be accomplished?<\/em> \u2014 (Luke xii., 50).\u00a0 He desired to be baptized in His own Blood, to wash out, not indeed His own sins, but ours.\u00a0 O infinite Love, how miserable is he who does not know Thee, and does not love Thee!
\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0This same desire caused Jesus to say, on the night before His death: With desire I have desired to eat this pasch with you<\/em>.\u00a0 By which words He shows that His one desire during His whole life had been to see the time arrive for His Passion and Death, in order to prove to man the immense love He bore him.\u00a0 So much, therefore, O my Jesus, didst Thou desire our love, that to obtain it Thou didst not refuse to die.\u00a0 How can I, then, deny anything to a God Who has given His Blood and His life for the love of me?<\/p>

Meditaci\u00f3n II:
<\/strong>\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0.<\/p>

Lectura espiritual:\u00a0 ORACI\u00d3N<\/em><\/strong><\/p>

CONCLUSION<\/p>

\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0.<\/p>

Meditaci\u00f3n vespertina:\u00a0\u00a0LA PR\u00c1CTICA DEL AMOR DE JESUCRISTO\u00a0<\/i><\/strong><\/p>

\"La caridad todo lo soporta\".<\/em><\/p>

EL QUE AMA A JESUCRISTO CON UN AMOR FUERTE NO DEJA DE AMARLO EN MEDIO DE TENTACIONES Y DESOLACIONES<\/p>

Meditaci\u00f3n I:
<\/strong>\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0When a soul that loves God finds herself in this state of darkness, uncertainty, and fear, she must not lose courage; and neither must he who directs her become alarmed.\u00a0 Those sensual movements, those temptations against Faith, those feelings of distrust, and those attacks which urge her to hate Almighty God, are fears, are tortures of the soul, are efforts of the enemy; but they are not voluntary, and therefore they are not sins.\u00a0 The sincere lover of Jesus Christ resists valiantly on such occasions, and withholds all consent to such suggestions; but because of the darkness which envelops her she knows not how to distinguish, her soul is thrown into confusion, and the privation of the presence of Divine grace makes her fearful and sad.\u00a0 But it can be soon discovered that in these souls, thus tried by God, all is dread and apprehension, but not truth: only ask them, even in their state of desolation, whether they would willingly commit one single deliberate venial sin; they will reply that they are ready to suffer not one, but a thousand deaths, rather than be guilty of giving such displeasure to Almighty God.<\/p>

Meditaci\u00f3n II:<\/strong>\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0<\/p><\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t

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\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/i><\/span>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/i><\/span>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tMONDAY IN THE NINTH WEEK AFTER PENTECOST<\/a>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t

Meditaci\u00f3n matutina:\u00a0 “PATIENCE HATH A PERFECT WORK”<\/em><\/b><\/p>

\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0La paciencia tiene una obra perfecta<\/em>.\u00a0 Patience is a perfect sacrifice which we offer to God; because in suffering tribulations and contradictions we are but accepting from God’s hands the cross He sends us.\u00a0 All our good, indeed, consists in bearing crosses with patience.<\/p>

Meditaci\u00f3n I:
<\/b>\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0La paciencia tiene una obra perfecta<\/em>. \u2014 (James i., 4).\u00a0 Patience is a perfect sacrifice that we offer to God; because in suffering tribulations and contradictions we are but accepting from God’s hands the cross He sends us.\u00a0 A patient man is better than the valiant<\/em>. \u2014 (Prov. xvi., 32).\u00a0 He who suffers with patience is better than a valiant man.\u00a0 Some are resolute and courageous in promoting and supporting a pious undertaking, but are not patient in bearing adversity.\u00a0 It would be better for them to be valiant in patience than in undertaking good works.\u00a0 This earth is a place of merit, and therefore it is not a place of repose, but of toils and pains; for merit is acquired not by rest but by suffering.\u00a0 All those who live here below, whether saints or sinners, must suffer.\u00a0 Some are in want of this, others of that; some have nobility but are poor; others abound in riches, but want nobility; others enjoy nobility and wealth but are poor in health.\u00a0 In a word, all, even sovereigns, have occasion to suffer; because sovereigns are the most exalted of mortals their cares and troubles are the most harassing and perplexing.
\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0All our good, then, consists in bearing crosses with patience.\u00a0 Hence the Holy Ghost admonishes us not to become like to senseless beasts that break out into a rage when they are unable to indulge their appetites.\u00a0 Do not become like the horse and the mule who have not understanding.<\/em> \u2014 (Ps. xxxi., 9).\u00a0 What other advantage than to double our misfortunes can we ever derive from giving way to impatience in contradictions?\u00a0 The good thief and the bad thief died on the cross, both suffering the same pains; but because one embraced them with patience he was saved, and the other bore them with impatience he was damned.\u00a0 St. Augustine says that the same affliction sends the just to glory because they accept it with peace, and the wicked to fire because they submit to it with impatience.<\/p>

Meditaci\u00f3n II:
\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0<\/strong><\/p>

Lectura espiritual:\u00a0 THE DOCTOR AND APOSTLE OF PRAYER: ST. ALPHONSUS*<\/em><\/strong><\/p>

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Amongst those who have been eminent in the Church of God, both for their lives and their labours, a foremost place must be assigned to St. Alphonsus Mary Liguori.\u00a0 This illustrious man, who may truly be styled an apostle, spent a long life of upwards of ninety years in the zealous service of God, and in unwearied labours for the good of souls \u2013 a proof sufficient of the greatness and varied nature of his sanctity.\u00a0 The long life of this holy man presents us, indeed, with examples of every virtue; yet there is one virtue which shines forth conspicuously from among the rest, and gives a definite tone and character to his whole life \u2013 I mean his burning love for Jesus Christ.\u00a0 With Alphonsus, as with St. Paul, to live was Christ<\/em>.\u00a0 This love was the sacred source from which were derived all the other virtues which he practiced in an heroic degree.\u00a0 It was from his love for Jesus that there sprung that ardent zeal for souls which ever inflamed his heart, and which found vent in apostolic labours without number.\u00a0 This love it was which urged him on to write so many books replete with learning and piety, by which he won for himself the glorious title of Doctor of the Church.\u00a0 Hence the lesson which the life of Alphonsus ought to teach us is that in order to sanctify ourselves and our neighbours there is but one thing necessary, and that is a great and genuine love for Jesus Christ; especially if this love is accompanied, as it was in the heart of Alphonsus, by an affectionate and filial confidence in the Virgin Mother of God.
\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 St. Alphonsus Mary Liguori was born on the 26th of September in the year 1696, in a country place called Marianella, near Naples, where his father possessed a villa.\u00a0 His infancy was marked by those signs of future sanctity which generally adorn the cradle of the Saints.\u00a0 When his mother presented his, shortly after birth, to Father Francis of Jerome, S.J. (as we read in the Roman Breviary), and begged the holy man\u2019s blessing for her infant, Father Francis (who was afterwards canonised on the same day as Alphonsus) prophesied of him that he would live to the age of ninety, would become a bishop, and would do great things for the Church.\u00a0 Our history will show how happily this prophecy was fulfilled.
\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 The parents of Alphonsus were both them members of noble families of great antiquity.\u00a0 They were also distinguished by a piety of no common order.\u00a0 His father, Don Joseph Liguori, belonged to the family of the Prince of Presiccio, and was brother of Monsignor Liguori, Bishop of Cava.\u00a0 His duties as a naval officer did not prevent him from diligently practising all the duties of a good Christian.\u00a0 He was particularly devout to Our Lord’s Passion, frequently approached the Sacraments, and his delicacy of conscience was so well known that no one dared to utter an unseemly word in his presence.\u00a0 Yet he was too fond of worldly honours and his ambition urged him on to oppose his son’s Divine call to a higher life, as we shall afterwards see.
\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0The mother of Alphonsus, Anne Catherine Cavallieri, was a person of extraordinary merit and piety.\u00a0 She was not the only member of her family remarkable for holiness of life, for her brother was that great servant of God, Monsignor Cavallieri, the saintly Bishop of Troja.\u00a0 The great aim of her life was to bring up in a truly Christian manner the seven children with whom God had blessed her.\u00a0 In order to attain her end, her first care was to instil into their hearts a truly ardent love for Jesus Christ, together with a tender and filial devotion to the Immaculate Mother of God.\u00a0 Her maternal anxiety was crowned with the happiest success; for of the three brothers of Alphonsus, one became a Benedictine; another chose the sacerdotal state, and lived a most holy life in his father’s house; and the third, who married, led a life worthy of a good Christian.\u00a0 Of his sisters, two became nuns, and dedicated their virginity to Christ; the third, who was married, was a model of Christian mothers.\u00a0 But Alphonsus himself became the pride and glory, not only of his own family but of the whole Church.\u00a0 Even in his old age he used to thank God for having given him so holy a mother.\u00a0 “This,” he used to say, “was one of the greatest graces which God bestowed upon me, for if I avoided evil when I was a boy, I owe it to my mother.”
\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0Under the care of such parents, Alphonsus in his earliest years, laid the solid foundation of his wonderful sanctity.\u00a0 He was accustomed to pay frequent loving visits to Jesus hidden in the Sacred Tabernacle, and was assiduous in the devout invocation of the Blessed Virgin, especially by reciting her Rosary \u2013 a custom in which he persevered until his death.\u00a0 As for sin, the pleasures of the world, and the company of the licentious, all these he fled from as from a serpent.\u00a0 In order to tread more securely in the path of virtue, by the advice of his mother, he joined the Congregation of Young Nobles, and so perfectly observed the rules of this confraternity that, as the Roman Breviary testifies, all the young noblemen were drawn to Christian modesty by his words and example.\u00a0 His pious manner of life obtained for him the gift of a high contemplation, even when he had scarcely reached his twelfth year, as is proved by the following remarkable occurrence.\u00a0 On a certain occasion he had been taken, with some of his companions, to a country house for recreation.\u00a0 The boys began to play at some game, in which they wished Alphonsus to join.\u00a0 At first he refused, but finally, yielding to their importunities, he took part in the game.\u00a0 Fortune favoured him to such an extent that one of his companions, envious of his success, completely lost his temper and broke out into blasphemies against God.\u00a0 As soon as the pious youth heard these imprecations, indignant that God should be thus outraged for such a trifle, he at once quitted the company, and retired into a neighbouring wood to pray.\u00a0 Here, after a long search, he was found in the evening, kneeling before a picture of the Blessed Virgin, and rapt in a sweet ecstasy.<\/p>

* This sketch of the Life of St. Alphonsus, the Doctor and Apostle of Prayer, was taken from Surius’ Lives of the Saints (Marietti, Turin), and edited by Very Rev. Aston Coffin, CSsR, in 1880.\u00a0 We thank the Publishers, Messrs. Gill and Sons, Dublin, for allowing us to insert it in this volume. \u2013 ED.<\/h6>

Meditaci\u00f3n vespertina:\u00a0\u00a0LA PR\u00c1CTICA DEL AMOR DE JESUCRISTO\u00a0<\/i><\/strong><\/p>

\"La caridad todo lo soporta\".<\/em><\/p>

EL QUE AMA A JESUCRISTO CON UN AMOR FUERTE NO DEJA DE AMARLO EN MEDIO DE TENTACIONES Y DESOLACIONES<\/p>

Meditaci\u00f3n I:
<\/strong>\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0Wherefore, in this state of desolation the soul must not heed the devil, when he suggests that God has abandoned her; nor must she leave off prayer.\u00a0 This is the object at which the devil is aiming, in order afterwards to drag her down some precipice.\u00a0 St. Teresa writes: “The Lord proves His true lovers by dryness and temptations.\u00a0 What though the dryness should be of life-long duration, let the soul never relax in prayer; the time will arrive when all will be abundantly repaid.”\u00a0 In such a state of suffering a person should humble himself by the reflection that his offences against God are undeserving of any milder treatment; he should humble himself, and be fully resigned to the Divine will, saying: O my Lord, behold me at Thy feet; if it be Thy will that I should remain thus desolate and afflicted for my whole life, and even for all eternity, only grant me Thy grace and the gift of Thy love, and do with me whatever Thou wilt.<\/p>

Meditaci\u00f3n II:<\/strong>\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0<\/p><\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t

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\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/i><\/span>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/i><\/span>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tTUESDAY IN THE NINTH WEEK AFTER PENTECOST<\/a>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t

Meditaci\u00f3n matutina:\u00a0 “PATIENCE HATH A PERFECT WORK”<\/em><\/b><\/p>

\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0“Let man understand,” says St. Augustine, “that God is a physician, and that tribulation is a medicine for salvation, not a punishment for damnation.”\u00a0 Hence we ought to thank God when He chastises us, for His chastisements are a proof of His love for us, and that He wishes to number us amongst His children.<\/p>

Meditaci\u00f3n I:
<\/b>\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0Be persuaded, says St. Augustine, that when the Lord sends you suffering He acts as a physician; and that the tribulation He sends you is not the punishment of condemnation, but a remedy for your salvation.\u00a0 “Let man understand,” says the holy Doctor, “that God is a physician, and that tribulation is a medicine for salvation, not a punishment for damnation.”\u00a0 Hence you ought to thank God when He chastises you; for His chastisements are a proof that He loves you, and receives you into the number of His children.\u00a0 Whoever the Lord loveth, says St. Paul, he chastiseth; and he scourgeth every son whom he receiveth<\/em>. \u2014 (Heb. xii., 6).\u00a0 Hence, St. Augustine says, “Do you enjoy consolation? Acknowledge a father who caresses you: Are you in tribulation?\u00a0 Recognize a parent who corrects you.”\u00a0 On the other hand, the same holy Doctor says: “Unhappy you, if after you have sinned God exempts you from scourges in this life.\u00a0 It is a sign that He excludes you from the number of His children.”\u00a0 Say not, then, for the future, when you find yourself in tribulation, that God has forgotten you; say rather that you have forgotten your sins.\u00a0 He who knows that He has offended God must pray with St. Bonaventure: “Hasten, O Lord, hasten, and wound Thy servants with sacred wounds, lest they be wounded with the wounds of death.”\u00a0 Hasten, O Lord, hasten, and wound Thy servants with sacred wounds, lest they be wounded with the wounds of death.”\u00a0 Hasten, O Lord, wound Thy servants with the wounds of love and salvation, that they may escape the wounds of Thy wrath and of eternal death.<\/p>

Meditaci\u00f3n II:
\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0<\/strong><\/p>

Lectura espiritual:\u00a0 THE DOCTOR AND APOSTLE OF PRAYER: ST. ALPHONSUS<\/em><\/strong><\/p>

\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0Meantime his studies were not neglected.\u00a0 His father, remarking the wonderful quickness of his intellect, procured the best masters for him as soon as he was capable of instruction.\u00a0 The you Alphonsus soon obtained considerable proficiency in the Greek, Latin, and French languages.\u00a0 He excelled, too, in poetical composition, as may be inferred from the touching hymns which he composed, especially those in honour of Jesus and Mary.\u00a0 He applied himself, too, to the study of music, painting, and architecture with no inconsiderable success.\u00a0 After these lighter accomplishments he turned his attention to graver subjects, such as philosophy and mathematics, and finally gave himself up entirely to the study of law.\u00a0 The Bull of his Canonization tells us that “he possessed so great an aptitude for learning that he had scarcely entered on his sixteenth year when, after a rigorous examination, he obtained, with distinguished applause, the degree of Doctor both in Canon and Civil Law.”\u00a0 All Naples, indeed, wondered at the extent and solidity of his knowledge.\u00a0 From this time, in obedience to the wishes of his father, he applied all his attention to the practice of the Bar.\u00a0 For ten years he continued to plead as a barrister, with brilliant success for during all this time he never lost a single case, with the exception of the last of all, of which we are about to speak, and the loss of which produced such happy results.\u00a0 The arduous duties which engaged him in the law-courts did not, however, induce him to swerve even a hair’s breadth from the path of virtue.\u00a0 No one could be more vigilant than he was in avoiding occasions of sin.\u00a0 If he happened to commit a fault, he bitterly wept over it, however slight it might be.\u00a0 When he joined the pious Congregation of young doctors he was a model for all his companions.\u00a0 He used to be present each day at the Holy Sacrifice; frequently to go to Confession and to Holy Communion; to spend a great part of his time in prayer, especially during the devotion of the Forty Hours; and to serve the sick in the public hospitals.\u00a0 These pious practices formed the delight of our young lawyer.\u00a0 In order, too, to keep up the fervour of his piety, he accompanied his father every year to some religious house in order to go through the spiritual exercises.
\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0About this time it happened that the fervour of Alphonsus began to grow a little cool.\u00a0 The games, innocent indeed in themselves in which he began to indulge, the theatres to which from time to time he used to go by his father’s orders, the brilliant marriages which were proposed to him (but from which, by a hidden instinct of the Holy Spirit, he was most averse), the praises and flatteries which reached his ears from all quarters \u2013 all these could not but exercise an influence over him, and so by degrees things came to such a pass that he used to omit, even for the most trivial reasons, his accustomed exercises of piety.\u00a0 “If I had remained long in this state of tepidity” (he used afterwards to say) “I should certainly have fallen headlong into the greatest excesses.”\u00a0 But the innocence of his life, which, according to the Roman Breviary, was never stained by mortal sin, was soon delivered from the great danger to which it was exposed; for when he was going through the Spiritual Exercises as usual, he experienced a complete renewal of spirit, and not only returned to his former habits of virtue, but even went beyond all that he had hitherto practised.
\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0Not long afterwards a providential event induced Alphonsus to make a complete break from the world.\u00a0 He had undertaken the defence of a case of the highest importance, and had spent a whole month in mastering all its details.\u00a0 When the day for hearing the case had arrived, he went full of confidence to the court, made his opening speech with his usual eloquence, quoting the words of the law, and confirming his position with what seemed to be indisputable arguments.\u00a0 But just as he was flattering himself that, with the applause of all, the decision would be given in his favour, the whole of his argument was suddenly upset by a few words from the lawyer on the opposite side, who pointed out that Alphonsus had mistaken a negative for an affirmative.\u00a0 Alphonsus stopped in confusion, and immediately recognising his mistake, was overwhelmed with emotion, fearing that he would be suspected of unfair dealing.\u00a0 Blushing with shame, he hurried from the court, exclaiming: “World, I know thee now! \u2013\u00a0 no longer shalt thou see me.”\u00a0 On entering his house, he betook himself to his room, where, like another Paul, he remained three days and three nights without eating or drinking.\u00a0 When at length he left his solitude, he had resolutely determined to bid farewell to the law courts, whose dangers he had learned by sad experience.*
\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0This first heavenly grace was soon followed by a second and much more extraordinary one.\u00a0 On a certain day, when Alphonsus was in the Hospital of Incurables, attending the sick, he suddenly saw himself surrounded by a bright light.\u00a0 The whole house seemed to be shaken as by an earthquake, and a voice repeated in his inmost heart these words: “Forsake the world, and give thyself wholly to Me.”\u00a0 Although he was struck by the strangeness of the thing, he did not leave off what he was doing.\u00a0 But when his work was finished, and he was on the point of leaving the hospital, the same voice was again clearly heard, and this time in his very ears: “Forsake the world, and give thyself wholly to Me.”\u00a0 Alphonsus then waits no longer, but exclaims, with tearful eyes: “My God, here I am!\u00a0 Do with me what Thou wilt.”\u00a0 And then, moved by a divine impulse, he directs his steps to the Church of Our Lady, and there, encircled with a celestial light, he gives himself up entirely to the service of God, and promises that he will renounce the world.\u00a0 As a pledge of his fidelity, he takes off his sword, which he wore as the mark of his rank, and lays it on the altar of the holy Virgin.\u00a0 This took place in the Church of Our Lady of Ransom, of the Redemption of Captives; as though Divine Providence wished to show that Alphonsus henceforth would devote himself to the work of redemption by founding the Congregation of the Most Holy Redeemer.
\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0The day on which this happened was ever a memorable one to St. Alphonsus as long as he lived, and in his humility he used to call it the day of his conversion; and justly so, for it was then that he offered himself as a complete holocaust to God.\u00a0 the moment he knew the way along which he was to walk, Alphonsus entered upon it with alacrity.\u00a0 He formed the resolution of becoming a priest, and of following the Most Holy Redeemer in the salvation of souls.\u00a0 but it can scarcely be expressed how great was the opposition which his proposal met with.\u00a0 His father left nothing untried to shake his resolution, for he desired his son to occupy a brilliant position in the world.\u00a0 but threats and entreaties were equally vain \u2013 Alphonsus overcame all with heroic courage; and on the 23rd of October, 1723, he put on the ecclesiastical dress, and enrolled himself in the service of God.\u00a0 Since he well knew that the lips of the priest shall keep knowledge, he applied himself with the greatest diligence to the study of sacred theology.\u00a0 He made so admirable a use of his time that three years had scarcely elapsed when he was judged to be perfectly qualified for all the duties of the apostolic ministry.\u00a0 Without delay he was ordained priest on the Feast of St. Thomas the Apostle, 1726, and celebrated his first holy Mass at Naples, with all the ardour of a seraph, being then in his thirty-first year.<\/p>

* The whole case would seem to have turned on whether the fief in dispute was held under Lombard or French law, and Alphonsus could not explain how he overlooked a clause in the documents which destroyed his whole case.\u00a0 A chapter \u2013 entitled “The Road to Damascus” \u2013 in Father Berthe’s Life of St. Alphonsus<\/em>, graphically describes the scene in court that day.\u00a0 (2 Vols. Duffy and Co., Dublin.) \u2013 ED.<\/h6>

Meditaci\u00f3n vespertina:\u00a0\u00a0LA PR\u00c1CTICA DEL AMOR DE JESUCRISTO\u00a0<\/i><\/strong><\/p>

\"La caridad todo lo soporta\".<\/em><\/p>

EL QUE AMA A JESUCRISTO CON UN AMOR FUERTE NO DEJA DE AMARLO EN MEDIO DE TENTACIONES Y DESOLACIONES<\/p>

Meditaci\u00f3n I:
<\/strong>\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0Let these souls so dear to God, and who are resolutely determined to belong entirely to Him, take comfort, although at the same time they see themselves deprived of every consolation.\u00a0 Their desolation is a sign of their being very acceptable to God, and that He has for them a place prepared in His heavenly kingdom, which overflows with consolations as full as they are lasting.\u00a0 And let them hold for certain that the more they are afflicted in the present life, so much the more shall they be consoled in eternity: According to the multitude of my sorrows in my heart, thy comforts have given joy to my soul<\/em>. \u2014 (Ps. xciii., 19).\u00a0 For the encouragement of souls in desolation, I will here mention what is related in the Life of St. Jane Frances de Chantal, who for the space of forty years was tormented by the most fearful interior trials, by temptations, by fears of being at enmity with God, and of being even quite forsaken by Him.\u00a0 Her afflictions were so excruciating and unremitting that she declared her sole ray of comfort came from the thought of death.\u00a0 Moreover she said: “I am so furiously assaulted that I know not where to hide my poor soul.\u00a0 I seem at times on the point of losing all patience, and of giving up all as entirely lost.”\u00a0 “The tyrant of temptation is so relentless,” she says, “that any hour of the day I would gladly barter it with the loss of my life; and sometimes it happens that I can neither eat nor sleep.”
\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0During the last eight or nine years of her life her temptations became still more violent.\u00a0 Mother de Scatel said that her saintly Mother de Chantal suffered a continual interior martyrdom night and day, at prayer, at work, and even during sleep; so that she felt the deepest compassion for her.\u00a0 The Saint endured assaults against every virtue (except chastity), and had likewise to contend with doubts, darkness, and disgust.\u00a0 Sometimes God would withdraw all lights from her, and seem indignant with her, and just on the point of expelling her from Him, so that terror drove her to look in some other direction for relief: but failing to find any, she was obliged to return to look on God, and to abandon herself to His mercy.\u00a0 She seemed each moment ready to yield to the violence of her temptations.\u00a0 The Divine assistance did not, indeed, forsake her; but it seemed to her to have done so, since, instead of finding satisfaction in anything she found only weariness and anguish in prayer, in reading spiritual books, in Communion, and in all other exercises of piety.\u00a0 Her sole resource in this state of dereliction was to look upon God, and to let Him do His will.<\/p>

Meditaci\u00f3n II:<\/strong>\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0<\/p><\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t

\n\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/i><\/span>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/i><\/span>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tWEDNESDAY IN THE NINTH WEEK AFTER PENTECOST<\/a>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t

Meditaci\u00f3n matutina:\u00a0 “PATIENCE HATH A PERFECT WORK”<\/em><\/b><\/p>

\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0When you are visited by God with any infirmity, or loss, or persecutions, humble yourself and say with the Good Thief on the Cross: We receive the due reward of our deeds<\/em>.\u00a0 Let my consolation be that the Lord may afflict me and spare me not here below, that He may spare me in eternity.<\/p>

Meditaci\u00f3n I:
<\/b>\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0When you are visited by God with any infirmity, or loss, or persecution, humble yourself and say with the good thief: We receive the due reward of our deeds<\/em>. \u2014 (Luke xxiii., 41).\u00a0 Lord, I deserve this cross because I have offended Thee.\u00a0 Humble yourself and be comforted, for the chastisement that you receive is a proof that God wishes to pardon the eternal punishment due to your sins.\u00a0 Who will grant me<\/em>, says Job . . . that this may be my comfort, that afflicting me with sorrow, he spare not<\/em>. \u2014 (Job vi., 8-10).\u00a0 Let this be my consolation, that the Lord may afflict me and may not spare me here below in order to spare me hereafter.\u00a0 O God, how can he who has deserved hell complain if the Lord send him a cross!\u00a0 Were the pains of hell trifling, still, because they are eternal, we should gladly exchange them for all temporal sufferings, for they have an end.\u00a0 But in hell there are all kinds of pain \u2013 they are all intense and all everlasting.\u00a0 And though you should have preserved Baptismal innocence and have never deserved hell, you have at least merited a long Purgatory: and do you know what Purgatory is?\u00a0 St. Thomas says that the souls in Purgatory are tormented by the very same kind of fire that torments the damned.\u00a0 Hence St. Augustine says that the pain of that fire surpasses every torment that man can suffer in this life.\u00a0 Be content, then, to be chastised in this life rather than in the next; particularly since by accepting crosses with patience in this life your sufferings will be meritorious; but hereafter you will have to suffer without merit.<\/p>

Meditaci\u00f3n II:
\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0<\/strong><\/p>

Lectura espiritual:\u00a0 THE DOCTOR AND APOSTLE OF PRAYER: ST. ALPHONSUS<\/em><\/strong><\/p>

\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0The manner of life which Alphonsus thenceforth adopted, during the two years he lived at Naples as a secular priest and as a member of the Congregation of the Propaganda in Naples, is described in glowing terms in the Bull of his canonization.\u00a0 These are the words of the Supreme Pontiff, Gregory XVI.: “Having received Holy Orders and been raised to the dignity of the priesthood, he applied all his energies to extend on every side the glory of God, to sow the seeds of virtue in the minds of men, and to pluck up the roots of vice.\u00a0 Persuaded that the labours of an apostle cannot be productive of abundant fruit unless he teach as well by example as by words, it became the chief object of his care to exhibit himself by the practice of every kind of virtues ‘as a minister of God’ and a ‘dispenser of His mysteries.’\u00a0 Of chastity, which he had long since consecrated by vow to God, he was ever the most watchful guardian, incessantly exerting all the powers of his mind, and employing every movement of his body to preserve it free from the slightest stain.\u00a0 To attain this object with perfect security he dedicated that virtue with filial confidence to the care of the Mother of God.\u00a0 With so vehement an impulse of love was he carried towards God, that his attention was unceasingly fixed upon Him, and nothing seems to have afforded him pleasure but to thing and speak of God.\u00a0 Since the love of God so ardently inflamed him, it is easy to conclude that he cherished a fervent charity for his neighbour.\u00a0 No toil, no trouble was spared by him in order to recall men steeped in vice and wickedness to the loving embraces of God.\u00a0 It was his constant occupation to visit the hospitals for the purpose of assisting the sick, and of aiding, by his presence, those in particular who were in immediate danger of death.\u00a0 Moved by the same charity, he used to hear confessions with the greatest patience, and to spend in the performance of that office not only whole days, but also a considerable part of the night.\u00a0 Hence, too, was he in the habit of addressing from the pulpit his crowded audience in strains of such fervid language as to conquer and break down the obstinacy of the most abandoned sinners.\u00a0 He exhibited to them the foul baseness of the crimes which had so hardened their hearts, and aroused in their minds so lively a feeling of sorrow that they were moved to tears, and on many occasions filled the sacred edifice with their sobs and lamentations.”\u00a0 Such are the words of Gregory XVI.
\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0This admirable zeal for souls was, in union with his love for Jesus, the characteristic virtue of Alphonsus.\u00a0 It already showed itself in the very beginning of his priestly life in such a manner as to foreshadow what he would be in the future \u2013 the great apostle of the poor and of the country people.\u00a0 It is true that he readily bestowed his time and his labour on all kinds of men; yet it was the poor and the abandoned who were ever the special objects of his care.\u00a0 This can be seen from the work which he effected among the Neapolitan day-labourers and porters.\u00a0 After he had been ordained deacon he used to bring those poor men together at certain times into an appointed place, and then exhort them to the love of Jesus Christ.\u00a0 And when the number of his hearers gradually increased, he dispersed them through the town in different assemblies, arranging everything so that the members might urge on one another to the practice of every virtue.\u00a0 Such was the origin of the famous Institution of the “Chapels,” which has lasted in Naples up to the present day, and which has been the means of salvation to countless numbers of workmen.\u00a0 But Alphonsus did not confine himself to the poor of Naples only; his burning zeal spread itself beyond the limits of the city.\u00a0 In his compassion for the country people, he went through the fields, and villages, and hamlets, preaching the word of God, so that to him might aptly be applied the words of Scripture: 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<\/em>. \u2014 (Luke iv., 18).<\/p>

Meditaci\u00f3n vespertina:\u00a0\u00a0CONSIDERATIONS ON THE PASSION OF OUR LORD JESUS CHRIST\u00a0<\/i><\/strong><\/p>

Meditaci\u00f3n I:
<\/strong>\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0How pleasing it is to Jesus Christ that we should often remember His Passion, and the shameful death He suffered for us, can be well understood from His having instituted the Most Holy Sacrament of the Altar for this very end, that there might ever dwell in us the lively memory of the love He bore to us in sacrificing Himself on the Cross for our salvation.\u00a0 Let us, then, recollect that on the night preceding His death Jesus instituted this Sacrament of love, and, when He had distributed His Body to His disciples, He said to them, and through them to all of us, that in receiving the Holy Communion we should bear in mind what great things He suffered for us: As often as ye shall eat this bred and drink the chalice, ye shall show the death of the Lord<\/em>. \u2014 (1 Cor. xi., 26).\u00a0 Therefore, in the Mass the Holy Church ordains that after the consecration the celebrant shall say, in the Name of Jesus Christ, As often as ye do this, ye shall do it in memory of me<\/em> (Canon of the Mass).\u00a0 And the angelic St. Thomas writes: “That the memory of the great things Jesus did for us might ever remain with us, He left us His own Body to be received as our food.”\u00a0 The Saint then goes on to say that through this Sacrament is preserved the memory of the boundless love which Jesus Christ has shown us in His Passion.
\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0If we were to endure injuries and stripes for the sake of a friend, and were then to learn that our friend, when he heard anyone speak of what we had done, would not pay any heed to it, but turned the conversation, and said: “Let us talk of something else” \u2013 what pain we should suffer at the neglect of the ungrateful man!\u00a0 And, on the other hand, how glad we should be to find that our friend admitted that he was under and eternal obligation to us, that he constantly bore it in mind, and spoke of it with affection and with tears.<\/p>

Meditaci\u00f3n II:<\/strong>\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0<\/p><\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t

\n\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/i><\/span>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/i><\/span>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tTHURSDAY IN THE NINTH WEEK AFTER PENTECOST<\/a>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t

Meditaci\u00f3n matutina:\u00a0 “PATIENCE HATH A PERFECT WORK”<\/em><\/b><\/p>

\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0To be in tribulation in this world is a great sign of predestination.\u00a0 “To be afflicted here on earth,” says St. Gregory, “belongs to the elect for whom is reserved the beatitude of eternity.”\u00a0 Hence we find in the Lives of the Saints that all, without exception, had been loaded with crosses.<\/p>

Meditaci\u00f3n I:
<\/b>\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0Blessed is the man that endureth temptation for when he hath been proved he shall receive the crown of life<\/em>. \u2014 (James i., 12).\u00a0 This thought made St. Agapitus, Martyr, a boy of fifteen years, say, when the tyrant ordered his head to be encompassed with burning coals: “It is very little to bear the burning of my head, which shall be crowned with glory in Heaven.”\u00a0 This thought made Job exclaim: If we have received good things at the hand of God, why should we not receive evil?<\/em> \u2014 (Job ii., 10).\u00a0 Yes, if we have gladly received good things, why should we not also receive with greater joy temporal evils, by which we shall acquire the eternal goods of Paradise?\u00a0 This thought also filled with jubilation the hermit found singing in a wood though his body was so covered with ulcers that his flesh was falling to pieces.\u00a0 When asked if it were he who was singing, he said: Yes, I sing, and I have reason to sing; for between me and God there is nothing but the filthy wall of my body.\u00a0 I now see it falling to pieces, and therefore I sing, because I see that the time is at hand when I shall go to enjoy my Lord.\u00a0 This thought made St. Francis of Assisi say: “So great is the good which I expect, that to me every pain gives delight.”\u00a0 In a word, the Saints feel consoled when they are in tribulation, and are afflicted when they enjoy earthly consolations.\u00a0 We read in the Teresian Chronicles that in reciting these words of the Office: When wilt thou comfort me?<\/em> \u2014 (Ps. cxviii., 82), Mother Isabella of the Angels used to say them so fast that she would anticipate the other Sisters.\u00a0 Being asked why she did so, she answered: “I am afraid that God may give me comfort in this life.”<\/p>

Meditaci\u00f3n II:
\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0<\/strong><\/p>

Lectura espiritual:\u00a0 THE DOCTOR AND APOSTLE OF PRAYER: ST. ALPHONSUS<\/em><\/strong><\/p>

\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0Worn out by a constant succession of labours, and weakened by the austerities of his life, Alphonsus withdrew with some of the companions of his apostolate, for the sake of a little rest, into a solitary spot called Santa Maria dei Monti, near Scala.\u00a0 This was in the month of May in the year 1731.\u00a0 The inhabitants of the place were poor peasants and shepherds, whose knowledge of religion was very small, and whose spiritual destitution was extreme.\u00a0 Alphonsus was moved with pity on learning their sad state.\u00a0 When he saw them coming in crowds to the lonely chapel, where he was accustomed to spend a great part of his time before the Blessed Sacrament, and eagerly begging for a spiritual alms, he at once devoted himself to their service, and gave all his attention to instruct them in Christian Doctrine, and prepare them for a devout reception of the Sacraments.\u00a0 Thus it happened that the time set aside for repose was employed most fruitfully for the salvation of souls, and at the same time an ardent desire was implanted in the soul of Alphonsus of henceforth devoting himself in a special manner to the service of such poor, abandoned beings.\u00a0 The desire came from God; it was the seed from which in a short time was to spring the Congregation of the Most Holy Redeemer.\u00a0 But we must now briefly relate how this important work began, and how it was brought to completion.
\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0Alphonsus returned not long afterwards to the town of Scala, in order to celebrate a Novena with the people in the cathedral.\u00a0 Here God was awaiting His servant, in order to manifest His will to him.\u00a0 There was in a convent in the city a certain nun \u2013 Sister Celeste Crostarosa by name \u2013 who was frequently favoured by God with extraordinary graces.\u00a0 This holy nun was a member of the Community which had been founded by Monsignor Falcoja in the town of Scala in the year 1719.\u00a0 She was born in Naples on the 31st of October, 1696, being, consequently, just one month younger than Alphonsus.\u00a0 God made known to her many things concerning the Institute of the Most Holy Redeemer; and Falcoja, who had in the meantime become Bishop of Castellamare, after mature consideration, charged Alphonsus, in the spring of 1731, to give the spiritual exercises to the nuns of the Most Holy Saviour, with the permission of the Bishop of Scala.\u00a0 This Alphonsus accordingly did; and when he returned again in the autumn, Sister Celeste had a vision on the Feast of St. Francis of Assisi, in which our Divine Lord, accompanied by St. Francis, appeared to her, and showed her a number of priests zealously engaged in instructing a countless multitude of men, who were scattered through villages and hamlets, deprived of spiritual aid.\u00a0 The leader and director of these priests was Alphonsus.\u00a0 Whilst the holy religious was contemplating this vision, these words sounded in her ear: “That is the man whom I have chosen as My instrument in this work, which is to glorify My Name.”\u00a0 She did not think it right to conceal a fact of so great importance, and spoke of it to Alphonsus, who was greatly agitated on hearing a revelation which coincided so perfectly with his own desires.\u00a0 Being in doubt as to the course which he ought to take, he determined at once to give himself up to the most fervent prayer, and to redouble his austerities, in order to obtain a more certain knowledge of the Divine Will.\u00a0 His hopes were not deceived.\u00a0 In a short time he clearly perceived that he was called by God to this great work, both by the heavenly light with which his soul was abundantly illumined, and also by the advice which he received from many men illustrious both for their learning and their sanctity.\u00a0 He was confirmed in this conviction by the approbation of his director, the saintly Bishop Falcoja.\u00a0 From this time Alphonsus bound himself by vow to depend entirely on the direction of this holy prelate.\u00a0 Moreover, in addition to all this, the will of God was made plain by a manifest miracle.\u00a0 One day when the nun of whom we have spoken, was eagerly maintaining in the presence of her sisters the truth of the revelation made to her, one of her hearers exclaimed: “Well, I shall believe it when Sister Mary Magdalene is cured.”\u00a0 Wonderful to relate, this Religious, who was then out of her mind, was at that very instant freed from her mental disorder.
\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0When the will of God had been once made known to him, Alphonsus, relying principally on the advice of Bishop Falcoja, resolutely determined to begin the work.\u00a0 As soon as his intentions were known, several distinguished men felt themselves divinely called to enter his Congregation.\u00a0 Amongst these must be mentioned a young man of good family whose past life had been far from edifying, but who now received a vocation to join Alphonsus, which was evidently miraculous.\u00a0 This youth, who was called Vitus Curzio, himself related what had happened.\u00a0 “I dreamt,” says he, “that I was standing at the foot of a high and steep mountain which many priests were trying to ascend.\u00a0 I wished to follow them, but at each attempt my foot slipped, and I fell back.\u00a0 Seeing that all my efforts to advance were useless, I began to feel exceedingly disheartened and sad.\u00a0 At last, one of the priests taking compassion on me, stretched out his hand, and with his help I ascended the mountain with the rest.”\u00a0 Such was the young man’s dream.\u00a0 A few days after he met Alphonsus in Naples, and, struck with astonishment, he recognised in him the priest whom he had seen in his dream, and who had helped him to ascend the mountain.\u00a0 Moved by Divine grace he at once obeyed the wonderful call he had received from Heaven, and became the first Lay-brother of the new Institute.<\/p>

Meditaci\u00f3n vespertina:\u00a0\u00a0CONSIDERATIONS ON THE PASSION OF OUR LORD JESUS CHRIST\u00a0<\/i><\/strong><\/p>

Meditaci\u00f3n I:
<\/strong>\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0Adam sinned and rebelled against God, and, being the first man, and the progenitor of all men, he fell into a state of perdition, together with the whole human race.\u00a0 The injury was done to God; so the neither Adam nor all the rest of mankind, by all the sacrifices they could have offered, even of their own lives, could furnish a worthy satisfaction to the Divine majesty which was offended.\u00a0 There was need that a Divine person should satisfy Divine justice.\u00a0 Behold, then, the Son of God, moved to deep compassion for men, and excited by the bowels of His mercy, offered Himself to take human flesh and to die for men, that He might thus give to God a complete satisfaction for all the sins of men and obtain for them the Divine grace they had lost.
\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0Our loving Redeemer thus came into this life, and became Man, in order that He might find a remedy for all the miseries which sin had brought upon men.\u00a0 At the same time, He chose to lead men to an observance of the Divine precepts, and thus to the acquisition of eternal life, not only by His instructions, but also by the example of His own holy life.\u00a0 For this end Jesus Christ renounced all honours, delights, and riches, which He might have enjoyed upon this earth, and which belonged to Him as Lord of the world; and He chose for Himself a life of humility, poverty, and tribulation, until He died in anguish upon a Cross.
\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0The Jews were possessed with a delusion that the Messias would come upon earth to triumph over all His enemies by force of arms, and that, having conquered them, and acquired the rule of all the earth, He would make His followers rich and glorious.\u00a0 But if the Messias had been what the Jews imagined, a Prince triumphant and honoured by all men as the Sovereign of all the earth, He would not have been the Redeemer promised by God and predicted by the Prophets.\u00a0 This He Himself declared, when He replied to Pilate: My kingdom is not of this world<\/em>. \u2014 (John xviii., 36).\u00a0 On this St. Fulgentius writes: “Why, Herod, art thou thus troubled?\u00a0 This King Who is born is not come to conquer kings in battle, but wonderfully to subdue them by His death.”<\/p>

Meditaci\u00f3n II:<\/strong>\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0<\/p><\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t

\n\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/i><\/span>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/i><\/span>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tFRIDAY IN THE NINTH WEEK AFTER PENTECOST<\/a>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t

Meditaci\u00f3n matutina:\u00a0 “PATIENCE HATH A PERFECT WORK”<\/em><\/b><\/p>

\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, let him take up his cross and follow me<\/em>.\u00a0 These words of our Lord give us to understand that he who is not willing to suffer, but refuses to the cross, must not pretend to be Christ’s disciple or expect to follow Him to Paradise.<\/p>

Meditaci\u00f3n I:
<\/b>\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0“The world is bitter, and it is loved,” says St. Augustine; “if it were sweet, how it would be loved!”\u00a0 The world is bitter because all its delights do not content the heart of man, and because they all ultimately terminate in bitterness and remorse of conscience; but still it is loved.\u00a0 Imagine, then, says the Saint, were it sweet, how intensely we would love it, and how completely forget the soul, Heaven and God!\u00a0 To wean an infant the mother puts gall on the breasts.\u00a0 It is thus God treats us.\u00a0 He makes the very pleasures of this earth bitter, that, by detaching our hearts from them, we may pant after the eternal delights which He has prepared in Heaven for all who love him.\u00a0 It was for this end that our loving Saviour came on earth to suffer, that we might not refuse to imitate His example.\u00a0 Christ<\/em>, says St. Peter, suffered for us, leaving you an example, that you should follow his steps<\/em>. \u2014 (1 Pet. ii., 21).\u00a0 Behold how He invites us to follow: \u00a0If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, let him take up his cross and follow me<\/em>. \u2014 (Matt. xvi., 24).\u00a0 As if He were to say: He who is not willing to suffer, and refuses the cross, let him cease to pretend to be My disciple, or to expect to follow Me to Paradise.<\/p>

Meditaci\u00f3n II:
\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0<\/strong><\/p>

Lectura espiritual:\u00a0 THE DOCTOR AND APOSTLE OF PRAYER: ST. ALPHONSUS<\/em><\/strong><\/p>

\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0It would be too long to relate here all the difficulties with which, for more than a year, the holy founder had to contend.\u00a0 When once his intention was known, all Naples was in commotion against him; and he, whom all had formerly held in admiration, now became the common laughing-stock.\u00a0 All his friends withdrew from him, and his former superiors and associates of the Congregation of the Propaganda vied with one another in the bitter attacks which they made upon what they called his obstinacy and his visionary schemes.\u00a0 But no one was more opposed to Alphonsus than his own father.\u00a0 He left no stone unturned in order to shake his son’s resolution, and finding that threats were of no avail, he had recourse to tears and entreaties.\u00a0 One day he entered his son’s room and fell upon his neck, shedding an abundance of tears, and for three hours he held him in a close embrace, imploring him not to abandon his unhappy father.\u00a0 But prayers and tears alike were useless.\u00a0 Alphonsus condescended not to flesh and blood.\u00a0 Victorious in this long conflict, he now bade adieu to Naples, and went to lay the foundations of the Congregation of the Most Holy Redeemer, together with a few companions, who were to meet him at this time at Scala.\u00a0 He entered this town on the 8th of November, 1732.
\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0And now a new tempest of troubles was about to burst upon our Saint.\u00a0 The Congregation had scarcely come into existence when discord broke out amongst its members.\u00a0 Each one held a different opinion as to the special work in which the missionaries ought to engage.\u00a0 Many desired that they should add the instruction of youth to the labours of the missions, but Alphonsus was firm in his opinion that his Institute ought to have for its sole end the preaching of the Gospel to the poor and the most abandoned.\u00a0 Arguments were discussed on both sides, but no agreement could be come to either regarding the scope of the Institute or its rules; and finally the little flock was dispersed, and the holy founder was left with only two companions \u2013 Father Caesar Sportelli, and Brother Vitus Curzio.\u00a0 This abandonment was a cruel blow to the tender heart of Alphonsus.\u00a0 When the thing became known, the enemies of the Institute exulted for joy, and indulged without restraint in abuse and ridicule.\u00a0 To add to the trials of Alphonsus, Satan involved his soul in a thick darkness, and in an overwhelming sadness; and that nothing might be wanting to his misery, even Bishop Falcoja himself, his confessor, treated him harshly and seemed to abandon him.\u00a0 Alphonsus went to him for consolation, but the bishop said to him, coldly: “Will you also go away?\u00a0 God has not need of anyone to do His work.”\u00a0 But then, seeing the deep affliction of Alphonsus, he encouraged him, and bade him persevere in carrying out his Divine vocation.\u00a0 The straits to which Alphonsus now saw himself reduced would have caused another utterly to lose heart, but they did but urge him on to form a magnanimous resolve, which he confirmed by vow, that, even if he could get no one to help him, he would, nevertheless, devote his whole life to evangelising the poor.\u00a0 This heroic resolve at once had its reward.\u00a0 The mind of Alphonsus recovered its usual tranquility, and God, Who is ever ready to help those who trust in Him, sent him new companions and fellow-workers.\u00a0 The grief of the holy man at the loss of his first associates was soon changed into joy when he saw his solitude peopled by promising subjects, and from this time the Congregation of the Most Holy Redeemer was established on a firm footing.\u00a0 The little seed was gradually growing into a mighty tree, which was to extend its branches unto the uttermost parts of the earth.
\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0Nothing could be imagined more humble than the first beginnings of the Institute.\u00a0 Poverty the most complete reigned in the house at Scala.\u00a0 As they had no tabernacle, Alphonsus placed the Blessed Sacrament in a box which he had decorated with ribbons and garlands.\u00a0 The altar had no other ornament but some little bouquets of artificial roses and other flowers.\u00a0 But, in spite of its poverty, the little sanctuary breathed a heavenly sweetness.\u00a0 There Alphonsus, wholly absorbed in the love of Jesus, used to spend whole nights in the presence of the Most Holy Sacrament.\u00a0 close to the house was a half-ruined grotto, to which the Saint frequently withdrew, in order to give himself to prayer and to frightful austerities.\u00a0 In this place, tradition tells us, that he was favoured with many visions of the Virgin Mother of God, who bestowed upon him numerous proofs of her maternal affection.\u00a0 Alphonsus confessed that it was here he used to discuss the welfare of his Congregation with this loving Mother.\u00a0 Thus the remembrance of this grotto was always dear to him, and as often as he returned to Scala he used to visit it, exclaiming: “Oh, my grotto, my beloved grotto! would that I could enjoy thee as in the days gone by!”
\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0When once the Congregation was established, the chief aim of its founder was to work hard for its propagation.\u00a0 Henceforth it was his home for thirty happy years, until 1762; and during all this time he was in the midst of his children as a burning and a shining light, by the holiness of his life and by his devotion through love of Jesus, to the work of redemption.\u00a0 This part of the saint’s life was taken up with three important occupations, namely, the holy missions, the government of his Congregation, and the publication of his writings.<\/p>

Meditaci\u00f3n vespertina:\u00a0\u00a0CONSIDERATIONS ON THE PASSION OF OUR LORD JESUS CHRIST\u00a0<\/i><\/strong><\/p>

Meditaci\u00f3n I:
<\/strong>\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0When the Prophets spoke of the first advent, in which He would accomplish the work of Redemption, they most clearly foretold that the redeemer would live upon this earth a life of poverty and contempt.\u00a0 This was what was written by the Prophet Zacharias, when speaking of the life of Jesus Christ: Behold thy king cometh to thee the just one, and the Saviour; he is poor, and sitteth upon an ass, and upon a colt the foal of an ass<\/em>. \u2014 (Zach. ix., 9).\u00a0 all this was specially fulfilled when He entered Jerusalem sitting upon a young ass, and was honorably received as the desired Messias, as St. John writes: And Jesus found an ass and sat upon it, as it is written, Fear not, daughter of Sion, behold thy king cometh to thee, sitting upon an ass’s colt<\/em>. \u2014 (John xii., 14, 15).\u00a0 We know, also, that He was poor from the time of His birth, being born in Bethlehem, a place of no celebrity, and in a cave: And thou, Bethlehem Ephrata, art little among the thousands of Juda; from thee cometh forth to me he who is to be the ruler of Israel; and his going forth is from the beginning and from the days of eternity<\/em>. \u2014 (Mich. v., 2).\u00a0 This Prophecy, also, is referred to by St. Matthew and St. John.\u00a0 Further, also, the Prophet Osee writes: From Egypt I have called my son<\/em> \u2014 (Os. xi., 1), which was fulfilled when Jesus Christ was carried as an Infant into Egypt, where He remained about seven years, as a stranger in the midst of a barbarous race, far from His kindred and friends, a thing sufficient to make His life one of poverty.\u00a0 And so, also, He continued to live the life of the poor when He had returned to Judea.\u00a0 He Himself foretold by the mouth of David, that throughout His whole life He would be poor and afflicted: I am poor, and in labours from my youth.<\/em> \u2014 (Ps. lxxxvii., 16).<\/p>

Meditaci\u00f3n II:<\/strong>\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0<\/p><\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t

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Meditaci\u00f3n matutina:\u00a0 MAR\u00cdA ES LA ESPERANZA DE TODOS LOS PECADORES<\/em><\/b><\/p>

\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0The Blessed Virgin revealed to St. Bridget that there was no sinner in the world, however much he might be at enmity with God, who will not return to Him if he would only have recourse to her, and ask her assistance.\u00a0 Noe’s Ark was a true figure of Mary, for as in it all kinds of beasts were saved, so under Mary’s mantle all sinners find refuge.<\/p>

Meditaci\u00f3n I:
<\/b>\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0The devout Blosius declares that “Mary is the only refuge of those who have offended God, the asylum of all who are oppressed by temptation, calamity, or persecution.\u00a0 This Mother is all mercy, benignity, and sweetness, not only to the just, but also to despairing sinners; so that no sooner does she perceive them coming to her, and seeking her help from their hearts, than she aids them, welcomes them, and obtains their pardon from her Son.\u00a0 She knows not how to despise any one, however unworthy he may be of mercy, and therefore denies her protection to none; she consoles all, and is no sooner invoked than she helps whoever it may be that invokes her.\u00a0 She by her sweetness often awakens, and draws to devotion to her, sinners who are the most at enmity with God and the most deeply plunged in the lethargy of sin; and then, by the same means, she excites them effectually, and prepares them for grace, and thus renders them fit for the kingdom of Heaven.\u00a0 God has created this His beloved Daughter of so compassionate and sweet a disposition that no one can fear to have recourse to her.”\u00a0 The pious author concludes in these words: “It is impossible for any one to perish who carefully, and with humility, cultivates devotion towards this Divine Mother.”
\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0In Ecclesiasticus Mary is called a plane-tree: As a plane-tree I was exalted<\/em>. \u2014 (Ecclus. xxiv., 19).\u00a0 And she is so called that sinners may understand that as the plane-tree gives shelter to travellers from the heat of the sun, so does Mary invite them to take shelter under her protection from the wrath of God, justly enkindled against them.\u00a0 St. Bonaventure remarks that the Prophet Isaias complained of the times in which he lived, saying: Behold thou art angry, and we have sinned . . . there is none . . . that riseth up and taketh hold of thee<\/em>. \u2014 (Is. lxiv., 5-7).\u00a0 And then he makes the following commentary: “It is true, O Lord, that at the time there was none to raise up sinners and withhold Thy wrath, for Mary was not yet born;” “before Mary,” to quote the Saint’s own words, “there was no one who could thus dare to restrain the arm of God.”\u00a0 But now, if God is angry with a sinner, and Mary takes him under her protection, she withholds the avenging arm of her Son, and saves him.\u00a0 “And so,” continues the same Saint, “no one can be found more fit for this office than Mary, who seizes the sword of Divine justice with her own hands to prevent it from falling upon and punishing the sinner.”\u00a0 Upon the same subject Richard of St. Laurence says that “God, before the birth of Mary, complained by the mouth of the Prophet Ezechiel that there was no one to rise up and withhold Him from chastising sinners, for this office was reserved for our Blessed Lady, who withholds His arm until He is pacified.<\/p>

Meditaci\u00f3n II:
\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0<\/strong><\/p>

Lectura espiritual:\u00a0 THE DOCTOR AND APOSTLE OF PRAYER: ST. ALPHONSUS<\/em><\/strong><\/p>

\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0To begin with the holy missions: it would be difficult to express the ardent zeal with which Alphonsus laboured in this holy work.\u00a0 The charity of Christ so pressed this apostolic man, that in the whole kingdom of Naples but few provinces could be found which had not experienced the effects of his burning zeal.\u00a0 We should have to write many volumes if we wished to enumerate all the conversions that took place in the various regions he visited.\u00a0 A more perfect missionary than Alphonsus cannot be imagined.\u00a0 He aroused the admiration of the people by the marvellous power of his eloquence, but especially by the bright light of those apostolic virtues which made him, as it were, a mirror of sanctity.\u00a0 So great was his humility that, when journeying on the missions, his dress was no better than that of a ragged pauper.\u00a0 Thus it happened that on one occasion, before he had founded his Congregation, when giving a mission, in company with other priests, he entered a certain village dressed in a miserable cassock and riding on an ass, whilst the other missionaries were travelling a in a carriage.\u00a0 The inhabitants, seeing his wretched costume, took him for the cook; and when they heard him preach in the evening they could not contain their astonishment and exclaimed: “If the cook is such a preacher, what will it be when the others begin?”\u00a0 The mortification of the servant of God was not less remarkable than his humility.\u00a0 He ate nothing but common food, and that most sparingly, and often it was only a little soup, and even that he seasoned with bitter herbs.\u00a0 On the missions, as well as at home, he used frequently to take the discipline, scourging himself cruelly, even to blood.\u00a0 To this was added the use of pointed chains, which he would fasten on so tightly that more than once he fell to the ground half dead, and almost incapable of movement; and thus as no moment of his life was he free from suffering.
\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0A life of such austere holiness produced marvellous fruits in the salvation of souls.\u00a0 The words that flowed from the lips of the servant of God possessed so Diving an unction that they effected innumerable conversions.\u00a0 Not only individuals, but whole cities were converted, and the vices of Babylon disappeared to give place to the virtues of Paradise.\u00a0 Amongst his hearers there were none who could resist his eloquent appeals; all had to yield to the wisdom and spirit with which he spoke.\u00a0 The numerous sinners who came to him for confession were all converted to a better life.\u00a0 And Alphonsus himself owned that, even if he had to defer absolution in the case of certain sinners, these penitents had always returned to him in a state fit for absolution, so that no one was ever finally dismissed by him without having been sincerely converted to Almighty God.
\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0In order to give greater efficacy to the words and actions of the Saint, God willed to ratify his ministry by miraculous favours.\u00a0 Chief of these were the extraordinary graces bestowed on him by his beloved Queen, the Blessed Virgin Mary.\u00a0 At Foggia, in Apulia, when he was preaching a Novena in her honour, for the space of a whole hour he was seen in ecstasy before one of her pictures.\u00a0 The Holy Virgin, as he himself declared, appeared to him under the form of a young maiden of thirteen or fourteen years of age.\u00a0 She wore a white veil, and seemed to be inclining her head, now to the right and now to the left.\u00a0 In regarding this apparition he said that he felt great devotion and spiritual joy and could not restrain his tears.\u00a0 The same prodigy was repeated at Foggia, and in the proper office grated in\u00a0 memory of it by the Apostolic See, it is described as follows: “When this fervent lover of the Mother of God was proclaiming in glowing accents the praises of the Blessed Virgin in front of one of her altars, to which the people had given the name of the altar of the Ancient Picture<\/em>, a ray of splendour fell upon him from this picture, lighting up his whole countenance, whilst he was rapt in ecstasy in presence of all the people.”\u00a0 At the same time he was raised three feet in the air, to the great joy and consolation of the assembled faithful.\u00a0 Alphonsus was rewarded with a similar apparition both in the town of Amalfi and in the hamlet of St. George.\u00a0 He was endowed, too, with the gift of prophecy, by which he both predicted coming events and announced what was taking place at a distance.\u00a0 He had also the power of seeing into the inmost recesses of the heart, and would often reveal to sinners their most hidden crimes.\u00a0 Amongst the graces bestowed upon him was that of healing, and also of bilocation, by which he was seen more than once in two places at the same time.
\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0But whilst he was giving himself up with such unwearied zeal to the labours of the apostolic ministry, and was gaining innumerable souls to Christ by word and example and by the splendour of his miracles, the holy founder by no means neglected the grave obligations imposed upon him by the care of his young Institute.\u00a0 The members of his Congregation had been gradually increasing in numbers, until, in 1746, the Institute possessed four houses, namely, at Nocera, Ciorani, Iliceto, and Caposele.\u00a0 Of these, Illiceto and Caposele had been founded after the death of Bishop Falcoja, in the spring of 1743.\u00a0 The house at Scala had been given up in 1738, on account of the vexatious opposition which had been raised against it.\u00a0 Alphonsus considered that the time had now arrived for placing his Institute on a firm footing, and so all his energies were directed to obtain approbation for it from the Supreme Pontiff, and from the King of Naples.\u00a0 From the civil power, indeed, nothing could be gained but promises, but at Rome his efforts were more successful.\u00a0 The Chair of St. Peter was then occupied by Benedict XIV, and to him, in the year 1748, Alphonsus addressed a supplication, begging that the Pontiff would deign to confirm the new Institute by his authority.\u00a0 In order to ensure success, he sent one of the members of his Congregation to Rome to direct the negotiations in person, and to bring matters to a favourable conclusion.\u00a0 The petition of Alphonsus was graciously received, and although an affair of this kind is generally beset with numerous difficulties, nevertheless, owing to the prayers and mortifications of Alphonsus, it had a speedy and unlooked-for termination.\u00a0 On the 25th of February of the following year a Pontifical decree was issued, which not only approved the rules, but also confirmed the Institute itself by a solemn approbation.\u00a0 When this happy news reached the Saint he fell upon his knees, and, with eyes streaming with tears of joy, he poured forth heartfelt thanks to God for so great a blessing.\u00a0 Then, having summoned the whole community into the Church, he intoned the hymn “Te Deum Laudamus;” and after this had been sung he addressed to God the words of David: O God of hosts, visit this vineyard, and perfect the same, which thy right hand hath planted<\/em>.\u00a0 Then, commenting on these words, he exhorted his children to show themselves worthy of the great grace which God had bestowed upon them, by observing with scrupulous exactitude all the rules of the Institute, and by ever cherishing feelings of gratitude to Jesus and Mary.\u00a0 The name of the Congregation was changed from that of the Most Holy Redeemer; and as the nuns of Scala presented their rules also for approbation about the same time, Benedict XIV approved them, with the same title of the Most Holy Redeemer, on the 8th June, 1750.<\/p>

Meditaci\u00f3n vespertina:\u00a0\u00a0CONSIDERATIONS ON THE PASSION OF OUR LORD JESUS CHRIST\u00a0<\/i><\/strong><\/p>

Meditaci\u00f3n I:
<\/strong>\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0When the Divine Word offered Himself to redeem mankind, there were before Him two ways of redeeming the world, the one of joy and glory, the other of pains and insults.\u00a0 But as it was His will, not only by His coming to deliver man from eternal death, but also to call forth the love of all the hearts of men, He rejected the way of joy and glory, and chose that of pains and insults: Having joy set before him, he endured the cross<\/em>. \u2014 (Heb. xii., 2).\u00a0 In order that He might satisfy the Divine justice for us, and, at the same time, inflame us with His holy love, He was willing to endure the burden of all our sins; that, dying upon a Cross, He might obtain for us grace and the life of the Blessed.\u00a0 This is what Isaias intended to express when he said: He himself hath borne our infirmities, and carried our sorrows. \u2014 (Is. liii., 4).
\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0Of this there were two express figures in the Old Testament; the first was the annual ceremony of the scape-goat, and the high priest presented as bearing all the sins of the people, and therefore all, loading it with curses, drove it into the desert, to be the object of the wrath of God.\u00a0 This scape-goat was a figure of our Redeemer, Who was willing to load Himself with all the curses deserved by us for our sins; being made a curse for us, in order that He might obtain for us the Divine blessing.\u00a0 Therefore the Apostle wrote in another place: He made him to be sin for us, who knew not sin, that we might be made the justice of God in him<\/em>. \u2014 (2 Cor. v., 21).\u00a0 That is, as St. Ambrose and St. Anselm explain it, He made Him to be sin Who was Innocence itself.\u00a0 Jesus presented Himself to His Father as if He had been sin itself.\u00a0 In a word, Jesus took upon Himself the character of a sinner, and endured the pains due to us sinners, in order to render us just before God.\u00a0 The second type of the sacrifice that Jesus Christ offered to the Eternal Father for us upon the Cross was that brazen serpent fixed to a tree, by looking upon which the Jews who were bitten by fiery serpents were healed. \u2014 (Num. xxi., 8).\u00a0 Accordingly, St. John writes: As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that every one who believeth in him should not perish, but have eternal life<\/em>. \u2014 (John iii., 14).<\/p>

Meditaci\u00f3n II:<\/strong>\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0<\/p>

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\u21d1 \u00a0<\/a>CONTENIDO<\/a>
<\/em>\u21d0 OCTAVA SEMANA DESPU\u00c9S DE <\/em>PENTECOST\u00c9S<\/em><\/a>
\u21d2 TENTH WEEK AFTER <\/em>PENTECOST\u00c9S<\/em><\/a><\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

VOLUME III – PART II, pp. 248-301 NINTH SUNDAY AFTER PENTECOST (For the 25th July) Morning Meditation:\u00a0 THE DESIRE JESUS HAD TO SUFFER FOR US \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0What a subject of wonder to the Angels must not the great love … Seguir leyendo <\/i><\/span><\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":4884,"parent":0,"menu_order":95,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-10351","page","type-page","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/societyofthemostholyredeemer.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/10351","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/societyofthemostholyredeemer.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/societyofthemostholyredeemer.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/societyofthemostholyredeemer.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/societyofthemostholyredeemer.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10351"}],"version-history":[{"count":56,"href":"https:\/\/societyofthemostholyredeemer.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/10351\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":10862,"href":"https:\/\/societyofthemostholyredeemer.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/10351\/revisions\/10862"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/societyofthemostholyredeemer.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4884"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/societyofthemostholyredeemer.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10351"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}