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"Meditations on Death" - Part 6: A Lenten Series by Father Konrad zu Loewenstein

Part 6

A Lenten Guest Series by

Father Konrad zu Loewenstein

6. THE DEATH OF THE SINNER AND THE SAINT

a) The Death of the Sinner

St. Francis Borgia helping a dying impenitent (Goya)

‘My life is cut off as by a weaver; while I was yet beginning, he cut me off’ (Is 38.12). How many have been overtaken and cut off by death, while they were arranging worldly projects devised with so much labour. Others are given a time to prepare, by a shorter or longer illness.

Imagine yourself at the bed-side of a negligent Christian, overpowered by a malady with but a few hours yet to live. Behold him oppressed by pains, swoons, and suffocation; by want of breath, by cold perspirations; his reason so impaired that he feels but little, understands little, and can speak but little. We see by experience that such persons think only of their illness, of the physicians to be called to attend them, and of the remedies which may restore their health.

‘They are incapable of having any other thought than that of themselves’ says St. Lorenzo Giustiniani, and none of their relatives or friends has the courage to announce to them the advent of death, and to advise them to receive the Last Sacraments. If some-one does so, the dying man soon grows weary, and begs to be allowed to repose. He complains of a head-ache, and says it pains him to hear any-one speak. Or else he makes some reply, but is confused and knows not what he is saying.

If he does believe at all, what peace can he enjoy when he sees that in but a few moments he shall appear before the judgment-seat of Jesus Christ, Whose law and friendship he has till then despised? His sins will encompass him around, and say, in the words of St. Bernard: ‘We are your works, we will not desert you’.

To conquer bad habits, St. Augustine had to fight against them for 12 years. How will the dying man, who has always lived in sin, be able, in the midst of the pains, the stupefaction, and the confusion of death to repent sincerely of his past? His mind is darkened and his heart is hardened. ‘He that loveth danger shall perish in it’ (Eccl.us 3.27). St. Jerome teaches that of 100,000 sinners who continue in it till their death, scarcely one will be saved. St Vincent Ferrier writes that it is a greater miracle that such a one should be saved than to raise the dead to life.

Furthermore the devils will gather together and exert all their strength to assure the perdition of his soul, if indeed it is in doubt. They know that they have little time to gain it, and if they lose it at death, then they shall have lost it forever. ‘Behold the devil is come down upon you, with great wrath, knowing that he has but little time’ (Apoc 12.12). Not just one, but innumerable devils will assail him. One will say: ‘Fear not, you will recover’; another will say: ‘For years you have been deaf to God’s inspirations: how do you expect Him to have mercy on you now?’ Another will ask: ‘How can you ever repair the damage to the character of your neighbours?’ Another will say: ‘Your confessions were all invalid.’

The attacks of the devils, the certainty of his coming death, the thought of being obliged soon to take leave of everything in this world, the remorse of conscience, the time lost, the want of time present, the impossibility of conversion, the rigour of the divine judgment, the thought of eternal damnation: all these things will form a horrible tempest in his heart. And meanwhile his reason wavers, his mind darkens, and his whole frame is assailed by the pains of approaching death and the onslaught of the devils, and thus, full of confusion and terror, the dying sinner will pass into the other world. ‘The people shall be troubled and they shall pass’ (Job 34. 20).

‘Ah my God!’ exclaims St. Alphonsus, ‘Had I died on one of those nights known to Thee, where should I be now? I thank Thee for having waited on me; I thank Thee for all the time which I should have spent in Hell from the first moment that I offended Thee. Give me light and make me aware of the evil I have done Thee in voluntarily losing Thy Grace, which Thou didst merit for me by Thy death on the Cross!’ Amen.

b) The Death of the Repentant Sinner and the Saint

i) Confidence necessary at Death

God, Who is by nature Infinite Goodness, as St. Leo says, has an infinite desire to impart His own happiness to us, and therefore desires not to punish, but to have mercy on, us. ‘Return to Me,’ says the Lord, and I will receive thee’ (Jer. 3.1); ‘Turn to Me... and I will turn to you, says the Lord of Hosts’ (Zac 1.3).

With what love and tenderness does not God embrace the repentant sinner? The Good Shepherd lays the lost sheep on his shoulders rejoicing, and, coming home, calls together his friends and neighbours telling them: ‘Rejoice with me, because I have found my sheep who was lost.’ The Father runs from afar to meet and to embrace the prodigal son, and says to his other son: ‘This thy brother was dead and has returned to life; he was lost & is found’(Lk 15).

God, says Origenes, is more solicitous for our salvation than the devil is for our perdition, for the Lord loves our souls far more than the devil hates them. If the devil comes on death to tempt the dying Christian, the guardian angel will resist him together with the man’s his holy patrons; St Michael whom God has appointed to defend His faithful servants in their last combat will come, as also the divine Mother protect her child, and to drive away the devils from him. Above all Our Lord Jesus Christ Himself will come to guard that innocent or penitent sheep for whose salvation He has given His life on the Cross.

At death, the judgment of God excites fear for all, but if sinners pass from terror to despair, the saints rise from fear to confidence. ‘God does not permit us to be tempted above our strength’ (1 Cor 10.13). ‘The Lord is my light and my salvation, whom shall I fear?’ (Ps. 26) ‘The Lord is my helper’ (Ps 29). When St. Bernard was tempted to despair, He said to the Saviour: ‘Thy wounds are my merits’; St. Hilarion, similarly tempted, said: ‘Go forth, my soul, what do you fear? Have you not served Christ for 70 years? And are you now afraid of death?’

But how can any-one be certain that God has forgiven his sins? ‘He can be certain’, replies St. Basil, ‘if he says: I have hated and abhorred iniquity.’ St. Claude de la Colombi`ere held it morally impossible that the man that had been faithful to God during life, should die a bad death; and St Augustine writes: ‘He who has lived well cannot die badly.’ What is true of the saints who have always lived well is also true of penitent sinners who have made a sincere conversion after grave sin. The Church teaches dogmatically that only the mortal sinner will be condemned. To have complete confidence in salvation at death, all that is necessary is, then, to be in the state of Grace.

"Meditations on Death" - Part 5: A Lenten Series by Father Konrad Loewenstein

Part 5

A Lenten Guest Series by

Father Konrad zu Loewenstein

5. DELUSIONS OF THE DEVIL

1) ‘I cannot resist the temptation’

But the Apostle tells us: ‘God is faithful and never permits us to be tempted above our strength (1 Cor 10.13).’ And if you cannot resist now, how will you be able to resist next time?

2) ‘I am young and there is time for conversion’

But how do you know that there is time? And do you not know that God counts not the years but the sins of each individual? You are young, but how many sins have you already committed? There are many people of advanced age who have not been guilty of the tenth part of your sins. When the measure of the sins that He has resolved to pardon is completed, He will send a sudden death, or, which is worse, abandon you to your sin.

3) ‘I will sin, but I will confess it later’

Tell me, would you cast yourself into a pool of freezing water and say, perhaps I shall not be drowned?’ Would you take a boat into the middle of the ocean to the point where it is at its deepest, and there cast into its bosom the most precious object you possess, a jewel, an heirloom of priceless worth, and say: ‘I can always come and retrieve it another day?’

But now you hold in your hand the infinitely precious jewel of your immortal soul, and you voluntarily cast it into Hell, and say: I hope to recover it after a good confession. And when will this confession then be? To-morrow? But who promises you to-morrow? St. Augustine says: ‘God has not promised you to-morrow: perhaps He will give it: perhaps He will not’. And if you do confess to-morrow (which is unlikely), how will you arouse the necessary sorrow? For every time you sin, this becomes more difficult. Yielding this time will make it more difficult to resist hereafter. For each sin is like the blow of the hammer on the anvil, which serves only to make the iron harder, and so the sin hardens your heart ever more, and makes it ever less malleable to the operations of Divine Grace.

"Meditations on Death" – Part 4 : A Lenten Series by Father Konrad zu Loewenstein

Part 4

A Lenten Guest Series by

Father Konrad zu Loewenstein

4. THE FOLLY OF THE SINNER

‘The number of fools is infinite’ (Eccl 1.15)

The men of the world are fools, but they have the temerity to call themselves prudent and wise, and the faithful Christians fools. They mock their child-like faith, their prayers and mortifications, their embracing contempt, poverty, solitude, humility, and the hidden life. They never reflect that the Lord has called the wisdom of this world folly (1 Cor 3.19).

St. Bernard saw a vision of four classes of fools all with a great thirst for happiness, and trying to quench it with earth, air, fire, or water: earth for possessions; air for empty honours; fire for passions and revenge; and fetid water for voluptuous and unchaste pleasures. Such are the desires of the men of the world: such are the desires around which their prudence and wisdom revolve: desires both irrational and insatiable: ‘The possession of great wealth’ says St. Augustine, ‘does not close, but rather extends, the jaws of avarice’, and similarly for honours; the more that the unchaste man wallows in the more of impurity the greater his disgust and the greater his desire; and similarly for all the other passions.

But God has created our heart for Him, and for Him alone, and for that reason only the possession of God can make us happy, and only He can give us true peace. Brute animals were made for sensual pleasure, and in that they find their peace, but man is made for God. ‘Soul, thou hast many goods laid up for many years’ says the man in the parable (Lk 12.19), ‘Take thy rest, eat, drink, and be merry!’ Wretched fool! Says St. Basil, ‘have you then the soul of a brute that you expect that to bring you happiness?’

"Meditations on Death" Part 3 - A Lenten Series by Father Konrad zu Loewenstein: 3. The Value of Time

A Lenten Guest Series by
Father Konrad zu Loewenstein

3. THE VALUE OF TIME

a) The Passage of Time

What, then, is your life? ‘It is a vapour which appeareth for a while’ (Jc 4.15). The vapours exhaled from the earth, says St. Alphonsus, when raised on the air and invested with the light of the sun, make a resplendent appearance, but how long does that splendour last? It is dissipated by the first blast of wind, and then it is seen no more. ‘Cry... all flesh is grass... The grass is withered, and the flower is fallen.’ (Isaiah 40. 6); ‘Man born of woman, lives for a short while... he comes forth like a flower and is destroyed’ (Job). ‘We all die... like the waters that return no more.’ (II Kings 14.14), and ‘All rivers run into the sea’(Eccl 1.7).

The world is like a stage, says Cornelius a Lapide: one generation passes, and another comes. The generation of man is like the generation of leaves on the tree, says Homer in the Iliad: Now the leaves die and are blown about the earth by the wind; and now the trees are budding again and bringing forth new life. Life is short, even if in youth it seems long. Everything that has a limit to it is short, says St. Augustine. Indeed compared with limitless eternity the present life is nothing, or almost nothing. But if in length it is nothing, in importance it is everything. So ‘those that use this world, be as if they used it not... for the fabric of this world is passing away’ (I Cor 7.29).

‘My days... have passed as ships carrying fruits’ (Job 9.25). They have passed with their pleasures, and what remains of those pleasures now? The great ones of the world, those who have lived for pleasures, when they have died, are spoken of for a while, but they are soon forgotten: ‘Their memory has passed with a noise’ (Ps 9.7).

... As they say to themselves: ‘What hath pride profited us? or what advantage hath the boasting of riches brought us? All those things are passed away like a shadow, and like a post that runneth on, And as a ship that passeth through the waves: whereof when it is gone by, the trace cannot be found, nor the path of its keel in the waters: Or as when a bird flieth through the air, of the passage of which no mark can be found, but only the sound of the wings beating the light air, and parting it by the force of her flight; she moved her wings, and hath flown through, and there is no mark found afterwards of her way: Or as when an arrow is shot at a mark, the divided air presently cometh together again, so that the passage thereof is not known.

‘So we also being born, forthwith ceased to be: and have been able to shew no mark of virtue: but are consumed in our wickedness. Such things as these the sinners said in Hell: For the hope of the wicked is as dust, which is blown away with the wind, and as a thin froth dispersed by the storm: and a smoke that is scattered abroad by the wind: and as the remembrance of a guest of one day that passeth by. But the just shall live for evermore: and their reward is with the Lord, and the care of them with the most High’ (Wis. 5).

“Meditations on Death” - Part 2: A Lenten Series by Father Konrad zu Loewenstein - 2: The Hour of Death

PART 2

A Lenten Guest Series by

Father Konrad zu Loewenstein

‘It is given to man once to die, and after follows the judgment’ (Hebrews 9.27)

THE HOUR OF DEATH

‘Nothing is more certain than death’, says the Idiota, ‘but nothing is more uncertain than its Hour’.

a) The Certainty of Death

In 150 years from now all those who are at present alive will have passed out of this world: all those who now fill the bustling streets of our cities, who fill our houses, who inhabit the countryside, who sail the sea, or fly and travel, who wake and sleep: all these will havedeparted. “Days will be formed and no-one in them” (Ps. 138.16). In the same way, of allthose who lived 150 years ago, not one is still alive. “Yesterday for me: to-day for thee” (Eccl. 38. 23).

What foolishness, then, to live on this earth as though it were to be our eternal dwelling – what foolishness for a traveller passing through a country on an important mission to spend all he possesses on a house that he must soon abandon, or for a man crossing a desert to settle at an oasis and advance no further. What eminent wisdom, by contrast, to live as though each day, each act, were our last; to fill each day and each act with an ever more perfect love of God: to prepare us for our passage into Eternity.

"Meditations on Death"
A Lenten Guest Series by Father Konrad zu Loewenstein
- I: Introduction

A Lenten Guest-Series by
Father Konrad zu Loewenstein

Now that we have entered the liturgical season of Septuagesima, and are about to enter the great penitential season of Lent, it is appropriate to recall to mind the perennial Catholic teaching on death.

To this end I offer readers a synthesis of the respective material to be found in the book Preparation for Death by St. Alphonsus Maria de' Liguori.

Proficiat ad vitam aeternam! Amen.

MEDITATIONS ON DEATH

after the ‘Preparation for Death’, by St. Alphonsus Maria de’Liguori

Introduction

A Lenten Guest Series by Father Konrad zu Loewenstein
- I: Introduction'>Read more »

Don Bosco’s most ferocious enemy

From the writings of Don Giuseppe Tomaselli

H/T Cordialiter Blog

The Devil gets furious with those striving for their own spiritual perfection and so everyday he engages in a fight with them, tempting them towards evil; if he doesn’t manage today, he hopes to do so tomorrow; he knows the weaknesses of everyone and also how to exploit them, by driving people to impurity, hate or the abuse of God’s mercy.

But if he behaves like this with devout people, imagine how his furor is roused against those who bring souls to God. Don Bosco was a fisher of souls; the Demon, as a consequence, enraged against him, in the foolish hope of hampering his apostolate. The diabolical vexations began with loud, nocturnal noises on the roof of his home; sudden and terrifying shaking at the door and windows occurred; while he was resting, the covers on his bed were pulled back by an invisible hand…

Nulla in mundo pax sincera

Antonio Vivaldi - Nulla in Mundo Pax Sincera, RV 630 - aria (1/3)

Aria

Nulla in mundo pax sincera

sine felle; pura et vera,

dulcis Jesu, est in te

Inter poenas et tormenta

vivit anima contenta

casti amoris sola spe,

ARCHBISHOP LUIGI NEGRI – Our certainty is this: Christ is with us

a lenten meditation

The Lenten journey has to be made by men who have their hearts filled with one certainty. This certainty, which reconciles with everyday existence, is that Christ is with us: in a close embrace, an embrace that no human or supernatural power can ever loosen.

Life then is not an individual running around in search of reality; it is not a determination to express one’s needs and intentions the most adequate way possible. Life is a gift that is given every day by the grace of Christ present in His Church.

Therefore our prime Lenten approach is that of submission to this certainty: living this reality. The reality of life is not that of taking off by ourselves into the world in the effort to conquest goodness knows what; life is a gift, bestowed on us, which we have to embrace with all the power of understanding and love we have in our hearts. This certainty – that if Christ is with us nobody can be against us – is the intellectual and moral foundation – but I’d like to say even the psychological and emotional foundation – of the Christian life.

“Let’s be joyful and courageous at least in the higher part of our souls, in the midst of the trials the Lord gives us, as The Angel who foretold the Birth of Our Little Savior and Lord, proclaims it singing and sings proclaiming joy, peace and happiness to men of good-will, so that nobody can say they don’t know that to receive this Child, you only need some good will.”

- St. Padre Pio

Saint Alphonsus in Holy Week:
VII- Sabbato Sancto (Holy Saturday): The Lady on Calvary

MEDITATION

for Holy Saturday

Mary Present on Calvary at the Death of Jesus

I.

There stood by the cross of Jesus His Mother. We observe in this the Queen of Martyrs, a sort of martyrdom more cruel than any other martyrdom, - that of a mother so placed as to behold an innocent Son executed upon a gibbet of infamy: “she stood.” Ever since Jesus was apprehended in the garden, He has been abandoned by His disciples; but Mary abandons Him not. She stays with Him till she sees Him expire before her eyes: “she stood close by.”

Mothers, in general, flee away from the presence of their sons when they see them suffer, and cannot render them any assistance; content enough would they be themselves to endure their sons’ sufferings; and, therefore, when they see them suffering without the power of succoring them, they have not the strength to endure so great a pain, and consequently flee away, and go to a distance. Not so Mary. She sees her Son in torments; she see that the pains are taking His life away; but she flees not, nor moves to a distance. On the contrary, she draws near to the cross whereon her Son is dying.

O sorrowing Mary! Disdain me not for a companion to assist at the death of thy Jesus and mine.

II.

She stood near the cross. The cross, then, is the bed whereon Jesus leaves His life; a bed of suffering, where this afflicted Mother is watching Jesus, all wounded as He is with scourges and with thorns. Mary observes how this her poor Son, suspended from those three iron nails, finds neither a position nor repose. She would wish to give Him some relief; she would wish, at least, since He has to die, to have Him die in her arms. But nothing of all this is allowed her.

Ah, cross! She says, give me back my Son! Thou art a malefactor’s gibbet; whereas my Son is innocent.

But grieve not thyself, O Mother. It is the will of the Eternal Father that the cross should not give Jesus back to thee until after He has died and breathed His last. O Queen of Sorrows! Obtain for me sorrow for my sins.

III.

There stood by the cross His Mother. Meditate, my soul, upon Mary, as she stands at the foot of the cross watching her Son. Her Son! But, O God, what a Son! A Son Who was, at one and the same time, her Son and her God! A son Who had from all eternity chosen her to be His Mother, and had given her a preference in His love before all mankind and all the angels! A Son so beautiful, so holy, and so lovely; A Son Who had been ever obedient unto her; a Son Who was her one and only love, being as He was both her Son and God. And this Mother had to see such a Son die of pain before her very eyes!

O Mary, O Mother, most afflicted of all mothers! I compassionate thy heart, more especially when thou didst behold Jesus surrender Himself up upon the cross, open His mouth , and expire; and, for love of this thy Son, now dead for my salvation, do thou recommend unto Him my soul.

And do Thou, my Jesus, for the sake of the merits of Mary’s sorrows, have mercy upon me, and grant me the grace of dying for Thee, as Thou hast died for me: “May I die, O my Lord” (will I say unto Thee, with St. Francis of Assisi), “for love of the love of Thee, Who hast vouchsafed to die for love of the love of me.”

St. Alphonsus Maria de Liguori

The Ascetical Works : The Passion and Death of Jesus Christ

Meditations for Holy Week

[Contributor Francesca Romana]

Saint Alphonsus in Holy Week:
VI - Feria Sexta in Parasceve (Good Friday): Hanging Dead from the Cross

MEDITATION

for Good Friday

Jesus hanging Dead upon the Cross

I.

Raise up thine eyes, my soul, and behold that crucified man. Behold the Divine Lamb now sacrificed upon that altar of pain. Consider that He is the Beloved Son of the Eternal Father; and consider that He is dead for the love that He has borne thee. See how He holds His arms outstretched to embrace thee; His head bent down to give the kiss of peace; His side open to receive thee into His heart. What dost thou say? Does not a God so loving deserve to be loved? Listen to the words He addresses to thee from that cross: “Look, my son, and see whether there be any one in the world who has loved thee more than I have.”

No, my God, there is none that has loved me more than Thou. But what return shall I ever be able to make to a God Who has been willing to die for me? What love from a creature will ever be able to recompense the love of his Creator, Who died to gain his love?

II.

O God! Had the vilest one of mankind suffered for me what Jesus Christ has suffered, could I ever refrain from loving him? Were I to see any man torn to pieces with scourges and fastened to a cross in order to save my life, could I ever bear it in mind without feeling a tender emotion of love? And were there to be brought to me the portrait of him, as he lay dead upon the cross, could I behold it with an eye of indifference, when I considered: “This man is dead, tortured thus, for love of me. Had he not loved me, he would not so have died.”

Ah, my Redeemer, O love of my soul! How shall I ever be able to forget Thee? How shall I ever be able to think that my sins have reduced Thee so low, and not always bewail the wrongs that I have done to Thy goodness? How shall I ever be able to see Thee dead of pain on this cross for love of me, and not love Thee to the uttermost of my power?

III.

O my dear Redeemer! Well do I recognize in these Thy wounds, and in Thy lacerated body, as it were through so many lattices, the tender affection which Thou does retain for me. Since, then, in order to pardon me, Thou has not pardoned Thyself, oh, look upon me now with the same love wherewith Thou didst one day look upon me from the cross, whilst Thou wert dying for me.

Look upon me and enlighten me, and draw my whole heart to Thyself, that so, from this day forth, I may love none else but Thee. Let me not ever be unmindful of Thy death. Thou didst promise that, when raised up upon the cross, Thou wouldst draw all our hearts to Thee. Behold this heart of mine, which, made tender by Thy death, and enamored of Thee, desires to offer no further resistance to Thy calls. Oh, do Thou draw it to Thyself, and make it all Thine own! Thou hast died for me, and I desire to die for Thee; and if I continue to live, I will live for Thee alone.

O pains of Jesus, O ignominies of Jesus, O death of Jesus, O love of Jesus! Fix yourselves within my heart, and let the remembrance of you abide there always, to be continually smiting me, and inflaming me with love.

I love Thee, O infinite goodness; I love Thee, O infinite love. Thou art and shalt ever be, my one and only love.

O Mary, Mother of love, do thou obtain me love.

St. Alphonsus Maria de Liguori

The Ascetical Works : The Passion and Death of Jesus Christ

Meditations for Holy Week

[Contributor Francesca Romana]

Saint Alphonsus in Holy Week:
V - Feria Quinta in Cœna Domini (Holy Thursday): Consummatum est

MEDITATION

for Holy Thursday

Jesus dies upon the Cross

I.

Behold how the loving Saviour is now drawing nigh unto death. Behold, O my soul, those beautiful eyes growing dim, that face become all pallid, that heart all but ceasing to beat, and that sacred body now disposing itself to the final surrender of its life.

After Jesus had received the vinegar, He said: It is consummated. He then passed over in review before His eyes all the sufferings that He had undergone during His life, in the shape of poverty, contempt and pain; and then offering them all up to the Eternal Father, He turned to Him and said, It is finished. My Father, behold by the sacrifice of my death, the work of the world’s redemption, which Thou hast laid upon me, is now completed. And it seems as though, turning Himself again to us, He repeated, It is finished; as if He would have said, O men, O men, love me, for I have done all; there is nothing more that I can do in order to gain your love.

II.

Behold now, lastly, Jesus dies. Come, ye angels of heaven, come and assist at the death of your King. And thou, O sorrowing Mother Mary, do thou draw nearer to the cross, and fix thine eyes yet more attentively on thy Son, for He is now on the point of death. Behold Him, after having commended His spirit to His Eternal Father, He calls upon death, giving it permission to come to take away His life. Come, O death, says He to it, be quick and perform thine office; slay Me, and save my flock. The earth now trembles, the graves open, the veil of the temple is rent in twain. The strength of the dying Saviour is failing through the violence of the sufferings; the warmth of His body is gradually diminishing; He gives up His body to death: He bows His head down upon His breast, He opens His mouth and dies: And bowing His head, He gave up the ghost. The people behold Him expire, and observing that he no longer moves, they say, He is dead, He is dead; and to them the voice of Mary makes echo, while she too says, “Ah, my Son, Thou art, then dead.”

III.

He is dead! O God! Who is it that is dead? The author of life, the only-begotten Son of God, the Lord of the world, - He is dead. O death! Thou wert the amazement of heaven and of all nature. O infinite love! A God to sacrifice His blood and His life! And for whom? For His ungrateful creatures; dying in an ocean of sufferings and shame, in order to pay the penalty due to their sins. Ah infinite goodness! O infinite love!

O my Jesus! Thou art, then, dead, on account of the love which Thou has borne me! Oh, let me never again live, even for a single moment, without loving Thee! I love Thee, my chief and only good; I love Thee, My Jesus, - dead for me! O my sorrowing Mother Mary, do thou help a servant of thine, who desires to love Jesus.

St. Alphonsus Maria de Liguori

The Ascetical Works : The Passion and Death of Jesus Christ

Meditations for Holy Week

[Contributor Francesca Romana]

Saint Alphonsus in Holy Week:
IV - Feria Quarta (Holy Wednesday): Christ speaks from the Cross

MEDITATION

for Holy (Spy) Wednesday

The Words spoken by Jesus upon the Cross

I.

While Jesus upon the cross is being outraged by that barbarous populace, what is it that He is doing? He is praying for them, and saying, O My Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do. O Eternal Father, hearken to this Thy Beloved Son, Who, in dying, prays Thee to forgive me too, who have outraged Thee so much. Then Jesus, turning to the good thief, who prays Him to have mercy upon him, replies: Today shalt thou be with Me in paradise. Oh, how true is that which the Lord spake by the mouth of Ezekiel, that when a sinner repents of his faults, He, as it were, blots out from His memory, all the offences of which he has been guilty: But if the wicked do penance…I will not remember all his iniquities.

O would that it were true, my Jesus, that I had never offended Thee! But, since the evil is done, remember no more, I pray Thee, the displeasures that I have given Thee; and, by that bitter death which Thou hast suffered for me, take me to Thy Kingdom after my death; and, while I live, let Thy love reign within my soul.

II.

Jesus, in His agony upon the cross, with every part of His body full of torture, and deluged with affliction in His soul, seeks for someone to console Him. He looks toward Mary; but that sorrowing Mother only adds by her grief to His affliction. He casts His eyes around Him and there is no one that gives Him comfort. He asks His Father for consolation; but the Father, beholding Him covered with all the sins of men, even He too abandons Him; and then it was that Jesus cried out with a loud voice: Jesus cried out with a loud voice, saying My God, My God, why hast Thou forsaken me? My God, My God, why has Thou also abandoned Me? This abandonment by the Eternal Father caused the death of Jesus Christ to be more bitter than any that has ever fallen the lot of either penitent or martyr; for it was a death of perfect desolation, and bereft of every kind of relief.

O my Jesus! How is it that I have been able to live so long a time in forgetfulness of Thee? I return Thee thanks that Thou has not been unmindful of me. Oh, I pray Thee ever to keep me in mind of the bitter death which Thou has embraced for love of me, that so I may never be unmindful of the love which Thou hast borne me!

III.

Jesus then, knowing that His sacrifice was now completed, said that He was thirsty: He said, I thirst. And the executioners then reached up to His mouth a sponge, filled with vinegar and gall.

But, Lord, how is it that Thou does make no complaint of those many pains which are taking away Thy life, but complainst only of thirst?

Ah, I understand Thee, my Jesus; Thy thirst is a thirst of love; because Thou lovest us, Thou dost desire to be beloved by us. Oh, help me to drive away from my heart all affection which are not for Thee; make me to love none other but Thee, and to have no other desire save that of doing Thy will.

St. Alphonsus Maria de Liguori

The Ascetical Works : The Passion and Death of Jesus Christ

Meditations for Holy Week

[Contributor Francesca Romana]

Saint Alphonsus in Holy Week:
III - Feria Tertia (Holy Tuesday): Consumed for Love

MEDITATION

for Holy Tuesday

Jesus upon the Cross

I.

Jesus on the cross! Behold the proof of the love of a God; behold the final manifestation of Himself, which the Word Incarnate makes upon this earth, - a manifestation of suffering indeed, but, still more, a manifestation of love. St. Francis of Paola, as he was one day mediating upon the Divine Love in the person of Jesus Crucified, rapt in ecstasy, exclaimed aloud three times, in these words, “O God – Love! O God- Love! O God - Love!” wishing hereby to signify that we shall never be able to comprehend how great has been the Divine love towards us, in willing to die for love of us.

II.

O my beloved Jesus! If I behold Thy body upon this cross, nothing do I see but wounds and blood; and, then, if I turn my attention to Thy heart, I find it to be all afflicted and in sorrow. Upon this cross I see it written that Thou art a king; but what tokens of majesty dost Thou retain? I see not any royal throne save this tree of infamy; no other purple do I behold save Thy wounded and bloody flesh; no other crown save this band of thorns that tortures Thee. Ah, how it all declares Thee to be king of love! Yes, for this cross, these nails, this crown and these wounds are, all of them, tokens of love.

III.

Jesus, from the cross, asks us not so much for our compassion as for our love; and, if even He does ask our compassion, He asks it solely in order that the compassion may move us to love Him. As being infinite goodness, He already merits all our love; but when placed upon the cross, it seems as if He sought for us to love Him, at least out of compassion.

Ah, my Jesus, and who is there that will not love Thee, while confessing Thee to be the God that Thou art, and contemplating Thee upon the cross? Oh, what arrows of fire dost Thou not dart at souls from that throne of love! Oh, how many hearts hast Thou not drawn to Thyself from that cross of Thine! O wounds of my Jesus! O beautiful furnaces of love! Admit me, too, amongst yourselves to burn, not indeed with that fire of hell which I have deserved, but with holy flames of love for that God Who has been willing to die for me, consumed by torments. O my dear Redeemer! Receive back a sinner, who, sorrowing for having offended Thee, is now earnestly longing to love Thee. I love Thee, I love Thee, O infinite goodness, O infinite love.

O Mary, Mother of beautiful love! Obtain for me a greater measure of love, to consume me for that God Who has died consumed for love of me.

St. Alphonsus Maria de Liguori

The Ascetical Works : The Passion and Death of Jesus Christ

Meditations for Holy Week

[Contributor Francesca Romana]

Saint Alphonsus in Holy Week:
II - Feria Secunda (Holy Monday): Hammers and Nails

MEDITATION

for Holy Monday

Jesus is placed on the Cross

I.

No sooner had the Redeemer arrived, all suffering and wearied out, at Calvary, than they strip Him of His clothes, - that now stick to His wounded flesh, - and then cast Him down upon the cross. Jesus stretches forth His holy hands, and at the same time offers His life to the Eternal Father, and prays of Him to accept it for the salvation of mankind. In the nest place, the executioners savagely lay hold of the nails and hammers, and, nailing His hands and His feet, they fasten Him to the cross.

O ye Sacred Hands, which by a mere touch have so often healed the sick, wherefore are they now nailing you upon the cross? O Holy Feet, which have encountered so much fatigue in your search after us lost sheep, wherefore do they now transfix you with so much pain? When a nerve is wounded in the human body, so great is the suffering, that it occasions convulsions and fits of fainting: what, then, must not the suffering of Jesus have been, in having nails driven through His hands and feet, parts which are most full of nerves and muscles!

O my sweet Saviour! So much did the desire of seeing me saved and of gaining my love cost Thee! And I have so often ungratefully despised Thy love for nothing; but now I prize it above every good.

II.

The Cross is now raised up together with the Crucified, and they let it fall down with a shock into the hole that had been made for it in the rock. It is then made firm by stones and pieces of wood; and Jesus remains hanging upon it, to leave His life thereon. The afflicted Saviour, now about to die upon that bed of pain, and finding Himself in such desolation and misery, seeks for someone to console Him, but finds none.

Surely, my Lord, those men will at least compassionate Thee, now that Thou are dying! But no; I hear some outraging Thee, some ridiculing Thee, and others blaspheming Thee, saying to Thee, “Come down from the cross if Thou art the Son of God. He has saved others, and now He cannot save Himself.”

Alas, you barbarians, He is now about to die, according as you desire; at least torment Him not with your reviling.

III.

See how much thy dying Redeemer is suffering upon that gibbet! Each member suffers its own pain, and the one cannot come to the help of the other. Alas, how does He experience in every moment the pains of death! Well may it be said that in those three hours during which Jesus was suffering His agony upon the cross, He suffered as many deaths as were the moments that He remained there. He find not there even the slightest relief or repose, whether He lean His weight upon His hands or upon His feet; wheresoever He leans the pain is increased, His most holy body hanging suspended, as it does, from His very wounds themselves. Go, my soul, and tenderly draw nigh to theat cross, and kiss that altar, whereon thy Lord is dying a victim of love for thee. Place thyself beneath His feet, and let that Divine Blood trickle down upon thee.

Yes, my dear Jesus, let this Blood wash me from all my sins, and set me all on fire with love towards Thee, my God, Who hast been willing to die for love of me. Do thou, O suffering Mother, who dost stand at the foot of the cross, pray to Jesus for me.

St. Alphonsus Maria de Liguori

The Ascetical Works : The Passion and Death of Jesus Christ

Meditations for Holy Week

[Contributor Francesca Romana]

Saint Alphonsus in Holy Week:
I - Palm Sunday: He moves along

MEDITATION

for Palm Sunday

Jesus Carries the Cross to Calvary

I.

The sentence upon Our Saviour having been published, they straightway seize hold of Him in their fury: they strip Him anew of that purple rag, and put His own raiment upon Him, to lead Him away to be crucified on Calvary, - the place appropriated for the execution of criminals: They took off the cloak from Him, and put on Him His own garments, and led Him away to crucify Him.” (Matt. xxvii 31.) They then lay hold of two rough beams, and quickly make them into a cross, and order Him to carry it on His shoulders to the place of His punishment. What cruelty, to lay upon the criminal the gibbet on which he has to die!

But this is Thy lot, O my Jesus, because Thou has taken my sins upon Thyself.

II.

Jesus refuse not the cross; with love He embraces it, as being the altar whereon is destined to be completed the sacrifice of His life for the salvation of men: And bearing His own Cross, He went forth to that place which is called Calvary. The condemned criminals now come forth from Pilate’s residence, and in the midst of them there goes also our condemned Lord. O that sight which filled both heaven and earth with amazement! To see the Son of God going to die for the sake of those very men from whose hands He is receiving His death! Behold the prophecy fulfilled: And I was as a meek lamb, that is carried to be a victim. The appearance that Jesus made on this journey was so pitiable that the Jewish women, on beholding Him, followed Him in tears: They bewailed and lamented Him.

O my Redeemer! By the merits of this sorrowful journey of Thine, give me strength to bear my cross with patience. I accept of all the sufferings and contempts which Thou dost destine for me to undergo. Thou hast rendered them lovely and sweet by embracing them for love of us: give me strength to endure them with calmness.

III.

Behold, my soul, now that thy condemned Saviour is passing, behold how He moves along, dripping with blood that keeps flowing from His still fresh wounds, crowned with thorns, and laden with the cross. Alas, how at every motion is the pain of all His wounds renewed! The Cross, from the first moment, begins its torture, pressing heavily upon His wounded shoulders, and cruelly acting like a hammer upon the thorns of the crown. O God! At every step, how great are the sufferings! Let us meditate upon the sentiments of love wherewith Jesus, in this journey, is drawing nigh to Calvary, where death stands awaiting Him.

Ah, my Jesus, Thou art going to die for us. In time past I have turned my back upon Thee, I would that I could die of grief on this account! But for the future I have not the heart to leave Thee, O my Redeemer, my God, my love, my all! O Mary, my Mother, do thou obtain for me strength to bear my cross in peace.

St. Alphonsus Maria de Liguori

The Ascetical Works : The Passion and Death of Jesus Christ

Meditations for Holy Week

[Contributor Francesca Romana]

A Christmas meditation

Given by Father Konrad zu Loewenstein FSSP at Midnight Mass, 2017

St. Mary’s Church, Warrington, England

(based on the Biblical Commentary of Fr. Cornelius a Lapide)

We read that Our Blessed Lady in the Christmas scene 'meditated all these things in her heart'. The Latin word 'conferens' suggests the making of comparisons, that is of the human and the Divine: the human in the birth of a human child of a human mother in the poorest and meanest of conditions; the Divine in the birth of God predicted by an Archangel, heralded by the conception and the exultation in the womb of St. John the Baptist, by the prophecies of St. Elisabeth and Zachariah, by the host of angels and the star.

And amongst the signs of Divine action we can include the character of the birth itself and the presence of ministering angels.