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Palm Sunday
J.M.J. The Passion and The Death of Jesus Christ
By St. Alphonsus de Liguori To the Reader In my book on the Glories of Mary, I promised to write for you
another that should treat of the love of Jesus Christ; but on account
of my corporal infirmities, my Director would not permit me to keep my promise. I have been scarcely able to publish these short Reflections on the Passion of Jesus Christ. These Reflections, however, contain the gist of what I had gathered for my subject, withholding only what had reference to the Incarnation and birth of our Saviour, as I intended to compose from it a little work for the Novena of Christmas, which I shall afterwards publish, if I obtain permission.
Nevertheless, I hope that the little work that I offer you to-day
will be pleasing to you, especially since it will put before you, in
regular order, the passages of Holy Scripture referring to the love
that Jesus Christ showed us in his death; for there is nothing more
apt to stimulate a Christian to the love of God than the word of God
itself that is drawn from Holy Writ. Let us, therefore, love Jesus Christ, who is our Saviour, our God,
and our supreme good. This is the reason why I invite you to cast a
glance at the Passion; for you will find therein all the motives that
we can have to hope for eternal life and to love God; and in this our
salvation consists. All the saints cherished a tender devotion towards Jesus Christ in
his Passion; this is the only means by which they sanctified
themselves. Father Balthasar Alvarez, as we read in his life, used to
say that one should not think of having done anything so long as one
has not succeeded in constantly keeping in one's heart Jesus
crucified. His method of prayer consisted in placing himself at the
feet of Jesus crucified, by meditating especially on his poverty, his
humiliations, sorrows, and by listening to the lesson that our Lord
made him hear from the height of the cross. You may also hope to
sanctify yourself if you continue in like manner to consider what
your divine Redeemer has done and suffered for you. Ask him, without ceasing, to give you his love; and this grace you
should never weary to ask from your Queen, the Blessed Virgin, who is
called the Mother of beautiful love. And when you ask this great gift
for yourself, ask it also for me, who have desired to contribute to
your sanctification in offering you this little work. I promise to do
the same thing for you in order that, one day, in paradise, we may
embrace each other in a holy charity, and may recognize each other as
devoted servants of our most amiable Saviour, finding ourselves united
there in the society of the elect to see forever, face to face, and
love for all eternity, Jesus, our Saviour and our love. Amen. ------------------------------- Sincerely in Christ
Our Lady of the Rosary Library
"Pray and work for souls"
http://olrl.org
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