MARY, OUR MOTHER

Reflection 2

We Are Pilgrims on Earth

As long as we are in this life, we are so many pilgrims wandering upon the earth, far from our true country, which is Heaven, where God awaits us, that we may rejoice forever in beholding His beautiful countenance. "While we are in the body," writes the Apostle, "we are absent from the Lord." (2 Corinthians 5:6). If then we love God, we ought to have a continual desire to leave this place of exile by being separated from the body, that we may go and behold Him. It was for this that St. Paul ever sighed, as he goes on to say: "We are confident, and have a good will to be absent rather from the body, and to be present with the Lord." (2 Corinthians 5:8).
Before the Redemption, the way to God was closed for us miserable sons of Adam; but Jesus Christ, by His death, has obtained for us the grace of having it in our power to become the sons of God. ["But as many as received Him, He gave them power to be made the sons of God." (John 1:12)] And thus He has opened to us the gates by which we can have access, as children, to God our Father.
On this account St. Paul says: "Now, therefore , you are no more strangers and foreigners, but you are fellow-citizens with the saints and the domestics of God," (Ephesians 2:19), so that, while we are in the grace of God, we enjoy the citizenship of Paradise and belong to the household of God. St. Augustine says: "Nature corrupted by sin produces citizens of an earthly city and vessels of wrath; but grace, which frees our nature from sin, makes us citizens of a heavenly country and vessels of mercy."
This made David say: "I am a sojourner on the earth; hide not Thy commandments from me." (Psalms 118:19). O Lord, I am a pilgrim upon this earth; teach me to keep Thy precepts, which are the road by which I may reach my country in Heaven. It is not surprising that the wicked should wish to live forever in this world, for they justly fear that they will pass from the pains of this life to the eternal and far more terrible pains of Hell; but how can he who loves God, and has a moral certainty that he is in the state of grace, desire to go on living in this vale of tears--in continual bitterness, in anxieties of conscience, in peril of being condemned? How can he help sighing to depart speedily to unite himself to God in a blessed eternity, where there is no longer any danger of losing Him? Oh how the souls who love God continually, as long as they live, groan and cry out with David: "Woe is me, that my sojourning is prolonged!" (Psalms 119:5). Unhappy is he who must continue to live a long time in this world, in the midst of so many perils to his salvation! Therefore it is that the Saints have continually had this prayer upon their lips: "Thy kingdom come"; quickly, O Lord, quickly take us to Thy kingdom. Let us make speed, then, as the Apostle exhorts us, to enter that country where we shall find perfect peace and contentment: "Let us hasten therefore to enter that rest." (Hebrews 4:11). Let us hasten, I say, with desire, and not cease to press onwards, till we are safe in that blessed harbor of rest which God prepares for them that love Him.
He that runs in a race, says St. John Chrysostom, pays no heed to the spectators, but only to the crown of victory; he stops not, but the nearer he approaches the goal, the quicker he runs. Therefore, the Saint concludes that the longer we have lived, the more we should hasten by good works to secure the prize, so that our only prayer for relief in the troubles and trials which we endure in this life ought to be this: "Thy kingdom come." Lord, may Thy kingdom speedily come, where, united eternally to Thee and loving Thee face to face with all our powers, we shall no longer have fear or danger of losing Thee.
And when we find ourselves afflicted by trials or despised by the world, let us comfort ourselves with the great reward which God prepares for those who suffer for the love of Him: "Be glad in that day and rejoice, for behold, your reward is great in heaven." (Luke 6:23). St. Cyprian says that with good reason our Lord wills that we should rejoice in labors and persecutions, because then the true soldiers of God are tried and crowns are distributed to those who are faithful.

Behold, O my God, my heart is ready; behold me prepared for every cross which Thou shalt send me. No, I desire not delights or pleasures in this life; he who has offended Thee and deserves Hell merits not pleasures. I am ready to suffer all the infirmities and adversities which Thou dost send me; I am ready to embrace all the contempt of men. I am content, if so it please Thee, to be deprived of all bodily and spiritual consolations; it is enough if Thou dost not deprive me of Thyself and of loving Thee forever. I deserve not this, but I hope for it, through the blood that Thou hast shed for me. I love Thee, O my God, my Love, my All. I shall live forever, and I hope I shall love Thee forever; and my paradise will ever be to rejoice in Thine infinite bliss, for Thou dost truly merit it because of Thine infinite goodness.
[Excepted from 'Devout Reflections and Meditations' by St. Alphonsus Liguori] (Public domain)