Reflection #36
We Ought to Have God
Alone in View
In all our actions we should have no other end in view but to please God, not to please our relations or friends or great people or ourselves, because everything which is not done for the sake of God is all lost. Many things are done to please or not to displease men, but says St. Paul: "If I yet pleased men, I should not be the servant of Christ." (Galatians 1:10). God only must be regarded in everything we do, so that we may say as Jesus Christ said: "I do always the things that please Him." (John 8:29). God has given us everything we have; we have our own only nothingness and sin. God alone is He who has truly loved us. He has loved us from eternity and He has loved us even so as to give Himself to us upon the Cross and in the Sacrament of the Altar. God alone, therefore, deserves all our love.
Unhappy is that soul which looks with affection upon any object upon earth to the displeasure of God. It will never know peace in this life and is in imminent peril of never enjoying peace in the next. But on the contrary, happy is he, O my God, who seeks Thee alone and renounces everything for Thy love! He will find that pearl of Thy pure love, a jewel more precious than all the treasures and kingdoms of the earth. He that does this, obtains the true liberty of the sons of God, as he finds himself freed from all the bonds which draw him to earth and hinder him from uniting himself closely to God.
My God and my All, I prefer Thee to all riches, to honors, to knowledge, to glory, to expectations and to all the gifts which Thou couldst bestow on me. Thou art entirely my Good; Thee alone I desire and nothing more, for Thou alone art infinitely beautiful, infinitely kind, infinitely amiable; in a word, Thou art the Only Good. Wherefore, every gift which is not Thyself is not enough for me. I repeat, and I will ever repeat it, Thee alone I desire and nothing more; and whatever is less than Thee, I tell Thee, it is not sufficient for me.
Oh, when shall it be given me to occupy myself solely in praising Thee, loving Thee and pleasing Thee, so that I shall no more think of creatures, nor even of myself? O my Lord and my Love, help me when Thou seest me growing cold in Thy love, in danger of giving my affection to creatures and to earthly pleasures. "Put forth Thy hand from on high, take me out, and deliver me from many waters." (Psalms 143:7). Deliver me at that time from the danger of going far away from Thee.
Let others seek what they will; nothing pleases me and I desire nothing but Thee, my God, my Love and my Hope: "What have I in Heaven? And besides Thee, what do I desire upon earth? . . . Thou art the God of my heart, and the God that is my portion forever." (Psalms 75:25-26). My God and my All!
O men, let us undeceive ourselves! All the good which comes to us from creatures is but dust, smoke and deceits; God alone is He who can satisfy us. But in this life He does not grant us to enjoy Him fully; He only gives us certain foretastes of the good things which He promises in Heaven. There He awaits us to satiate us with His own bliss, when He will say to us: "Enter thou into the joy of thy Lord." (Matthew 25:21). The Lord gives heavenly consolations to His servants, only to make them yearn for that happiness which He prepares for them in Paradise.
O Almighty God, O God worthy of love, grant that in all things from henceforth we may aim at nothing and seek nothing but Thy pleasure. Grant that Thou mayest be our All and our only Love, since Thou alone, both in justice and in gratitude, dost deserve all our affections. Nothing gives me greater pain than the thought that in times past I have so little loved Thine Infinite Goodness, but I desire and resolve, with Thy help, to love Thee with all my strength for the time to come, and thus I hope to die, loving Thee alone, my Sovereign Good.
O Mary, Mother of God, pray for me, a miserable creature. Thy prayers are never refused; pray to Jesus that He may make me entirely His own.
[Excepted from 'Devout Reflections and Meditations' by St. Alphonsus Liguori] (Public domain)
Unhappy is that soul which looks with affection upon any object upon earth to the displeasure of God. It will never know peace in this life and is in imminent peril of never enjoying peace in the next. But on the contrary, happy is he, O my God, who seeks Thee alone and renounces everything for Thy love! He will find that pearl of Thy pure love, a jewel more precious than all the treasures and kingdoms of the earth. He that does this, obtains the true liberty of the sons of God, as he finds himself freed from all the bonds which draw him to earth and hinder him from uniting himself closely to God.
My God and my All, I prefer Thee to all riches, to honors, to knowledge, to glory, to expectations and to all the gifts which Thou couldst bestow on me. Thou art entirely my Good; Thee alone I desire and nothing more, for Thou alone art infinitely beautiful, infinitely kind, infinitely amiable; in a word, Thou art the Only Good. Wherefore, every gift which is not Thyself is not enough for me. I repeat, and I will ever repeat it, Thee alone I desire and nothing more; and whatever is less than Thee, I tell Thee, it is not sufficient for me.
Oh, when shall it be given me to occupy myself solely in praising Thee, loving Thee and pleasing Thee, so that I shall no more think of creatures, nor even of myself? O my Lord and my Love, help me when Thou seest me growing cold in Thy love, in danger of giving my affection to creatures and to earthly pleasures. "Put forth Thy hand from on high, take me out, and deliver me from many waters." (Psalms 143:7). Deliver me at that time from the danger of going far away from Thee.
Let others seek what they will; nothing pleases me and I desire nothing but Thee, my God, my Love and my Hope: "What have I in Heaven? And besides Thee, what do I desire upon earth? . . . Thou art the God of my heart, and the God that is my portion forever." (Psalms 75:25-26). My God and my All!
O men, let us undeceive ourselves! All the good which comes to us from creatures is but dust, smoke and deceits; God alone is He who can satisfy us. But in this life He does not grant us to enjoy Him fully; He only gives us certain foretastes of the good things which He promises in Heaven. There He awaits us to satiate us with His own bliss, when He will say to us: "Enter thou into the joy of thy Lord." (Matthew 25:21). The Lord gives heavenly consolations to His servants, only to make them yearn for that happiness which He prepares for them in Paradise.
O Almighty God, O God worthy of love, grant that in all things from henceforth we may aim at nothing and seek nothing but Thy pleasure. Grant that Thou mayest be our All and our only Love, since Thou alone, both in justice and in gratitude, dost deserve all our affections. Nothing gives me greater pain than the thought that in times past I have so little loved Thine Infinite Goodness, but I desire and resolve, with Thy help, to love Thee with all my strength for the time to come, and thus I hope to die, loving Thee alone, my Sovereign Good.
O Mary, Mother of God, pray for me, a miserable creature. Thy prayers are never refused; pray to Jesus that He may make me entirely His own.
[Excepted from 'Devout Reflections and Meditations' by St. Alphonsus Liguori] (Public domain)
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