MARY, OUR MOTHER

Catholic Population in the World

ADVENT MEDITATIONS
FOR THE FIRST EIGHT DAYS
By St. Alphonsus de Liguori

MEDITATION IV

Image by Lawrence OP via Flickr

Happiness of having been born after the Redemption and in the True Church.

Ubi venit plenitudo temporis, misit Deus Filium suum . . . , ut eos qui sub lege erant, redimeret.
"When the fullness of time was come, God sent His Son . . . that He might redeem them who were under the law." (Gal. 4:4)

I.
How thankful should we not be to Almighty God for having caused us to be born after the great work of man's redemption was accomplished! This is what is meant by the fullness of time, a time blessed by the fullness of grace, which Jesus Christ obtained for us by coming into the world. Miserable should we have been if, guilty as we are of manifold sins, we had lived on this earth before the coming of Jesus Christ.

II.
Oh, what a miserable state were all men in before the coming of the Messiah; the true God was hardly known even in Judea, and in every other part of the world idolatry reigned, so that our forefathers worshiped stones, and wood, and devils; they worshiped innumerable false gods, but the true God was neither loved nor known by them. Even now, how many countries are there in which there are scarcely any Catholics, and all the rest of the inhabitants are either infidels or heretics! And all these are certainly in the way to be lost. What obligation do we not owe God for causing us to be born, not only after the coming of Jesus Christ, but also in countries where the true faith reigns!

I thank Thee, O Lord, for this. Woe to me if, after so many transgressions, it had been my lot to live in the midst of infidels or heretics! I know, O my God, that Thou willest that I should be saved; and I, miserable wretch, have willed so many times to damn myself by losing Thy favor. Have pity, my Blessed Redeemer, on my soul, which has cost Thee so much.

III.
God sent His Son that He might redeem them that were under the law. The slave therefore sins, and by sinning gives himself into the power of the devil, and his own Lord comes and ransoms him by His death.

O immense love, O infinite love of God towards man! O my Saviour, if Thou hadst not redeemed me by Thy death, what would have become of me? Of me, who so many times deserved hell by my sins. Oh, if Thou, my Jesus, hadst not died for me, I should have lost Thee forever, and there would have been no hope for me of recovering Thy grace, or of seeing Thy beautiful face in paradise. My dearest Saviour, I thank Thee; and I hope to come to heaven, there to thank Thee for all eternity. I regret above every evil that of having despised Thee in times past. In future, I purpose to choose every trouble, every kind of death, rather than offend Thee. I beseech Thee, my Jesus, let me never do so; "never let me be separated from Thee, never let me be separated from Thee." I love Thee, O infinite Goodness! And I will always love Thee in this life, and in all eternity. O my queen and advocate, Mary, keep me always under thy protection, and deliver me from sin.

[From 'The Incarnation, Birth and Infancy of Jesus Christ.']