Category: 14.viii.22 X Post Pentecost

When Alphonsus found himself once more in the bosom of his Congregation at Nocera, his chief aim was to return with new ardour to all the practices of his religious life. That beloved poverty, which had been the chief ornament of his episcopal palace, was also the sole decoration of the two little rooms which were to be his final dwelling-place. Loving God alone he cared for nothing else; whatever savoured of the world was hateful to him.

When Alphonsus found himself once more in the bosom of his Congregation at Nocera, his chief aim was to return with new ardour to all the practices of his religious life. That beloved poverty, which had been the chief ornament of his episcopal palace, was also the sole decoration of the two little rooms which were to be his final dwelling-place. Loving God alone he cared for nothing else; whatever savoured of the world was hateful to him.

Isaias also called Jesus Christ the Man of sorrows. It is to Jesus crucified that the words of Jeremias are especially applicable: Great as the sea is thy destruction (Lam. ii. 13). As all the waters of the rivers meet in the ocean, so in Jesus Christ are united all the pains of the sick, the penitential sufferings of anchorites, and all the pangs and contempt endured by Martyrs. He was laden with sorrows both of soul and body. Thou hast brought all thy waves in upon me (Ps. lxxxvii. 8).

In spite of his innumerable occupations, and his almost continual ill-health, and although the great pains from which he suffered rendered him weak and languid, Alphonsus nevertheless did not cease from the labours which he had undertaken for the good of the whole Christian world. This activity is, perhaps, the thing most worthy of admiration in his wonderful life. With unconquerable ardour the heroic old man continued to work at the study of sacred literature, and to occupy himself in writing theological treatises.

In spite of his innumerable occupations, and his almost continual ill-health, and although the great pains from which he suffered rendered him weak and languid, Alphonsus nevertheless did not cease from the labours which he had undertaken for the good of the whole Christian world. This activity is, perhaps, the thing most worthy of admiration in his wonderful life. With unconquerable ardour the heroic old man continued to work at the study of sacred literature, and to occupy himself in writing theological treatises.

O God, if Jesus Christ had not been what He really was, the Son of God, and true God, our Creator and supreme Lord, but a mere man, who would not be moved to compassion at the sight of a youth of noble blood, innocent and holy, dying through the force of his torments upon a shameful tree, to atone for sins not his own, but those of his enemies themselves, and thus to deliver them from the death which was their due? How, then, is it that the affections of all hearts are not drawn to a God Who died in a sea of insults and pains for the love of His creatures? How can these creatures love anything but God? How can they think of anything but being grateful to Him Who is their so loving Benefactor?

If Alphonsus so carefully watched over the spiritual progress of religious and ecclesiastics, he was equally solicitous for the rest of his flock–the laity. He made himself all things to all men in order to gain all to Christ, and as the Bull of his Canonisation testifies, he employed every means to preserve from destruction the flock committed to him. The poor and the sick were especially dear to his paternal heart, and as the same Bull testifies: “His charity to the poor was truly astonishing; they were liberally supplied by him with food, clothes, and money …

It must not, however, be imagined that the minute care which he bestowed upon his own household hindered him from attending to the diocese at large. He allowed only a few days to go by before he opened a mission for his people in the cathedral, and this had an immense success. He then proceeded to visit every part of his diocese, making provision everywhere for the sanctification of the flock which had been entrusted to him.

St. John Chrysostom says that all the perfection of the Love of God consists in resignation to the Divine will. He who conforms himself to the Divine Will is a man according to God’s own Heart. I have found David … a man according to my own heart who will do all my wills.

Therefore, we ought continually with tears of tenderness, to thank the Eternal Father for having given His innocent Son to death, to deliver us from eternal death: He spared not his own Son, but delivered him up for us all; and how hath he not also with him given us all things? (Rom. viii. 32). Thus wrote St. Paul; and thus Jesus Himself spoke in the Gospel of St. John: God so loved the world as to give his only-begotten Son (Jo. iii. 16).