Follow Saint Alphonsus Liguori to the manger with The Road to Bethlehem. Today, contemplate Jesus’s sacrificial love from the moment of His Incarnation.
Meditation
The divine Word, from the first instant that He was made man and an infant in Mary’s womb, offered Himself of His own accord to suffer and to die for the ransom of the world: He was offered because it was His own will.
He knew that all the sacrifices of goats and bulls offered to God in times past had not been able to satisfy for the sins of men, but that it required a divine Person to pay the price of their redemption; wherefore He said, as the Apostle tells us, When He comes into the world He says: Sacrifice and oblation You would not, but a body You have fitted to me. . . . Then said I: Behold I come.
“My Father,” said Jesus, “all the victims hitherto offered to You have not sufficed, nor could they suffice, to satisfy Your justice; You have given Me this passible body, in order that by shedding My blood I might appease You and save men: ‘Behold I come;’ here I am ready, I accept everything, and I submit myself in everything to Your will.”
The inferior part felt repugnance, for it naturally was averse to this life and death, so full of sufferings and shame; but the rational part, which was entirely subordinate to the will of His Father, conquered and accepted everything; and Jesus began from that moment to suffer all the anguish and sorrows that He would have to suffer during all the years of His life. Thus did our Redeemer act from the very first moment of His entrance into the world.
But, O God, how have we conducted ourselves towards Jesus since we began, as adults, to know by the light of faith the sacred Mysteries of Redemption? What thoughts, what designs, what goods have we loved! Pleasures, amusements, vengeance, sensuality; these are the goods that have engrossed the affections of our hearts. But if we have faith, we must at last change our life and our affections. Let us love a God who has suffered so much for us. Let us represent to ourselves the sufferings which the heart of Jesus endured for us, even from His infancy; for then we shall not be able to love anything else but that heart which has loved us so much.
Affections and Prayers
My Lord, will You know how I have behaved towards You during all my life? Ever since I began to have the use of reason, I began to despise Your grace and Your love. But You know it much better than I do; nevertheless, You have borne with me, because You still care for my welfare.
I fled from You, and You followed after and called me. The very same love that made You come down from heaven to seek the lost sheep has made You bear with me and not forsake me. My Jesus, You now seek me, and I seek You. I feel that Your grace is assisting me: it assists me with the sorrow I feel for my sins, which I abhor above every other evil; it assists me by making me feel a great desire to love You and to please You. Yea, Lord, I will love You and please You as much as I can.
On one side I feel afraid, it is true, at the thought of my frailty and the weakness which I have contracted by my sins; but Your grace gives me a greater confidence, and causes me to hope in Your merits; so that I can say, from the bottom of my heart: I can do all things in Him who strengtheneth me. If I am weak, You will give me strength against my enemies; if I am infirm, I hope that Your blood will be my medicine; if I am a sinner, I hope You will make me a saint. I acknowledge that I have hitherto cooperated to my own ruin, because I have neglected, on dangerous occasions, to have recourse to You.
But from this day forth, my Jesus and my hope, I will always have recourse to You; and from You I hope for every assistance and every good. I love You above all things, and I will always love You alone. Have pity on me, and help me through the merits of all those sufferings which from Your infancy You have endured for me. Eternal Father, for the sake of Jesus Christ accept of my love. If I have offended You, let the tears of the Infant Jesus, who is praying for me, appease Your wrath: Look on the face of your Christ. I do not deserve favors, but this Your guiltless Son deserves them, who offers You a life of sufferings, in order that You may be merciful to me.
And you, O Mary, Mother of mercy, cease not to intercede for me. You know how much I confide in you; and I know well that you do not forsake him that has recourse to you.
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This article is taken from a chapter in The Road to Bethlehem by St. Alphonsus Liguori which is available from TAN Books.
