We can find no higher proof of God’s love than the Incarnate Word hanging upon the cross. Meditate on Jesus upon the cross and allow your hardened heart to be softened by the One who gave all to have your love. This excerpt was taken from The Road to Calvary.
The Highest Proof of God’s Love
Jesus on the cross! Behold the proof of the love of God; behold the final manifestation of Himself, which the Word Incarnate makes upon this earth—a manifestation of suffering indeed, but still more, a manifestation of love. Saint Francis of Paola, as he was one day meditating upon the divine Love in the person of Jesus Crucified, rapt in ecstasy, exclaimed aloud three times in these words, “O God—Love! O God—Love! O God—Love!” wishing hereby to signify that we shall never be able to comprehend how great has been the divine love towards us in willing to die for love of us.
The Cross as a Thrown
O my beloved Jesus, if I behold Your body upon this cross, nothing do I see but wounds and blood, and then, if I turn my attention to Your heart, I find it to be all afflicted and in sorrow. Upon this cross I see it written that You are a king, but what tokens of majesty do You retain? I see not any royal throne save that of this tree of infamy; no other purple do I behold save Your wounded and bloody flesh; no other crown save this band of thorns that tortures You. Ah, how it all declares You to be the king of love! Yes, for this cross, these nails, this crown, and these wounds are, all of them, tokens of love.
Jesus, from the cross, asks us not so much for our compassion as for our love, and if even He asks our compassion, He asks it solely in order that the compassion may move us to love Him. As being infinite goodness, He already merits all our love, but when placed upon the cross, it seems as if He sought for us to love Him, at least out of compassion.
An Aspiration of Love
Ah, my Jesus, and who is there that will not love You while confessing You to be the God that You are and contemplating You upon the cross? Oh, what arrows of fire do You not dart at souls from that throne of love! Oh, how many hearts have You not drawn to Yourself from that cross of Yours! O wounds of my Jesus! O beautiful furnaces of love, admit me, too, among yourselves to burn, not indeed with that fire of hell which I have deserved but with holy flames of love for that God who has been willing to die for me, consumed by torments. O my dear Redeemer, receive back a sinner, who, sorrowing for having offended You, is now earnestly longing to love You. I love You, I love You, O infinite goodness, O infinite love. O Mary, O Mother of beautiful love, obtain for me a greater measure of love to consume me for that God who has died consumed of love for me.
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This article is taken from a chapter in The Road to Calvary by Saint Alphonsus Liguori which is available from TAN Books.
