How to Converse with God offers 20 chapters of wisdom from the great Doctor of the Church, Saint Alphonsus Liguori. Read on for a stirring meditation on the great love and mercy of God.
There Is No Greater Love
Consider that no one—whether friend or brother, father or mother, lover or spouse—loves you more than your God. And divine grace is the inestimable treasure through which vile creatures and servants like ourselves become dear friends of our Creator. “For she is an infinite treasure to men! Which they that use, become the friends of God.” (Wis. 7:14).
It was for the purpose of increasing our confidence that He “emptied Himself ” (Phil. 2:7), so to speak, humbling Himself to the point of becoming a man in order to live in familiar converse with us. “He conversed with men.” (Bar. 3:38). He went so far as to become a little Babe and to live in poverty and die on a cross for our sake. He even placed Himself under the species of bread so as to be with us always and in the most intimate union. “He that eateth My Flesh, and drinketh My Blood, abideth in Me, and I in him.” (John 6:57).
In short, so great is God’s love for you that He seems to love no one but you. And therefore, you should love no one but Him. (That is, we should love only God with an absolute love which supersedes every other consideration.) You should be able to say to Him: “My Beloved to me, and I to Him.” (Cant. 2:16). My God has given Himself entirely to me, and I give my whole self to Him; He has chosen me for His beloved, and I choose Him from among all for my only love. “My Beloved is white and ruddy, chosen out of thousands.” (Cant. 5:10).
Why Have You Loved Me?
Often, therefore, speak to God in these words:
“O my Lord, why have You loved me so much? What good do You find in my poor self? Have You forgotten the injuries I have done You? But since You have treated me with so much love—for instead of condemning me to Hell, You have given me graces without number—I will henceforth love no one but You, my God and my all. What grieves me most in my past offenses, O my loving God, is not so much the punishment I have deserved, as the displeasure I have given You, Who are worthy of infinite love. But You never reject a repentant and humble heart. ‘A contrite and humbled heart, O God, Thou wilt not despise.’ (Ps. 50:19). Now indeed I wish for no one else but You alone in this life and in the next. ‘For 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.’ (Ps. 72:25-26). You alone are and will always be the only Lord of my heart and will; You alone my only good, my heaven, my hope, my all. ‘Thou art the God of my heart, and the God that is my portion forever.’” (Ps. 72:26).
The Greatest Mercy
If you wish to strengthen your confidence in God still more, often recall the loving way in which He has acted toward you, and how mercifully He has tried to bring you out of your sinful life, to break your attachment to the things of earth and draw you to His love. With such thoughts in your mind, now that you have resolved to love Him and please Him with all your strength, your only fear should be to fear God too much and to place too little confidence in Him. There can be no surer pledge of His love for you than His past mercies toward you. God is displeased at the diffidence of souls who love Him sincerely and whom He Himself loves. If, therefore, you wish to please His loving heart, go to Him henceforth with the greatest possible confidence and affection.
“Behold, I have graven thee in My hands: thy walls are always before My eyes.” (Is. 49:16). “Beloved Soul,” says the Lord, “why do you fear? Why are you afraid? Your name is written in My hands so that I may never forget to do you good. Perhaps you are afraid of your enemies? Know that I can never forget to protect you, since I have always before My eyes the charge of your defense.”
With this thought to rejoice him, David said to God: “O Lord, Thou hast crowned us, as with a shield of Thy good will.” (Ps. 5:13). Who, O Lord, can ever do us harm if Your loving kindness is cast all around us as a wall of defense? Above all, reanimate your confidence by thinking of the gift which God has given us in the person of Jesus Christ. “God so loved the world, as to give His only-begotten Son.” (John 3:16). How can we fear, asks the Apostle, that God will ever deny us anything since He has given us His own Son? “He that spared not even His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how hath He not also, with Him, given us all things?” (Rom. 8:32).
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This article is taken from a chapter in How to Converse with God by Saint Alphonsus Liguori which is available from TAN Books.
