In this booklet, Saint Alphonsus Liguori teaches the reader to use the small events of everyday life to praise God and unite the soul to His Will. This excerpt encourages readers and describes God’s desire to bless us and purify our souls.
Ask And Receive
WHEN you have to make a decision or give some advice on matters of importance, first of all recommend yourself to God, and then set to work or give your answer.
Repeat as often as you can during the day the invocation: “O Lord, make haste to help me.” (Ps. 69:2). Such was the prayer of St. Rose of Lima: “Help me, O Lord; do not leave me in my own hands.” And therefore often look at the crucifix and at the picture of the Blessed Virgin which you have in your room, and often invoke the Holy Names of Jesus and Mary, but particularly when you are tempted.
God, because He is infinite goodness, has a great desire to grant His graces to us. The Venerable Alvarez one day saw our Saviour with His hands full of graces, going about seeking to whom He might dispense them. He wishes, however, that we ask Him for them: “Ask and you shall receive.” (John 16:24).
Otherwise, He withdraws His hand. But He willingly opens it to those who pray to Him. And who has ever called upon God, says Sirach, and gone away unanswered? “Who hath called upon Him, and He despised him?” (Ecclus. 2:12). David has written that the Lord is not only merciful, but exceedingly merciful, to those who pray to Him: “For Thou, O Lord, art sweet and mild: and plenteous in mercy to all that call upon Thee.” (Ps. 85:5).
Oh, how good and bountiful is the Lord to those who seek Him with love! “The Lord is good to them that hope in Him, to the soul that seeketh Him.” (Lam. 3:25). If He lets even those who do not seek Him find Him—“I was found by them that did not seek Me” (Rom. 10:20)—how much more readily will He be found by one who seeks Him, and who seeks Him just to serve Him and to love Him?
Finally, St. Teresa of Avila says: “Just souls upon earth must unite and conform themselves in love to that which the souls of the Blessed do in Heaven.”
Just as the Saints in Heaven are concerned with God alone and have no other thought and pleasure than that of His glory and of His love, so must you also. On this earth God should be your only happiness, the only object of your affections, the only purpose of all your actions and desires—so that you may arrive at the eternal kingdom where your love will be entirely perfect and full, and where your desires will be completely fulfilled and satisfied. Live Jesus our love and Mary our hope!
The Mercies Of The Lord
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 St. Alphonsus Liguori which is available from TAN Books.
