The following five examples were excerpted from Saint Alphonsus Liguori’s, The Incarnation, Birth, and Infancy of Jesus Christ. Here, Liguori shares various visions and Divine visits from the Infant Jesus.
Example I.
It is related in the Flowery Meadow that a devout lady wished to know what souls were the dearest to Jesus. One day, whilst she was hearing Mass, at the elevation of the Sacred Host, she saw the Infant Jesus on the altar, and with him three young virgins. Jesus took the first, and caressed her very much. He went to the second, and, having taken her veil off her face, he struck her severely on the cheek, and turned his back upon her; but soon after, seeing the child looking sorrowful, he comforted her with all sorts of kindness. At last he approached the third; he seized her by the arm as if he were angry, struck her, and drove her away from him; but the more she saw herself ill-used and driven off, the more the little virgin humbled herself and followed him: and thus the vision ended. This devout woman, remaining in the church with great desire to know what was the meaning of the vision, Jesus appeared to her again, and told her that there are on the earth three sorts of souls that love him. Some love him; but their love is so weak that if they are not coaxed by spiritual pleasures they become uneasy, and are in danger of turning their backs upon him; and of these the first virgin was a figure. The second represented those souls who love him with a less feeble love, but who require to be comforted from time to time. The third was a figure of those more courageous souls who, although constantly desolate, and deprived of spiritual consolations, do not cease doing all they can to please their Lord; and these, he said, were the souls in which he took the greatest delight.
Example II.
Father Cagnolio relates, from Father Patrignani, that after having committed a great many sins, a certain nun arrived at such an excess of crime that having one day communicated, she drew from her mouth the sacred particle, placed it in a handkerchief, and afterwards, having shut herself up in a cell, she threw the Blessed Sacrament on the ground, and began to trample it under her feet. But lo! she casts her eyes down, and what does she see? She sees the Sacred Host changed into the form of a beautiful Infant, but all bruised and covered with blood, who said to her, “And what have I done to thee, that thou treatest me so ill?” Upon which the wretched creature, full of contrition and repentance, threw herself on her knees in tears, and said to him, “O my God, dost Thou ask me what Thou hast done to me? Thou hast loved me too much.” The vision disappeared, and the nun changed her whole life, and became a model of penance.
Example III.
It is related in the chronicles of the Cistercians that a certain monk of Brabant, who was travelling on Christmas-night, as he passed through a forest, heard a cry as it were of a newborn infant. He approached the place whence he heard the cries, and saw a beautiful infant in the middle of the snow, who was crying and trembling with the cold. Moved to compassion, the monk immediately dismounted from his horse, and, approaching the infant, said: “O my child, how is it that thou art thus abandoned to weep and die in the midst of this snow?” And he heard a voice answer him: “Alas! how can I help crying, whilst I see myself thus abandoned by all, and that no one receives me or has compassion upon me?” And having said this, he disappeared, giving us to understand that he was our Redeemer, who by this vision meant to reprove the ingratitude of men, who, having seen him born for their sake in a stable, leave him to cry there without even pitying him.
Example IV.
It is related by Bollandus that the most holy Mary appeared one day to the Blessed Coletta, whilst she was praying to her to intercede for sinners, and that she showed her her Infant Son all torn and cut to pieces, “My daughter,” she said, “have compassion me and on my Son; behold how sinners treat him.”
Example V.
Pelbart relates that a certain soldier was full of vices; but he had a devout wife, who, not being able to reform him, recommended him at least not to omit saying every day a Hail Mary before some image of our Lady. One day, as he was going to commit sin, he passed by a church, which, by chance, he entered; and seeing an image of our Blessed Lady, he knelt down and said a Hail Mary; and what did he then see? he saw the Infant Jesus in the arms of Mary all covered with bleeding wounds. Upon which he said, “O God, what barbarian has thus ill-treated this innocent babe?” “It is you, sinner,” answered Mary: “it is you who thus ill-use my Son.” Then, full of contrition, he begged her to obtain for him pardon, calling her Mother of Mercy. She replied, “You sinners call me Mother of Mercy, but you do not cease to make me a mother of sorrows and of misery.” But the penitent did not lose courage, and continued to pray to Mary to intercede for him. The Blessed Virgin turned to her Son, and asked him to pardon this sinner. Her Son seemed reluctant to do so; but then Mary said to him, “O my Son, I will not leave Thy feet if Thou dost not forgive this afflicted man, who has recommended himself to me.” Then Jesus said to her: “O my Mother, I never have refused you anything; do you desire the pardon of this sinner? let him be pardoned; and in token of the pardon which I grant him, I desire that he should come and kiss my wounds.” The sinner went up to the image, drew near, and whilst he was kissing them, the wounds were closed. Immediately on leaving the church, he asks pardon of his wife, and with mutual consent they both left the world, and became religious in two monasteries at the same time, and ended their lives by a holy death.
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This article is taken from a chapter in The Incarnation, Birth, and Infancy of Jesus Christ by Saint Alphonsus Liguori which is available from TAN Books.
