Darts of Fire: OR PROOFS THAT JESUS CHRIST HAS GIVEN US OF HIS LOVE IN THE WORK OF REDEMPTION by St. Alphonsus Liguori XIV. Tristis est anima mea usque ad mortem. "My soul is sorrowful even unto death."-----Matt. xxvi. 38 These were the words that proceeded from the sorrowful Heart of Jesus Christ in the garden of Gethsemani, before He went to die. Alas, whence came this extreme grief of His, which was so great that it was enough to kill Him? Perhaps it was on account of the torments that He saw He should have to suffer? No; for He had foreseen these torments from the time of His incarnation. He had foreseen them, and had accepted them of His Own free will: He was offered because it was His Own free will. [Isa. liii. 7] His grief came from seeing the sins men would commit after His death. It was then, according to St. Bernardine of Sienna, that He saw clearly each particular sin of each one of us. He had regard to every individual sin. [T. ii. s. 56, a. 1] It was not, then, my Jesus, the sight of the scourges, of the thorns, and of the Cross which so afflicted Thee in the garden of Gethsemani; it was the sight of my sins, each one of which so oppressed Thy heart with grief and sadness that it made Thee agonize and sweat Blood. This is the recompense I have made Thee for the love Thou hast shown me by dying for me. Ah, let me share the grief Thou didst feel in the garden for my sins, so that the remembrance of it may make me sad for all my life. Ah, my sweet Redeemer, if I could but console Thee as much now by my grief and love as I then afflicted Thee! I repent, my Love, with all my heart for having preferred my own miserable satisfaction to Thee. I am sorry, and I love The above all things. Although I have despised Thee, yet I hear Thee ask for my love. Thou wouldst have me love Thee with all my heart: Love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul. [Matt. xxii. 37] Yes, my God, I love Thee with all my heart, I love Thee with all my soul. Do Thou give me the love Thou requirest of me. If I have hitherto sought myself, I will now seek none but Thee. And seeing that Thou hast loved me more than others, more than others will I love Thee. Draw me always more, my Jesus, to Thy love by the odor of Thy ointments, which are the loving attractions of Thy grace. Finally, give me strength to correspond to so much love which God has borne to an ungrateful worm and traitor. Mary, Mother of mercy, help me by thy prayers. The Back spray takes you to the previous page and the Forward to the next.  E-Mail HOME-----------------------CHILDREN--------------------CHRISTMAS www.catholictradition.org/Christmas/darts-fire14.htm