Darts of Fire: OR PROOFS THAT JESUS CHRIST HAS GIVEN US OF HIS LOVE IN THE WORK OF REDEMPTION by St. Alphonsus Liguori XXI. Crucifixerunt, et cum eo alios duos hinc et hinc, medium autem Jesum. "They crucified Him, and with Him two others, one on each side, and Jesus in the midst."-----John, xix. 18 The incarnate Word was called by the sacred spouse, All lovely; such is my beloved. [Cant. v. 16] At whatever period of His life Jesus Christ presents Himself to us, He appears altogether desirable and most worthy of love, whether we see Him as an infant in the stable, as a boy in the shop of St. Joseph, as a solitary meditating in the desert, or bathed in sweat as He walked about preaching throughout Judea. But in no other form does He appear more loving than when He is nailed to the Cross on which the immense love He bears us forced Him to die. St. Francis de Sales has said, the Mount of Calvary is the hill of lovers. All love which does not take its rise from the Passion of the Saviour is weak. How miserable is the death where there is no love of the Redeemer! Let us stop, then, and consider that this Man, nailed to the tree of shame, is our true God, and that He is here suffering and dying for nothing but for the love of us. Ah, my Jesus, if all men would stand still and contemplate Thee on the Cross, believing with a lively faith, that Thou art their God, and that Thou hast died for their salvation, how could they live far from Thee and without Thy love? And how could I, knowing all this, have displeased Thee so often? If others have offended Thee, they have at least sinned in darkness; but I have sinned in the light. But these pierced hands, this wounded side, this Blood, these wounds which I see in Thee, make me hope for pardon and Thy grace. I am grieved, my Love, for having ever so despised Thee. But now now I love Thee with all my heart; and my greatest grief is the remembrance of my having despised Thee. This grief, however, which I feel, is a sign that Thou hast pardoned me. O burning heart of my Jesus, inflame my poor heart with Thy love. O my Jesus, dead, consumed with sorrow for me, make me die consumed with sorrow for having offended Thee, and with the love Thou dost merit, I sacrifice myself entirely to Thee, Who hast sacrificed Thyself entirely for me. O sorrowful Mother Mary, make me faithful in loving Jesus! 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-fire21.htm