August 1 2023 - St. Alphonsus Ligouri - Divine Love and Suffering

 In 1731, a very holy nun, Sr. Maria Celeste, who has been recently beatified by Pope Francis, had a vision of our Lord with St. Francis on His right hand and a priest on His left. A voice told her, “This is he whom I have chosen to be head of My Institute, the Prefect General of a new Congregation of men who shall work for My glory.” This priest had spent his early priesthood as a missionary, preaching in parishes, seeking to renew the faith in a society where the faith was languishing, the priest was Fr. Alphonsus Ligouri, who, a year later in 1732, began the Congregation of the Most Holy Redeemer, known now as the Redemptorists, a preaching order who endure to this day.

I remember a Redemptorist priest coming to my home parish in Madison when I was a young boy for a preaching mission, and it really was one of the first stirring homilies I remember.

St. Alphonsus was a tremendously popular preacher. His clear and organized sermons had universal appeal. And he was successful in his mission, the renewal of hearts, the renewal of faith.

And no doubt the devil hated him. After the founding of his order, St. Alphonsus had a life rife with persecutions and betrayals. His companions began to abandon him as they did not want to live under the strict Redemptorist Rule, and the Congregation was rife with division. He suffered lifelong persecution from the Prime Minister of Naples.  After being made Bishop he suffered assassination attempts.

Troubled with ill health, by the time the saint was 85, he was crippled, mostly blind, and deaf. He suffered from a raw wound on his chest made from the constant rubbing of his chin upon it due to his badly bent neck from rheumatic disease. He additionally suffered the “dark night” of his soul, replete with many interior struggles and trials.

Despite his own sufferings, he penned many moral, dogmatic, and devotional works to aid his flock and the Church. His famous work “Visits to the Most Blessed Sacrament” saw 40 editions in his own lifetime and greatly influenced the practice of Eucharistic Adoration. His “Glories of Mary” is one of the most widely used devotionals to the Blessed Mother. These and his many other writings were instrumental in his being named a Doctor of the Church.

His willingness to suffer for God and for the Church, and his patience in doing so were sure signs of his love for God, and perhaps a source of his efficacy. Alphonsus writes about suffering, “The brightest ornaments in the crown of the blessed in heaven are the sufferings which they have borne patiently on earth”—”the sufferings endured for God are the greatest proof of our love for Him”—" By the law of nature, there is no pleasure in suffering; but divine love, when it reigns in a heart, makes it take delight in its sufferings” in other words, love of God transforms suffering for God into a delight. 

Many Christians, likely most of us at times, neglect the work God wants them to do because they run away from suffering, from doing anything difficult, habituated to seeking only comfort. But St. Alphonsus reminds us that when we bear our crosses with love like Christ, the cross is transformed into the most powerful instrument for the glory of God and the salvation of souls.

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For the grace to accept sufferings for the work of the Gospel. 

For an increase in vocations to the priesthood and religious life, for the Redemptorist Order, founded by St. Alphonsus, and for the sanctification of all marriages. 

For the sick and afflicted, the homebound, those in nursing homes and hospitals, for victims of natural disaster, war, violence, and terrorism, for the mentally ill, those with addictions, and the imprisoned, for the comfort of the dying and the consolation of their families. 

For the deceased members of our families, friends, and parish and all the poor souls in purgatory, for deceased priests and religious, and for those who have fought and died for our freedom. 

O God, who know that our life in this present age is subject to suffering and need, hear the prayers of those who cry to you and receive the prayers of those who believe in you. Through Christ our Lord.