Advent and Christmas Wisdom with St Alphonsus Liguori (1696-1787))
20 December
Jesus offered Himself for our salvation from the beginning
“Consider that the divine Word knew that all the sacrifices of goats and bulls offered to the Father in times past had not been able to satisfy for the sins of humankind but that it required a divine person to pay the price of redemption. “My Father” said Jesus, “all the victims previously offered to You have not paid the debt, nor could they have paid the debt, necessary to satisfy Your justice. You have given me my humanity, in order that by shedding my blood, I might please You and save humanity. Behold I come. Here I am. I am ready. I accept everything and I submit myself in everything, to Your will.”
O my Jesus, I am weak, grant me strength against temptation. I am infirm, I hope that Your precious blood will be my medicine. I am a sinner but I hope that Your grace will make me a saint. I acknowledge that I have co-operated with my own ruin but this day, I promise always, to call upon You and in this way co-operate with Your grace.”
Scripture
” Who shall ascend the hill of the Lord? And who shall stand in his holy place?
He who has clean hands and a pure heart, who does not lift up his soul to what is false and does not swear deceitfully.”
Psalm 24:3-4
Prayer
O KEY OF DAVID,
and Sceptre of the House of Israel,
who opens and no-one shuts,
who shuts and no-one opens:
Come and bring forth the captive from his prison,
he who sits in darkness and in the shadow of death.
Advent Action
The Pharisees, dressed in fine robes and living in palaces, are rejected. Advent is the time to ask Jesus to change us. He is coming, He invades the world, He changes everything, forevermore – He will change us if we ask – “Lord, come to me this day. Change me. Restore me to Your kingdom.”
“If we would please this Divine Infant,
we too must become children,
simple and humble;
we must carry to Him flowers of virtue,
of meekness, of mortification, of charity;
we must clasp Him in the arms of our love.”…St Alphonsus
AnaStpaul 