Day: October 30, 2024

Thought for the Day – 30 October – Meditations with Saint Alphonsus Maria de Liguori (1696-1787) Bishop, Confessor, Most Zealous Doctor of the Church

“Preparation for Death”
By St Alphonsus Maria de Liguori (1696-1787)

CONSIDERATION XXVIII

The Remorse of the Lost
“Where their worm dieth not
and the fire is not extinguished.”
(Mark ix: 46-47)

FIRST POINT:
BY the worm that does not die, St Thomas Aquinas thinks, is signified, that remorse of conscience, by which the lost will be eternally tormented in hell.
The remorse will be manifold, with which conscience will gnaw the heart of the reprobate but, three forms of it will be the most afflicting – firstly, the thought of the little for which they are lost, then, the little which was required for their salvation and lastly, the great good which they have lost!

The first wound, then, which the lost will experience, will be the thought of, for how little he is lost. After Esau had eaten of that pottage of lentils, for which he had sold his birthright, Holy Scripture says, that, through grief and remorse, “He cried with a great and exceeding bitter cry.” (Gen xxvii: 34) Oh, how the lost will howl and roar, when he thinks that for a few momentary and hurtful gratifications he has lost an eternal Kingdom of joy and has to see himself, eternally condemned to a perpetual death. Whence, he will weep much more bitterly than Jonathan did, when he found himself condemned to death by Saul, his own father, for having eaten a little honey, “I did but taste a little honey … and lo, I must die. (i Sam xiv: 43).

… And does the sinner by chance, who lives without God, ever delight in his sins? How long do the pleasures of sin last? They endure but moments and all the rest of the time in which the sinner lives, devoid of the Grace of God, is a time of pains and torments. Now, what indeed will these moments of pleasure appear to the poor condemned one, and what, in particular the last moment and last sin, through which he was lost? Then he will say, for a wretched animal pleasure which endured but for a moment and which, as soon as possessed, disappeared as the wind: “I shall have to continue to burn in this flame despised and abandoned by all, whilst God shall be God for all eternity.”

Affections and Prayers

Lord, enlighten me that I may know the wrong which I have committed in offending Thee and the eternal punishment which I have deserved on this account.
My God, I feel great sorrow for having offended Thee but this sorrow consoles me, for, if Thou hadst sent me to hell as I deserved, this remorsewould have been the hell
of my hell!
But now, this remorse consoles me, since it gives me the courage to hope for pardon from Thee, Thou Who hast promised, to pardon those who repent.
Yes, my Lord, I repent of having outraged Thee. I embrace this sweet grief, I even pray Thee to increase it and to preserve it within me, until death that so, I may ever weep
bitterly over the displeasure I have caused Thee.

My Jesus, pardon me. O my Redeemer, Who, although having pity upon me, hadst no pity for Thyself, condemning Thyself to die of grief to liberate me from hell, have pity upon me.
Grant, then, the remorse of having offended Thee may keep me ever sorrowful and, at the same time, may inflame me wholly with love of Thee, Who has so greatly loved me, and Who hast, with so much patience, borne with me.
… I thank Thee for these Graces, O my Jesus. I love Thee : I love Thee more than myself, I love Thee with my whole heart.
… “Cast me not away from Thy Presence.”