Discourses for Times of Calamities: St. Alphonsus de Liguori

Excerpts from “God Chastises us in this life for our Good, not for our Destruction.”

Let us then be joyful, my brethren; it is true that God appears to be in wrath, but he is still our Father.  “For Thou art not delighted in our being lost.” [Tob, 3:22.]

Let us feel persuaded, my brethren, that there is no one who loves us more than God. St. Teresa says that God loves us more than we love ourselves. He has loved us from eternity. Yea, I have loved thee with an everlasting love [Jer. 31:3]. Hence, when God chastises us upon the earth, it is not because he wishes to injure us, but because he wishes us well, and loves us. But of this every one is sure that worshippeth Thee, that his life, if it be under trial, shall be crowned: and if it be under tribulation, shall be delivered [Tob. 3:21]. So spoke Sara the wife of Tobias: Lord, he who serves thee is sure that after the trial shall have passed he shall be crowned, and that after tribulation he shall be spared the punishment which he deserved: For Thou art not delighted in our being lost: because after a storm Thou makest a calm, and after tears and weeping Thou pourest in joyfullness [Tob. 3:22]. After the tempest of chastisement he gives us peace, and after mourning, joy and gladness.

My brethren, let us convince ourselves of what I have undertaken to show you to-day, namely, that God does not afflict us in this life for our injury but for our good, in order that we may cease from sin, and by recovering his grace escape eternal punishment.

And I will give My fear in their heart, that they may not revolt from Me [Jer. 32:40]. The Lord says that he infuses his fear into our hearts, in order that he may enable us to triumph over our passion for earthly pleasures, for which, ungrateful that we are, we have left him. And when sinners have left him, how does he make them look into themselves, and recover his grace? By putting on the appearance of anger, and chastising them in this life: In Thy anger Thou shalt break the people in pieces [Ps. 55:8]. Another version, according to St. Augustine, has: “In thy wrath thou shalt conduct the people.” The saint inquiring, What is the meaning of his conducting the people in his wrath? he then replies: “Thou, O Lord, fillest us with tribulations, in order that, being thus afflicted, we may abandon our sins and return to Thee.”

In their affliction they will rise early to Me [Hos. 6:1]. God says within himself, If I allow those sinners to enjoy their pleasures undisturbed, they will remain in the sleep of sin: they must be afflicted, in order that, recovering from their lethargy, they may return to me. When they shall be in tribulation they will say: Come, let us return to the Lord, for He hath taken us, and He will heal us; He will strike and He will cure us [Hos. 6:2]. What shall become of us, say those sinners, as they enter into themselves, if we do not turn from our evil courses? God will not be appeased, and will with justice continue to punish us: come on, let us retrace our steps; for he will cure us, and if he has afflicted us just now, he will upon our return think of consoling us with his mercy.

Tribulation is for the sinner at once a punishment and a grace, says St. Augustine. It is a punishment inasmuch as it has been drawn down upon him by his sins; but it is a grace, and an important grace, inasmuch as it may ward eternal destruction from him, and is an assurance that God means to deal mercifully with him if he look into himself, and receive with thankfulness that tribulation which has opened his eyes to his miserable condition, and invites him to return to God. Let us then be converted, my brethren, and we shall escape from our several chastisements: “Why should he who accepts chastisement as a grace be afraid after receiving it?” says St. Augustine. He who turns to God, smarting from the scourge, has no longer anything to fear, because God scourges only in order that we may return to him; and this end once obtained, the Lord will scourge us no more.

Be glad, therefore, O sinners! and thank God when he punishes you in this life, and takes vengeance of your sins; because you may know thereby that he means to treat you with mercy in the next. Thou wast a merciful God to them, and taking vengeance on their inventions [Ps. 98:8]. The Lord when he chastises us has not chastisement so much in view as our conversion.

Jonas slept in the ship when he was flying from the Lord; but God seeing that the wretched man was on the brink of temporal and eternal death, caused him to be warned of the tempest: Why art thou fast asleep; rise up, call upon thy God [Jon. 1:6]. God my brethren, now warns ye in like manner. You have been in the state of sin, deprived of sanctifying grace, the chastisement has come, and that chastisement is the voice of God, saying to you, “Why are you fast asleep? rise and call upon your God.” Awake, sinner! do not live on forgetful of your soul and of God. Open your eyes, and see how you stand upon the verge of hell, where so many wretches are now bewailing sins less grievous than yours, and are you asleep? have you no thought of confession? no thought of rescuing yourself from eternal death? 

Rise, call upon your God. Up from that infernal pit into which you have fallen; pray to God to pardon you, beg of him this at least, if you are not at once resolved to change your life, that he will give you light, and make you see the wretched state in which you stand. Learn how to profit by the warning which the Lord vouchsafes you. Jeremias first sees a rod. I see a rod watching [Jer. 1:11]; he next sees a boiling cauldron: I see a boiling cauldron [Jer. 1:13]. St. Ambrose, in speaking of this passage, explains it thus: He who is not corrected by the rod, shall be thrown into the cauldron, there to burn. He whom the temporal chastisement fails to convert, shall be sent to burn eternally in hell-fire. Sinful brother, listen to God, who addresses himself to your heart, by this chastisement, and calls on you to do penance. Tell me what answer do you make him? 

Take courage, say with the prodigal: I will arise and go to my father [Luke 15:18]. I will arise from this sleep of death—this state of damnation, and return to God. It is true that I have sufficiently outraged him by leaving him so much against his desire, but he is still my Father. I will arise and go to my Father. And when you shall go to that Father, what shall you say to him? Say what the prodigal said to his father: Father, I have sinned against heaven, and before thee; I am not now worthy to be called thy son [Luke 15:21]. Father, I acknowledge my error, I have done ill to leave Thee, who have so much loved me; I see now’ that I am no longer worthy to be called Thy son; receive me at least as Thy servant; restore me at least to Thy grace, and then chastise me as Thou pleasest.

Oh, happy you, if you say and do thus! the same will happen you which befell the prodigal son. The father, when he saw his son retracing his steps, and perceived that he had humbled himself for his fault, not only did not drive him off—not only received him into his house, but embraced and kissed him as his son. And running to him, fell upon his neck and kissed him. He then clothed him with a precious garment, which represents the robe of grace: Bring forth quickly the first robe, and put it on him. And he, moreover, makes a great feast in the house, to commemorate the recovery of his son, whom he looked upon as lost and dead: Let us eat and make merry, because this my son was dead, and is come to life again; was lost, and is found [Luke 15:20-23].

Let us then be joyful, my brethren; it is true that God appears to be in wrath, but he is still our Father; let us retrace our steps in penance, and he will be appeased and spare us. Behold Mary our Mother praying for us on the one hand, and on the other turned towards us, saying, In me is all hope of life and of virtue; . . . come over to me all [Ecclus. 24:25]. My children, that Mother of Mercy says to us, my poor afflicted children, have recourse to me, and in me you shall find all hope; my son denies me nothing. You were dead by sin; come to me, find me, and you shall find life—the life of divine grace, which I shall recover for you by my intercession.

St. Alphonsus de Liguori: Nine Discourses for Times of Calamities.

Above are excerpts from the sixth discourse. 

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