by St. Alphonsus de Liguori
ON WHAT, AND HOW, WE SHOULD CONVERSE WITH GOD
1. In General
Never, then, forget His sweet presence, as do the greater part of men. Speak to Him as often as you can, for He does not grow weary of this nor disdain it, as do the lords of the earth. If you love Him, you will not be at a loss what to say to Him. Tell Him all that occurs to you about yourself and your affairs, as you would tell it to a dear friend. Do not look upon Him as a haughty monarch who will converse only with the great and on great matters. He, your God, is pleased to lower Himself to you, and to hear you communicate to Him your smallest and most ordinary concerns. He loves you as much – He has as much care for you – as if He had no one else to think of but you. He is as completely devoted to your interests as though the only end of His providence was to help you, of His almighty power to aid you, of His mercy and goodness to take pity on you, to do you good and to win by His kindness your confidence and love. Manifest to Him, then, freely your whole state of mind and pray to Him to enlighten you that you may perfectly accomplish His holy will. Let all your desires and aims be directed to learn His good pleasure and to do what is agreeable to His divine Heart: Commit thy way to the Lord; and desire of Him to direct thy ways and that all thy counsels may abide in Him (Ps. 36-5 and Tob. 4-20).
Say not: Why disclose all my wants to God, since He already sees and knows them better than I do? Yes, He knows them; but He acts as if He did not know the needs about which you do not speak to Him and for which you do not seek His aid. Our Saviour knew that Lazarus was dead, and yet He acted as if He did not know until Magdalen told Him of it; it was then that He comforted her by bringing her brother back to life.
2. Pray in your trials
When you are afflicted with sickness, persecution, temptation, or any other trouble, turn at once to God and ask His help. It is enough for you to lay your affliction before Him – to go to Him and say: Behold, O Lord, for I am in distress (Lam. 1-20). He will not fail to comfort you, or at least to give you strength to suffer the trial with patience, and in this case it will prove a greater good than if He had freed you altogether from it. Tell Him of all the things that make you fear, or make you sad, and say to Him: My God, in Thee are all my hopes. I offer this cross to Thee. I resign myself to Thy will. Take pity on me and either deliver me from my trial or give me strength to endure it. He will remember immediately the promise which He made in the Gospel, of consoling and comforting all those who have recourse to Him in tribulation: Come to Me all you that labour and are burdened and I will refresh you (Mat. II-28).
He will not be displeased if you seek comfort from your friends in the hour of trial; but He wishes you to have recourse principally to Him. At least, therefore, when you have had recourse to creatures and they have not been able to console your heart, go to your Creator and say to Him: Lord, men have only words; they cannot afford me consolation. I no longer desire to be consoled by them. Thou alone art my hope; Thou alone my only love. By Thee alone do I desire to be comforted, and the consolation I ask for is to do on this occasion what is most pleasing to Thee. Behold, I am ready to endure this trial for the whole of my life, and for all eternity, if such be Thy will. Only help me. Do not be afraid of offending Him if you sometimes gently complain, saying: Why, Lord, has Thou retired afar off? (Ps. 9-1). Lord, Thou knowest that I love Thee, and that I desire nothing but Thy love. Have pity on me and help me. Do not abandon me.
If desolation should continue for a long time and grievously afflict you, unite your voice to the voice of your afflicted Jesus and say: My God, my God, why hast Thou forsaken me? (Mat. 28-46). Let the thought humble you that having offended God you do not deserve His consolations. At the same time, remember that He permits every thing for your good, and do not lose confidence: All things work together unto good to them that love God (Rom. 8-28). Say with courage, even when you feel most troubled and disconsolate: The Lord is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear? (Ps. 26-1). Lord, Thou wilt guide me, Thou wilt save me; In Thee do I trust. In Thee, O Lord, have I hoped; let me never be confounded (Ecclus 2-11). Reflect that God loves you more than you can love yourself. Why, then, should you be afraid? David brought comfort to his heart saying: The Lord is careful for me (Ps. 39-18). Let such be your sentiments, too, when you pray; and speak in this manner to God: Lord, I cast myself into Thy arms; and I desire to think only of loving and pleasing Thee. Behold me ready to do what Thou askest of me. Thou dost not only will my good, but Thou art ‘careful for it. To Thee, then, I leave the care of my salvation. In Thee I rest, and will rest for evermore, since Thou willest that in Thee I should place all my hopes: In peace, in the self-same I will sleep and I will rest; for Thou, O Lord, singularly hast settled me in hope (Ps. 4-9).
Think of the Lord in goodness (Wis. I-I). In these words the inspired writer exhorts us to have more confidence in the divine mercy than dread of the divine justice. For God is incomparably more inclined to bestow favours upon us than to chastise us, as St. James says: Mercy exalteth itself above judgment (2-13). For this reason, St. Peter exhorts us in all our fears – whether for our temporal or eternal interests – to abandon ourselves entirely to the goodness of God, who has the interests of our salvation at heart: Casting all your care upon Him, for He hath care of you (I Pet. 5-7). The royal prophet, David, has the same message of hope when he gives to God the beautiful title of our God and the God who is willing to save us: Our God is the God of salvation (Ps. 39-18). This means, as [St.] Bellarmine explains it, that it is the will of God, not to condemn, but to save all. He threatens with His displeasure those who despise Him; but He promises mercy to those who fear Him: in the words of the canticle of our Blessed Lady: His mercy is from generation to generation to them that fear Him.
I place before you, devout reader, all these passages from the sacred scriptures, so that if you are ever troubled by the doubt as to whether you will be saved or no – whether you are of the number of the predestined or no – you may take courage at the thought that you know from God’s Word that He desires to save you, if only you are resolved to serve and love Him as He asks of you.
Prayer, Eduard Ratti, 1834.
3. Pray in your joys.
When you receive some pleasant news, do not act like some unfaithful and thankless souls who have recourse to God in time of trouble, but forget and forsake Him when things go well with them. Show Him the fidelity that you would show to a sincere friend who rejoices in your happiness. Go at once and tell Him of your joy, and praise Him and give Him thanks, acknowledging your good fortune as a gift from His hands. Rejoice in the fact that you owe your happiness to Him, and place all your joy and comfort in Him: I will rejoice in the Lord (Hab. 3-18), and I will joy in God my Jesus (Ps. 12-6). Say to Him: My Jesus, I bless, and will ever bless Thee, for granting me so many favours, when I deserved at Thy hands not favours, but chastisements for the affronts I have offered Thee. Say to him, with the sacred Spouse: All fruits, the new and the old, my Beloved, I have kept for Thee (Cant. 7-13).,’ Lord, I give Thee thanks; I keep in memory Thy many acts of kindness, past and present, to render Thee praise and glory for them forever.
But if you love your God, you ought to rejoice more in His blessedness than in your own. He who has a dear friend sometimes takes more delight in that friend’s good fortune than if it had been his own. Comfort yourself, then, in the knowledge that God is infinitely happy. Often say to him: My beloved Lord, I rejoice more in Thy blessedness than in any happiness of my own, for I love Thee more than I love myself.
4. Pray after a fault.
Another mark of confidence highly pleasing to our most loving God is this: that when you have committed any fault, you are not ashamed to go at once to Him and seek His pardon. Consider that God is so willing to pardon sinners that He laments their perdition, when they depart far from Him and live dead to His grace. Therefore, does he lovingly call them, saying: Why will you die, O house of Israel? Return ye, and live (Ezek. 18-31). He promises to receive a soul that has forsaken Him, if only it returns to His arms: Turn to Me . . . and I will turn to you (Zach. 1-3). Would that sinners only knew how mercifully our Saviour awaits them in order to pardon them: The Lord waiteth that He may have mercy upon you (Isa. 30-18). Would that sinners realised the desire on the part of God, not, indeed, to chastise them, but to see them converted and to embrace and press them to His Heart: As I live, saith the Lord God, I desire not the death of the wicked, but that the wicked turn from his way and live (Ezek. 33-11). He has even still more consoling words: Come and accuse Me, saith the Lord; if your sins be as scarlet, they shall be made as white as snow (Is. 1-18). In other words, He says: Sinners, repent of having offended Me and then come to Me. If I do not pardon you, accuse Me of being unfaithful to My promises; but, no, I will keep My word. If you come to Me and repent, though your soul be dyed deep crimson with crime, by My grace it shall be made white as snow. Almighty God promises even to forget the sinner’s wrong-doing if only he repents: I will not remember all his iniquities (Ezek. 18-22). As soon, then, as you fall into any fault, raise your eyes to God, make an act of love, and humbly confessing your fault, place unwavering confidence in God, saying to Him: Lord, behold, he whom Thou lovest is sick (John 11-3). The heart which Thou lovest is sick – is wounded. Heal my soul, for I have sinned against Thee (Ps. 40-5). Thou seekest penitent sinners Behold one at Thy feet, seeking Thee. The evil is committed – what must I do? Thou wilt not have me lose confidence; even after the sin which I have committed, Thou desirest my good, and I again love thee. Yes, my God I love Thee with all my heart. I am sorry for my sin, and will never more offend Thee. Thou art a God, sweet, and mild, and plenteous in mercy (Ps. 85-5); pardon me. Let me hear from Thee what Thou didst say to Magdalen: Thy sins are forgiven thee (Luke 7-48); and give me strength for the future to be faithful to Thee.
Then, in order not to be discouraged, cast your eyes upon Jesus Christ crucified; offer to the Eternal Father his merits, and confidently hope for pardon; since to pardon you he spared not his own Son. Say to him with confidence: Look on the face of thy Christ (Ps. 83-10); my God, have regard to Thy Son who has died for me and for His sake grant me pardon.
Attend, especially, devout soul, to what is commonly taught by masters of the spiritual life, who recommend you to have recourse immediately to God after you have fallen, although you should repeat the fall a hundred times in the day. Having done this, do not be disturbed. If you remain discouraged and troubled because of the fault committed, you will scarcely speak to God; your confidence will grow less your desire to love God will grow cold and you will make little or no advance in the way of the Lord. On the other hand, by having immediate recourse to God, asking His pardon and promising amendment for the future, your very faults will help you to advance in divine love. Between friends who sincerely love one another it sometimes happens that when one offends the other and then humbles himself and asks pardon, their friendship becomes stronger than ever. Do you act in like manner with regard to God: let your faults only strengthen the bonds of love which unite you to Him.
5. Pray in your doubts.
Whenever you are in doubt about anything – whether it regards yourself or others – act like good friends do who always consult one another in their difficulties. Show the same mark of confidence to God; consult Him; ask Him to enlighten you, that you may decide on what is most pleasing to Him: Put Thou words in my mouth and strengthen the resolution in my heart (Jud. 9-18). Lord, make known to me what Thou wouldst have me do, to answer, and I will obey Thee: Speak, Lord, for Thy servant heareth (i Kings 3-10).
6. Pray for your neighbour.
Recommend to God with confidence not only your own needs but also the needs of others. How pleasing to Him it will be if you sometimes forget yourself and speak to Him of His own glory, of the miseries of others, especially those who mourn in sorrow; of the souls in purgatory, His spouses, who long to behold Him in Heaven; and of poor sinners who live deprived of His grace. Pray to Him for sinners thus: Lord, Thou art all goodness and worthy of an infinite love: how, then, canst Thou endure in the world so many souls on whom Thou hast lavished Thy favours, and who yet have no desire to know Thee, who have no desire to love Thee, who even offend and despise Thee? Ah, my most amiable God, make Thyself known – make Thyself loved. Hallowed be Thy name, Thy kingdom come. May Thy name be adored and loved by all men. May Thy love reign in all hearts. Do not let me depart from Thee without granting me some grace for the unhappy souls for whom I pray.
7. Speak to God of heaven.
It is said that souls who in this life have but little longing for heaven are punished in purgatory with a peculiar pain, called the pain of languor. This surely is only just; because to have but little longing for heaven is to set little value on the happiness of that eternal kingdom which our Lord opened to us by His death. Remember, then, frequently to think of, and long for heaven. Say to God that your life seems an endless span, so great is your desire to go to Him, to see Him face to face, and to love Him. Long to be set free from your exile, from this world of sin, from the danger of losing divine grace, that you may arrive at that land of love where your heart will be given wholly to God. Say to Him over and over again: Lord, as long as I live on this earth I am in danger of forsaking Thee and of losing Thy love. When shall I leave this life, wherein I am forever offending Thee? When shall I go to love Thee with all my soul and unite myself to Thee without any danger of losing Thee again?
St. Teresa was ever sighing for heaven in this manner. She used to rejoice when she heard the clock strike, because another hour of life and of the danger of losing God, had passed. She so earnestly desired to die that she might see God, that she was dying with the desire to die. This was the subject of the loving poem which she composed: ‘I die because I do not die.’
HOW GOD ANSWERS THE SOUL
In a word, if you wish to please the loving Heart of God, endeavour to speak to Him as often as you can, and with the fullest confidence that He will answer and speak to you in return. When you withdraw yourself from conversation with creatures to speak to God alone, He will not speak in a voice that strikes the ear, but in a voice that reaches the heart: I will lead her into the wilderness and I will speak to her heart (Osee, 2-14). He will speak by inspiration, by interior light, by manifestations of His goodness, by a tenderness which touches the heart, by assurance of pardon, by a feeling of peace, by the hope of heaven, by intimate happiness, by the sweetness of His grace, by loving and tender embraces of the soul – in a word, He will speak in a voice easily understood by those whom He loves and who have given their hearts to Him.
St. Alphonsus de Liguori was an Italian Bishop, a Doctor of the Church, and the founder of the Redemptorists. He is known as one of the chief moral theologians of the 18th century, and was also a composer, musician, artist and poet. He was canonized in 1839.
This passage is an excerpt from one of his earliest writings, How to Pray at All Times, which was first published in 1753. This work is part of the public domain, but you can purchase this small but powerful treatise at this affiliate link.