Liguori – "Salvation is our only business in this world”

Liguori – Salvation is our only business in this world”

by Tantumblogo http://veneremurcernui.wordpress.com/2014/07/02/liguori-salvation-is-our-only-business-in-this-world/

It has been a long time since I've quoted one of the Moral Doctor's books. Far too long. From The Great Means of Salvation and Perfection, The Ascetical Works, Vol. III, The Importance of Salvation:

Of all our affairs there is none more important than that of our eternal salvation, on which depends our happiness or misery for eternity."One thing is necessary" (Saint Luke, X:22). It is not necessary that we should be rich, honored, or in the enjoyment of good health, but it is necessary that we should be saved. For this end alone has God placed us in the world; and woe to us if we do not attain it!

St. Francis Xavier said that the only good to be obtained in this world is salvation; and the only evil to be dreaded, damnation. What matter if we are poor, despised, or infirm? If saved, we shall be happy forever. On the contrary, what does it avail to be great, or to be monarchs? If lost, we shall be miserable for eternity.

O God, what will become of me? I may be saved, and I may also be lost. and if I may be lost, why do I not resolve to adhere more closely to Thee?

My Jesus, have pity on me. I will amend my life. Give me Thy assistance. Thou hast died to save me, and shall I notwithstanding, forfeit my salvation?

Have we already done enough to secure salvation? Are we already secure of not falling into hell?

"What shall a man give in exchange for his own soul?" (Saint Matthew, XVI:26) If he lose his soul, what will compensate him for its loss?

What have not the Saints done to secure their salvation? How many kinds and queens have renounced their kingdoms and shut themselves up in cloisters! How many young men have left their country, and have gone to live in deserts? How many young virgins have renounced marriage with great ones of the world, to go and give their lives for Jesus Christ? And what do we do?

O my God, how much has Jesus Christ done for our salvation! He spent thirty three years in toil and labor; He gave His Blood and His Life; and shall we, through our own fault, be lost?

O Lord! I give Thee thanks, for not having called me out of the world when I had forfeited Thy Grace. had I then died, what would have become of me for all eternity?

God desires that all should be saved' "He will have all men to be saved." (1 Tim II:4) If we are lost, it will be entirely our own fault. And this will be our greatest torment in hell.

St. Teresa says that even the loss of a trifle, of an ornament, of a ring, when it has happened through our own carelessness, occasions us the greatest uneasiness. What a torment, then, will it be to the damned to have willfully lost all -their souls, Heaven, and God!

Alas! death approaches; and what have I done for life eternal?

O my God! for how many years have I deserved to dwell in hell; where I could not repent, nor love thee! Now, that I can do both, I will repent and will love Thee with my whole heart, and truly convert my soul.

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The great, invincible Saint Alphonsus Maria de Liguori, the very antithesis of the kind of creature that inhabits parishes like St. Francis of Assisi and St. Francis Xavier in Manhattan! How the names of such incredible Saints are sullied by this association!

This is what is necessary for salvation: observing all God's Commandments. Yes, love for our fellow man is absolutely key, but love of God com
es first. That means love for, and submission to, His Law. He has revealed His Law to us very clearly. He has given us great Saints - and even Himself - to guide us. He has given us Sacred Scripture, but even more importantly, the infallibly communicated Tradition that predates Scripture and constitutes the handing on of God's literal Truth from generation to generation.

Love is not sentiment. Love it not indifference. Love is not false tolerance that pretends that sin is not. Love is sometimes hard. Love sometimes causes great pain. But all for the greater good, for the only thing that matters, in fact: eternal salvation.

Love is a Person, Jesus Christ, the Second Person of the Holy Trinity and He who said: "If you love me, keep my commandments." (Saint John, XIV:15) One of those Commandments, stressed in Old Testament and New, is that sodomy (and sapphos) are incredibly offensive sins to God, sins that cry out to Heaven for vengeance.

Pray for the lost souls that inhabit fallen parishes where error abounds and Truth is not just forgotten, but actively derided. Blind guides, indeed.

The most difficult person in the world to convert, according to a great priest I know who has converted many, many improbable individuals, is the invincibly ignorant/badly formed Catholic. That is why Catholic schools are such utter disasters - once people hear from one they believe to be an authoritative source in the Church that this sin is not a sin, or that the Church "doesn't believe that anymore," convincing them otherwise takes a great moral miracle.

We need millions such miracles. Lord, have mercy on Your Church!