Alphonsus Liguori Quotes

He who trusts himself is lost. He who trusts God can do all things.

Behold how the stream flows to the sea, and the flowing waters will return no more; thus, my brother, do your days pass away, and you approach to death; pleasures pass, amusements pass, pomp, praises, acclamations pass; and what remains?

The heart of man will never find true peace, if it does not empty itself of all that is not God, so as to free itself all free for His love, that He alone may possess the whole of it. But this the soul cannot do of itself; it must obtain it of God by repeated prayers.

remember that He permits every thing for your good, and do not lose confidence:

In short, so great is God's love for you that He seems to love no one but you. And therefore, you should love no one but Him.*

When we hear people talk of riches, honors and amusements of the world, let us remember that all things have an end, and let us then say: 'My God, I wish for You alone and nothing more.

Withdraw yourself from people and spend at least an quarter of an hour, or a half-hour, in some church in the presence of the Blessed Sacrament. Taste and see how sweet is the Lord, and you will learn from your own experience how many graces this will bring you.

Bear well in mind that you have neither friend, nor brother, nor father, nor mother, nor spouse, nor lover, who loves you more than God.

He who trusts in himself is lost. He who trusts in God can do all things.

It is not a rare occurrence among intimate friends that their friendship is strengthened when one has displeased the other but has afterwards humbled himself and asked pardon.

Ask those souls who love Him with a true love, and they will tell you that in the sorrows of their life their sweetest and truest consolation is to converse lovingly with God.

Those who give themselves to prayer," says St. Teresa, "should concentrate solely on this: the conformity of their wills with the divine will. They should be convinced that this constitutes their highest perfection. The more fully they practice this, the greater the gifts they will receive from God, and the greater the progress they will make in the interior life [10]

Sickness is the acid test of spirituality, because it discloses whether our virtue is real or sham. If the soul is not agitated, does not break out in lamentations, is not feverishly restless in seeking a cure, but instead is submissive to the doctors and to superiors, is serene and tranquil, completely resigned to God's will, it is a sign that that soul is well-grounded in virtue.

How many on account of physical beauty or robust health have plunged headlong into a life of debauchery!

The life of man is like the life of a blade of grass. Death comes, the grass withers, and behold life ends, and the flower falls of all greatness and all worldly goods.

What is your life? It is like a vapor, which is dispersed by a breath of wind, and is no more.

Tell me, where are the lovers of the world? Nothing remains of them but ashes and worms.

Therefore, as St. Sophronius, Patriarch of Jerusalem, asserts, the archangel Gabriel called her full of grace: “Ave gratia plena;” because whilst to others, as the saint above mentioned remarks, limited grace is given, to Mary it was given in fulness. And thus it was ordered, as St. Basil attests, that in this way she might become the worthy mediatrix between God and men. For if the Virgin had not been full of divine grace, as St. Lawrence Justinian adds, how could she be the ladder of paradise, the advocate of the world, and the true mediatrix between God and men?

Acquire the habit of speaking to God as if you were alone with God. Speak with familiarity and confidence as to your dearest and most loving friend. Speak of your life, your plans, your troubles, your joys, your fears. In return, God will speak to you— not that you will hear audible words in your ears, but words that you will clearly understand in your heart.”1 —St. Alphonsus de’Liguori (1696–1797)

At present sinners banish the remembrance and thought of death, and thus seek for peace (although they never find it) by leading a life of sin; but when they shall be in the agonies of death, about to enter into eternity, "when distress cometh upon them, they will seek for peace, and there will be none," then can they no longer fly from their evil conscience; they will seek peace, but what peace can be found by a soul laden with sins, which sting it like so many vipers?

Never fail to give God a proof of your confidence by asking His advice and praying to Him to enlighten you to resolve on what will be to His good pleasure. "Put Thou words in my mouth, and strengthen the resolution in my heart." (Jdth. 9:18). "Tell me, O Lord, what You wish me to do or to answer, and that will I do. 'Speak, Lord, for Thy servant heareth.' " (1 Kgs. 3:9).

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.

Your God is ever beside you—indeed, He is even within you. "In Him we live, and move, and are." (Acts 17:28). Not only is there no need of an intermediary through whom He would want you to speak to Him, but He finds His delight in having you treat with Him personally and in all confidence. Speak to Him often of your business, your plans, your troubles, your fears—of everything that concerns you. But above all, converse with Him confidently and frankly; for God is not wont to speak to a soul that does not speak to Him.

One day, Father Alvarez, finding himself overwhelmed with business, was anxious to get rid of it, in order to go and pray, because it seemed to him that during that time he was not with God; but our Lord then said to him: "Though I do not keep thee with Me, let it suffice thee that I make use of thee." 14 This is a profitable lesson for those who are sometimes disturbed at being obliged, by obedience or by charity, to leave their accustomed devotions; let them be assured that such disturbances on like occasions do not come from God, but either from the devil or from self-love. "Give pleasure to God, and die." This is the grand maxim of the Saints.

We must not therefore consider the afflictions that come upon us as happening by chance or solely from the malice of men; we should be convinced that what happens, happens by the will of God. Apropos of this it is related that two martyrs, Epictetus and Atho, being put to the torture by having their bodies raked with iron hooks and burnt with flaming torches, kept repeating: "Work thy will upon us, O Lord." Arrived at the place of execution, they exclaimed: "Eternal God, be thou blessed in that thy will has been entirely accomplished in us [30] .

Hence we should all make St. Augustine's prayer our own: "Lord, here cut, here burn and spare me not, but spare me in eternity!

Having merited hell for our sins, we should be consoled that God chastises us in this life, and animate ourselves to look upon such treatment as a pledge that God wishes to spare us in the next.

Oh Lord, give me what the most holy Virgin Mary is asking for me." And this is well, as Lapide adds, for our mother desires greater things for us than we think of asking for ourselves.

This is the abiding peace which, in the experience of the saints, "surpasseth all understanding [37] ." It surpasses all pleasures rising from gratification of the senses, from social gatherings, banquets and other worldly amusements; vain and deceiving as they are, they captivate the senses for the time being, but bring no lasting contentment; rather they afflict man in the depth of his soul where alone true peace can reside.

By uniting themselves to the divine will, the saints have enjoyed paradise by anticipation in this life. Accustoming themselves to receive all things from the hands of God, says St. Dorotheus

St. Alphonsus Liguori stressed the best way to help the souls in Purgatory, after having Masses said for them, is to pray rosaries and join the Confraternity of the Rosary. He also that if we want to help the souls in Purgatory and bring them great relief, let us recite the Rosary

Father Diego Martinez, of the same society, who, on account of his devotion to our Lady, on the feasts of Mary, was carried by angels to heaven, that he might see with how much devotion they were celebrated there,

Then freely open your heart to Him and ask Him to lead you to do His Divine Will in a perfect manner.

How impervious to things spiritual, my heart!" cries a St. Bernard. "No savor in pious reading, no pleasure in meditation nor in prayer!

delights were to be with the children of men." (Prov. 8:31). The heart of man is, so to speak, the paradise of God. Oh, love the God who loves you! Since His delights are to be with you, let yours be found in Him.

Often to make acts of love towards Jesus Christ. Immediately on waking, and before going to sleep, to make an act of love, seeking always to unite your own will to the will of Jesus Christ.

There will never be much perfection without much prayer.

All know that they must die; but many are deceived by picturing to themselves death at such a distance as if it could never come near them.

St. John says: “This is the victory which overcometh the world, our faith.” (1 John 5:4). God has created us simply to labor at our souls’ salvation and to become holy. “This is the will of God, your sanctification,” says the Apostle. (1 Thess. 4:3). To this end all our efforts must be directed, and faith puts us in a position to overcome all the obstacles which the world opposes to the realization of our object, obstacles such as human respect, the inordinate desires of the flesh, in a word, all the temptations of Hell.

He who neglects mental prayer needs no devil to carry him to hell. He brings himself there with his own hands.” -      St. Teresa of Ávila, Quoted by St Alphonsus Liguori

I was also aware of three other historically important Christians whose apparently obsessive-compulsive symptoms had become a source of latter-day psychiatric speculation. They were Martin Luther, architect of Europe’s sixteenth-century Reformation and a figure of incomparable importance in the history of Western civilization; Ignatius of Loyola, Luther’s famous adversary, founder of the Catholic order known as the Jesuits and leader of the Counter-Reformation; and Alphonsus Liguori, a nineteenth-century Catholic saint who is renowned for his contributions to the field of moral theology.

Should anyone object that a life according to faith is opposed to nature, I answer: It is, no doubt, opposed to nature--but to a depraved and fallen nature. It is burdensome, yes, but only for those who rely on their own strength and resources. But for one who trusts in God and begs for His assistance, the observance of the law of Jesus Christ is sweet and easy.

O solitude, in which God speaks and converses familiarly with his people!”  says St. Jerome. Oh, beautiful solitude, in which God speaks with his beloved souls and converses no longer as a king, but as a friend, as a brother, as a spouse! Oh, what Paradise to converse in that solitude with the Baby Jesus in the little cave of Bethlehem!

Jesus…could save us without dying on the Cross… a prayer offered to His Eternal Father would be… of infinite value. [It] would therefore be sufficient for the salvation of the world and of a thousand worlds. But what was sufficient for redemption was not sufficient for love.

The blessed Virgin herself expressed all this to St. Bridget, when she said to her, “However great may be a man’s sins, when he turns to me, I am immediately ready to receive him; neither do I consider how much he has sinned, but with what intention he comes; for I do not disdain to

Eternal Father, I humbly adore you, and thank you for having created me and for having redeemed me through Jesus Christ. I thank you most sincerely for having made me a Christian, by giving me the true faith, and by adopting me as your Son, in the sacrament of Baptism. I thank you for having waited for my repentance after the numberless sins I’d committed, and for having pardoned (as I humbly hope) all the offences that I’ve committed against you, and for which I’m now sincerely sorry, because they have been displeasing to you, who are infinite Goodness. I thank you for having preserved me from the many relapses of which I would have been guilty, if you hadn’t protected me. Even so, my spiritual enemies still continue—and will continue till death—to fight against me, and to endeavor to make me their slave. If you don’t constantly guard and support me with your aid, this miserable creature will return to sinning and will certainly lose your grace. I beg you, then, for the love of Jesus Christ, to grant me holy perseverance until death. Jesus, your Son, has promised that you’ll grant whatever we ask in his name. So through the merits of Jesus Christ, I beg for myself and for all those who have been justified the grace never again to be separated from your love, but to love you forever, in time and eternity. — St. Alphonsus Liguori, A Prayer to Obtain Final Perseverance

I love Thee above every good, and henceforth I will suffer the loss of all things rather than lose Thy friendship.

The Lord has written us in His hands with His own blood. Therefore we should allow nothing to disquiet us, for He arranges and disposes everything with these very hands which were nailed to the cross as a proof of His love for us.

Thus, St. Alphonsus Liguori tells his readers that the sinner that ventures to come directly to Christ may come with dread and apprehension of His wrath; but let him only employ the mediation of the Virgin with her Son, and she has only to "show" that Son "the breasts that gave Him suck," and His wrath will immediately be appeased. But where in the Word of God could such an idea have been found? Not surely in the answer of the Lord Jesus to the woman who exclaimed, "Blessed is the womb that bare thee, and the paps that thou hast sucked!" Jesus answered and said unto her, "Yea, rather, blessed are they that hear the Word of God and keep it" (Luke xi. 27, 28).

That is, a soul cannot have a relish for God, unless it withdraws from creatures, and sits, that is, stops to contemplate the goodness, the love, the amiableness of God.

He who neglects mental prayer needs no devil to carry him to hell. He brings himself there with his own hands.” - St. Teresa of Ávila, quoted by St Alphonsus Liguori