Sunday Sermons of St. Alphonsus Liguori - Fourth Sunday of Lent: On the Tender Compassion Which Jesus Christ Entertains Towards Sinners

4th Sunday of Lent

On the tender compassion which Jesus Christ entertains toward sinners.

We read in this day's gospel that having gone up into a mountain with his disciples,

and seeing a multitude of 5,000 persons who followed him because they saw the miracles

which he wrote on them that were diseased, the Redeemer said to St. Philip,

when shall we buy bread that these may eat?

Lord, answered St. Philip, 200 penny worth of bread is not sufficient that everyone may take a little.

St. Andrew then said,

there is a boy here that has five barley loaves and two fishes,

but what are these among so many?

But Jesus Christ said, make them and sit down,

and he distributed the loaves and fishes among them,

and the fragments of bread which remained filled 12 baskets.

The Lord brought this tender miracle through compassion for the bodily wants of these poor people,

but far more tender is his compassion for the necessities of the souls of the poor,

that is, of sinners who are deprived of divine grace.

This tender compassion of Jesus Christ for sinners shall be the subject of this day's discourse.

Through the bowels of his mercy towards men who groaned under the slavery of sin and Satan,

our most loving Redeemer descended from heaven to earth,

to redeem and save them from eternal torments by his own death.

Such was the language of St. Zechariah, the father of the Baptist,

when the Blessed Virgin who had already become the mother of the eternal word entered his house.

Through the bowels of the mercy of our God,

in which the Orient from on high hath visited us, Luke 178.

Jesus Christ, the good pastor who came into the world to obtain salvation for us his sheep,

has said,

I am come that they may have life and may have it more abundantly, John 10-10.

Mark the expression more abundantly,

which signifies that the Son of Man came on earth,

not only to restore us to the life of grace which we lost,

but to give us a better life than that which we forfeited by sin.

Yes, for S.A. Leo says,

the benefits which we have derived from the death of Jesus are greater than the injury which the devil has done us by sin.

The same doctrine is taught by the Apostle who says that,

where sin abounded, grace did more abound, Romans 5-20.

But, my Lord, since thou hast resolved to take human flesh,

would not a single prayer offered by the eb-sufficient for the redemption of all men?

What need then was there of leading a life of poverty, humiliation, and contempt for 33 years,

of suffering a cruel and shameful death on an infamous jibbit,

and of shedding all thy blood by dint of torments?

I know well answers, Jesus Christ,

that one drop of my blood or a simple prayer would be sufficient for the salvation of the world,

but neither would be sufficient to show the love which I bear to men,

and therefore to be loved by men when they should see me dead on the cross for love of them,

I have resolved to submit to so many torments and to so painful a death.

This, he says, is the duty of a good pastor.

I am the good shepherd, the good shepherd giveeth his life for his sheep.

I lay down my life for my sheep.

John 10, 11 and 15.

Oh, men, what greater proof of love could the Son of God give us than to lay down his life for his sheep?

In this we have known the charity of God because he had laid down his life for us.

First, John 3, 16.

No one, says the Savior, can show greater love to his friends than to give his life for them.

John 15, 13.

But thou, O Lord, has died not only for friends, but for us who were thy enemies by sin.

When we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son.

Romans 5-10.

Infinite love of our God exclaimed St. Bernard, to spare slaves, neither the Father has spared the Son, nor the Son himself.

To pardon us who were rebellious servants, the Father would not pardon the Son, and the Son would not pardon himself,

but by his death has satisfied the divine justice for the sins which we have committed.

When Jesus Christ was near his Passion, he went one day to Samaria.

The Samaritans refused to receive him.

Indignant at the insult offered by the Samaritans to their master, St. James and St. John turning to Jesus said,

Lord, will thou that we command fire to come down from heaven and consume them?

Luke 9.54.

But Jesus, who was all sweetness, even to those who insulted him, answered,

you know not of what spirit you are, the Son of man came not to destroy souls, but to save.

He severely rebuked the disciples.

What spirit is this, he said, which possesses you?

It is not my spirit.

Mine is the spirit of patience and compassion, for I am come not to destroy, but to save the souls of men.

And you speak of fire, of punishment and of vengeance.

Hence in another place, he said to his disciples,

learn of me because I am meek and humble of heart.

Matthew 1129.

I do not wish of you to learn of me to chastise, but to be meek and to bear and pardon injuries.

How beautiful has he described the tenderness of his heart toward sinners in the following words?

What man of you that hath an hundred sheep, and if he lose one of them,

doth he not leave the 99 in the desert, and go after that which is lost until he find it?

And when he hath found it, lay it upon his shoulder rejoicing,

and coming home, called together his friends and neighbors, saying to them,

rejoice with me because I have found my sheep that was lost.

Luke 15.46.

But Lord, it is not thou that audest to rejoice, but the sheep that has found her pastor and her God.

The sheep indeed answers Jesus, rejoices at finding me her shepherd,

but far greater is the joy which I feel that having found one of my last sheep.

He concludes the parable in these words,

I say to you that even so there shall be joy in heaven for one sinner that doth penance,

more than upon 99 just who need not penance.

Luke 15.7.

There is more joy in heaven at the conversion of one sinner than upon 99 just men

who preserve their innocence.

What sinner then can be so hardened as not to go instantly and cast himself at the feet of his Savior

when he knows the tender love with which Jesus Christ is prepared to embrace him

and carry him on his shoulders as soon as he repents of his sins.

The Lord has also declared his tenderness toward penance and sinners in the parable of the

prodigal son. In that parable, the Son of God says that a certain young man

unwilling to be any longer under the control of his father and desiring to live according

to his caprice and corrupt inclinations, asked the portion of his father's substance which

felt to him. The father gave it with sorrow, weeping over the ruin of his son.

The son departed from his father's house.

Having in a short time dissipated his substance, he was reduced to such a degree of misery

that to procure the necessaries of life he was obliged to feed swine.

All this was a figure of a sinner who, after departing from God and losing the divine grace

and all the merits he had acquired, leads a life of misery under the slavery of the devil.

In the gospel, it is added that the young man, seeing his wretched condition, resolved to return

to his father, and the father who was a figure of Jesus Christ, seeing his son returned to him,

was instantly moved to pity. And instead of driving him away as the ungrateful son had deserved,

running to him, he fell upon his neck and kissed him. He ran with open arms to meet him,

and through tenderness fell upon his neck and consoled him by his embraces.

He then said to his servants, bring forth quickly the first robe and put it on him.

According to Saint Jerome and Augustine, the first robe signifies the divine grace,

which in addition to new celestial gifts, God by granting pardon, gives to the penitent sinner.

And put a ring on his finger, give him the ring of a spouse.

By recovering the grace of God, the soul becomes again the spouse of Jesus Christ.

And bring the fatted calf and kill it, and let us eat and make merry.

Bring hither the fatted calf which signifies holy communion, or Jesus in the holy sacrament,

mystically killed and offered in sacrifice on the altar. Let us eat and rejoice.

But why divine father so much joy at the return of so ungrateful a child?

Because answered the father, this my son was dead, and he has come to life again. He was lost,

and I have found him. This tenderness of Jesus Christ was experienced by the sinful woman,

according to Saint Gregory, Mary Magdalene, who cast herself at the feet of Jesus and

washed them with her tears. The Lord, turning to her with sweetness, consoled her by saying,

thy sins are forgiven, thy faith have made thee safe, go in peace.

It was also felt by the man who was sick for 38 years, and who was in firm both in body and soul.

The Lord cured his malady and pardoned his sins.

Behold, says Jesus to him, thou art made whole, sin no more, less some worse thing happened to the

John 5-14. The tenderness of the Redeemer was also felt by the leper who said to Jesus Christ,

Lord, if thou wilt, thou canst make me clean. Matthew 8-2. Jesus answered, I will, be thou made

clean. As if he said, yes, I will that thou be made clean, for I have come down from heaven for

the purpose of consoling all, be healed then according to thy desire. We have also a proof of the

tender compassion of the Son of God for sinners in his conduct towards the woman caught in adultery.

The scribes and Pharisees brought her before him and said,

this woman was even now taken in adultery. Now Moses in the law commands us to stone such a one,

but what say as thou? And this they did, as St. John says, tempting him. They intended to accuse

him of transgressing the law of Moses if he said that she ought to be liberated, and they expected

to destroy his character for meekness if he said that she should be stoned. But what was the

answer of our Lord? He neither said that she should be stoned nor dismissed, but bowing himself down,

he wrote with his finger on the ground. The interpreters say that probably what he wrote on

the ground was a text of Scripture admonishing the accusers of their own sins, which were perhaps

greater than that of the woman charged with adultery. He then lifted himself up and said to them,

he that is without sin among you, let him first cast a stone at her. The scribes and Pharisees

went away one by one, and the woman stood alone. Jesus Christ turning to her said,

hath no one condemned thee, neither will I condemn thee. Go and now sin no more.

Since no one has condemned you, fear not that you shall be condemned by me, who hath come on earth

not to condemn, but to pardon and save sinners. Go in peace and sin no more.

Jesus Christ has come not to condemn, but to deliver sinners from hell as soon as they resolve

to amend their lives. And when he sees them obstinately bent on their own perdition,

he addresses them with tears in the words of Ezekiel, why will you die, oh house of Israel?

Ezekiel 1831

My children, why will you die? Why do you voluntarily rush into hell when I have come from heaven

to deliver you from it by death? You are already dead to the grace of God, but I will not your death.

Return to me, and I will restore to you the life which you have lost, for I desire not the death

of him that dieeth, sayeth the Lord God, return ye and live. But some sinners who are immersed

in the abyss of sin may say, perhaps if we return to Jesus Christ, he will drive us away.

No, for the Redeemer has said, and him that comeeth to me, I will not cast out. John 6.37

No one that comes to me with sorrow for his past sins, however manifold and enormous they may have

been, shall be rejected. Behold how in another place the Redeemer encourages us to throw our

selves at his feet with a secure hope of consolation and pardon. Come to me, all ye that labor

and are burdened, and I will refresh you. Matthew 1128. Come to me, all ye poor sinners, who labor

for your own damnation, and grown under the weight of your crimes, come and I will deliver you from

all your troubles. Again, he says, come and accuse me, sayeth the Lord, if your sins be a scarlet,

they shall be made white as snow, and if they be red as crimson, they shall be made white as wool.

Isaiah 118

Come with sorrow for the offences you committed against me, and if I do not give you pardon,

accuse me. As if he said, upgrade me, rebuke me as a liar, for I promise that, though your sins

were of scarlet, that is of the most horrid enormity, your soul by my blood in which I shall wash it,

will become white and beautiful as snow. Let us then sinners return instantly to Jesus Christ.

If we have left him, let us immediately return, before death overtakes us in sin and sends us to hell,

where the mercies and graces of the Lord shall, if we do not amend, be so many swords which

shall last the heart for all eternity.