Darts of Fire:OR PROOFS THAT JESUS CHRIST HAS GIVEN US OF HIS LOVE IN THE WORK OF REDEMPTION
by St. Alphonsus Liguori
The Saint-Author placed great value on this little treatise of his, writing in one of his spiritual letters of December 18, 1767, that he himself used it almost every day. The pious meditations or reflections are particularly efficacious before the Blessed Sacrament, before and after Holy Communion, or when we meditate on the Passion of Christ. Darts of Fire constitutes a portion of the Saint's masterpiece, THE INCARNATION, BIRTH AND INFANCY OF JESUS CHRIST, with Nihil Obstat and Imprimatur, 1927.
There are thirty-eight segments, which are untitled, thus are not chapters, per se. Thus, we do not list them as links: simply click the forward holly spray. The first segment is published below, on this page.
We have provided two printable images, link below. The above image is from a Christmas card from the Priestly Fraternity of St. Peter, minus the holly. To request an order for the card, call [570] 842-4000 and ask for the title which is cited on the image above. Prices vary depending on the number requested.
Catholic Trdaition has maintained the spelling of the original translation.
I.
Dilexit nos, et tradidit semctipsum pro nobis.
"He hath loved us, and hath delivered Himself for us."-----Ephes. v. 2
God had conferred so many blessings on men, thereby to draw them to love Him; but these ungrateful men not only did not love Him, but they would not even acknowledge Him as their Lord. Scarcely in one corner of the earth, in Judea, was He recognized as God by His chosen people; and by them He was more feared than loved. He, however, Who wished to be more loved than feared by us, became man like us, chose a poor, suffering, and obscure life, and a painful and ignominious death; and why? To draw our hearts to Himself. If Jesus Christ had not redeemed us, He would not have been less great or less happy than He has always been; but He determined to procure our salvation at the cost of many labors and sufferings, as if His happiness depended on ours. He might have redeemed us without suffering; but no,-----He willed to free us from eternal death by His Own death; and though He was able to save us in a thousand ways, He chose the most humiliating and painful way of dying on the Cross of pure suffering, to purchase the love of us, ungrateful worms of the earth. And what indeed was the cause of His miserable birth and His most sorrowful death, if not the love He had for us?
Ah, my Jesus, may that love which made Thee die for me on Calvary destroy in me all earthly affections, and consume me in the fire which Thou art come to kindle on the earth. I curse a thousand times those shameful passions which cost Thee so much pain. I repent, my dear Redeemer, with all my heart for all the offences I have committed against Thee. For the future I will rather die than offend Thee; and I wish to do all that I can to please Thee. Thou hast spared nothing for my love; neither will I spare anything for Thy love. Thou hast loved me without reserve; I also without reserve will love Thee. I love Thee, my only good, my love, my all.
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