Vincent: Visits to the Blessed Sacrament by St. Alphonsus Liguori, published by TAN Books.
Charles: Yes! Shoutout to TAN.
Vincent: This has over 30 meditations designed for when you do some Eucharistic adoration. I’m going to read one of them, so you can get a feel. It has you read a passage first, and then there’s a reflection.
Here is our Jesus saying to us that he takes delight in the company of men. Our Jesus who is not satisfied with dying for love of us when He was on earth, but wished to remain with us after his death, in the Blessed Sacrament. “Oh men!” St. Teresa cries out, “How can you offend a God who says that is in your company He takes delight!” Jesus takes delight in our company. Shall we not take delight in His? We especially who have had the honor to have been welcomed into His palace. Certainly those subjects who a king allow to enter into His own palace consider themselves very greatly honored. Here is the palace of our king. Here where we now our with Jesus Christ. Let us learn to thank Him for the privilege to learn to talk to Him.
And it goes on. Just on that reflection, thinking of the dynamic of God who is not pleasure-seeking. He is fine the way He is. And yet he says “I take delight in the company of men.”
Charles: And that’s from Scripture. He says he delights in the company of men, and we don’t know why. One of the things is that, and St. Alphonsus brings this out beautifully, His love for us is freely given. There isn’t a grain of self-interest in it. He loves us because He chooses to. That’s it. Full stop. If you think about it, all our loves and affections are based on something. Not His.
Vincent: Exactly! And that’s why I read this, is because there are meditations to understand the aspects of God. Well not understand, I still don’t understand. It’s still a mystery. But reflections on who God is. Not just on your own situation, but who God is, as he draws you closer during adoration.
So I’ve added this book to my repertoire. I like variety now. I jump around on my adoration. Sometimes you get a restless spirit, you’re upset, you feel weakened spiritually. I always do Deliverance Prayers by Fr. Ripperger for protection against the demons. This is one of our best-selling books. I pretty regularly bring this, but sometimes I don’t. Sometimes I bring Mother Angelica’s Manual for Eucharistic Adoration. This is a very different feel. This is a feel where she brings about very tender, intimate communication with God. It’s a very different feeling than these other books. So I feel that variety is kind of important with adoration. Don’t go with the same routine. Keep it fresh. And I feel this reflects what St. Francis de Sales says. He says when you’re doing devotion, do what really appeals to you. And different things appeals to us at different times.
Charles: And in different methods and different ways. And that’s just one person. You multiply it by everyone, and it’s an amazing. So yeah, that’s a grand book to push. St. Alphonsus is always good.
Vincent: It’s especially grand because it’s such a cheap book. This and The Secret of the Rosary.
