The Incarnation, Birth and Infancy of Jesus Christ

The Ascetical Works #IV

by Alfonso María de Liguori

— A Classic — Includes Active Table of Contents — Includes Religious Illustrations

Adam, our first parent, sins; ungrateful for the great benefits conferred on him, he rebels against God, by a violation of the precept given him not to eat of the forbidden fruit. On this account God is obliged to drive him out of the earthly paradise in this world, and in the world to come to deprive not only Adam, but all the descendants of this rebellious creature, of the heavenly and everlasting paradise which he had prepared for them after this mortal life.

Aeterna Press

Genres: Theology, Religion

341 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 1, 1758

About the author

Saint Alfonso María de Liguori, CSsR (1696–1787), was an Italian Catholic bishop, spiritual writer, composer, musician, artist, poet, lawyer, scholastic philosopher, and theologian.

He founded the Congregation of the Most Holy Redeemer (the Redemptorists). In 1762 he was appointed Bishop of Sant'Agata dei Goti. A prolific writer, he published nine editions of his "Moral Theology" in his lifetime, in addition to other devotional and ascetic works and letters. Among his best known works are "The Glories of Mary" and "The Way of the Cross", the latter still used in parishes during Lenten devotions.

He was canonized in 1839 by Pope Gregory XVI and proclaimed a Doctor of the Church by Pope Pius IX in 1871. One of the most widely read Catholic authors, he is the patron saint of confessors.

Reviews

[Katherine Thérèse · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great book for Advent. I try to read it every year.

[Dawn Axelson · Rating 4 out of 5]

The essence of this book was so good that I suspect I may never look at the Nativity in precisely the same way again. There are lines such as: "Our Lord revealed to St. Margaret of Cortona that in his whole life he never experienced the smallest degree of sensible consolation" (p. 55) and "from the first moment that I was in the womb of Mary I suffered all that I had afterwards to suffer in my death" (p. 57). It was a brutal read. But the strength of God's Love shone through in a way that the Hallmark card type of Christmas could not begin to capture.

I read this book in two ways. From mid November, until Christmas day, I read it in 15 minute increments. From Christmas until just after Epiphany, I sped the process up, wanting to move on to another subject. The first method worked quite well for this book. It is somewhat repetitive, and when using the book in short bursts for multiple weeks, this repetition actually works to reinforce the material. But trying to read it as one would a normal book is not a pleasant experience, in my opinion. A pious editor would do the world a great service by condensing this work into something that could be read in meditative chunks for the four weeks of Advent, and I doubt very much that too much would be lost in the process.

There are many typos. But it was a very inexpensive and edifying read, so I am okay with scanning over those.

So... I would definitely read this again. But I would start next time in October in order to work through it slowly.