Memorial of Saint Alphonsus Liguori, Bishop and Doctor of the Church

Lectionary: 610

Now there is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. For the law of the spirit of life in Christ Jesus has freed you from the law of sin and death.

Some critics have complained that priests preach justice in the pulpit and mercy in the confessional. While they might be very kind in private, their public appearance is hostile. 

Saint Alphonsus Ligouri (1696-1787) was kind in the pulpit and the confessional, and was violently opposed by righteous factions within the Church. He was, by their standards, entirely too kind. He lived by Romans 8: 1 -- 

There is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. 

Scripture scholars believe Saint Paul wrote his letter to the Galatians first, and then, after more reflection, his Letter to the Romans. His confident belief about God's mercy is built on the foundation of that great "declaration of independence:" Galatians 5: 1:

For freedom Christ set us free; so stand firm and do not submit again to the yoke of slavery.

European society and the Church went through great social changes during the eighteenth century as an affluent middle class gained control of economic and political forces. In those days, "middle class" referred not to organized union workers with a guaranteed wage, forty-hour workweeks, and paid vacation. Rather, they were leaders of trade and manufacturing; they were not aristocrats, born to wealth and privilege. Their "new" wealth was not in land but in capital. 

As the Industrial Revolution got under way, peasant farmers abandoned the plantations of the aristocrats, and moved to the cities, to be hired and managed by capitalists. Their families were less stable; and their lifestyle was less controlled by society and the church. They observed and imitated more closely the decadent lifestyles of the rich and famous. In the more fluid cities it was possible for a poor man with ambition, luck, and few moral scruples to become wealthy. 

Many in the Church, more comfortable with the old ways and old controls of the peasantry, deplored the freedoms of the city. They were not eager to forgive those who confessed adultery, thievery, or idleness. 

Neither were they willing to speak for the exploited poor. The official Church opposed unions until Pope Leo published Rerum Novarum in 1891. Until then the Church taught that the wealthy should give to the poor, and the poor should be grateful; but poverty was just a fact of life to be accepted as God's will. If God favors the rich, who are you to question God?

Saint Alphonsus saw the violence of poverty and its demoralizing influence. More importantly, he trusted the mercy of God as he found it in the Old and New Testaments, and as he knew it in his own gentle disposition. When many Jansenist confessors gave severe penances or refused absolution to some penitents, Alphonsus encouraged his disciples and readers of his theological treatises to welcome everyone. Confessing one's sins should be an encounter with Christ and his beloved Mother, and a homecoming to the fellowship of the saints; not an ordeal. 

Because of his courage and steadfast kindness, many approach the Sacrament as an act of faith. They confess their sins with confidence in the mercy of a Church which knows too well its own sinfulness, and yet believes in Love.