Harvesting The Fruits of Contemplation

 

"Offer your whole life to the Lord during Mass every day. Put yourself on the patent with the bread that will become the Body of the Lord. Be the water that is mingled with the wine that will become His precious Blood." (Excerpt from Communion is a Flame Bursting Within by Catherine Doherty, Servant of God)

[What follows is just one of 150 thought-provoking quotations you will encounter in Pondering Tidbits of Truth, Volume 6. ] Venerable Bruno Lanteri  "Do you find yourself turning inward, preoccupied by your anxieties and burdened by your failings? 'Instead of turning in on yourself, lift your gaze often with peace and love to God.' Often. With peace. With love. The less you focus on your failures and the more you gaze on the Lord with peace and love, the more your heart will lift, the stronger you will become, the more joy you will find. Tell Him that 'you want to be totally His' and, with boldness, tell Him that 'it is His to make you become better'!  (From Overcoming Spiritual Discouragement - The Wisdom and Spiritual Power of Venerable Bruno Lanteri)  PAUSE AND PONDER : Is my first inclination when troubled and challenged to turn to God and ask for His assistance? If not, why am I hesitant to do so? Do I believe God can change me? Have I ever asked Him ...

"Everything can be borne between two Masses if every morning we eat the bread of Saints. We will be able to face any kind of day. We will plunge into the sea of fire and come out burning ready to go forth and light fires of love.  You are an empty chalice. Every morning you have to be filled. Every morning you offer yourself, your day, your being and consecrate yourself as a sacrifice to make up for what is wanting in the passion of Christ. I eat Christ in the morning and I am eating up myself through the day." ( Communion is a Flame Bursting Within by Catherine Doherty)

 

"..Jesus has been the Bread of life for so many centuries, and yet during all those centuries countless souls have died of hunger. Many never knew Him, many never saw him again once the day of their First Holy Communion was over. Even now there are many who are at once sick and tired of it, not to say disgusted, when you begin to speak to Him; many only then make up their minds to receive Him when a threatening voice speaks within them and fills them with fear... So there He is, the God who has loved them from all eternity and Who ceases not to love them now; and He must look upon them while they waste away and die of hunger. He can do nothing for them; their sad indifference repels Him when He would approach, bind those divine hands that would bless and do good. The Savior without souls! Poor Jesus!" ( Eucharistic Whisperings , Father Winfrid Herbst, SDS)