Harvesting The Fruits of Contemplation

  (Source: Wikimedia Commons ) If there is one Scripture passage that we defense lawyers should especially appreciate, it has to be today’s first reading (Daniel 13:1-9, 15-17, 19-30, 33-62). The case against Susanna was open and shut. All seemed hopeless. There were two eye witnesses – and they were judges and well-known leaders of the community to boot! How could anyone credit the adulteress’ self-serving denial? No one did, save for Daniel.

  (Image source: Wikimedia Commons ) There is a vital lesson to learn from the paralytic in John's Gospel. When we fail to listen to, and answer the specific question, God places in our hearts, we may lose the opportunity to receive a great and undeserved gift. Listen here .

"[Jesus] He listened to everything. To the petition made in faith and spoken from the heart by the woman with a hemorrhage, to Zacchaeus, to the blasphemous shouts in the Praetorium, to the triumphant Hosanna, and to the false testimony, to the silent weeping of the penitents and to the evil thoughts of His enemies. He listened to everything! He continues living in this way in the Tabernacle: listening to everyone and to everything. But there's a big difference between His way of listening and the way man listens. Man is wont to listen only with his ear - sometimes, maybe, with his mind. Jesus in the Tabernacle listens with His ear and with his mind, that is, with understanding. He also listens with His heart because He loves us. And to think that there are tabernacles where there is no one present to talk to Him. He Who is so good! Immaculate Mother, angels of the Tabernacle, speak to the ear of your Jesus in those tabernacles where there is so much painful silence."...

Pondering Tidbits of Truth is my simple and inadequate way of providing nuggets of spiritual wisdom for you to chew on from time to time. This week all three tidbits are gifts from Venerable Fulton J. Sheen Venerable Fulton J. Sheen "Our Lord never promised safety to His Apostles; He promised them persecution. He did not promise them health or comfort. He promised strength to bear their trials."                                       (From March 18, 2025 Reflection on  Sheen Institute ) Venerable Fulton J. Sheen "To a great extent, the world is what we make it. We get back what we give. If we sow hate, we reap hate; if we scatter love and gentleness, we harvest love and happiness. Other people are like a mirror which reflects back on us, the kind of image we cast..." (From Way to Happiness ) Venerable Fulton J Sheen "...there are few listeners, although St. Paul tells us that 'faith comes...

There are times when one must be blunt in the effort to stir slumbering souls. Today is one of those days. Seek a quiet place where you and God can chat, heart to heart. He has some questions for you. Ponder them. How will you respond to Him? (Photo©Father Lawrence Lew, O.P. Used with permission) What if, as Father Francis Hudson, S.C.J. once asked his parishioners,     God loved you, only as much as you loved Him? As you enter your parish Church, are you struck with a sense of the Sacred and a realization that you are standing on holy ground? If not, why not?   What does Jesus see and hear from behind the locked Tabernacle doors when He gazes at those present? Is He pleased by what He hears and sees? If not, why not?   How important is it for you to spend some time in quiet prayer and r eflection in the presence of the Blessed Sacrament, before, during, after Mass and throughout the course of each week?   Of the 168 hours God g...

[ I read these words of wisdom penned by Father Paul  D. Scalia yesterday and knew immediately that they had to be shared:] "Sanctity isn't happening somewhere else. It is found in the here and now, in the duty of the moment, in being present to ourselves, to God and to others... Our salvation - yours and mine - does not happen out there, in some other place or in someone else's life. It doesn't occur in the  media or latest gossip, online or otherwise. It doesn't depend on our knowing the latest political intrigue or celebrity news. It depends on our personal and interior adherence to the Lord.  But we love to be distracted because this reality can be daunting. We fear that God is too close, too personal. Too local. So we distract ourselves by looking elsewhere, to other people, places and things. But salvation doesn't happen somewhere else. It happens locally, where we are. And we shouldn't chose to be anywhere else." (Excerpted from  The Catholic Th...

…For sinners, the door of His heart is always open, so that He will never drive them away, however miserable they may be.   He so earnestly desired the salvation of sinners that He did not cease until He was nailed to a cross between two thieves and shed His Precious Blood for them. Not content with this, having finished the course of His earthly life, He instituted this Sacrament [the Eucharist] by which He might remain among men, so that all who need a remedy would always find it. The same cause that led Him to die for sinners, led Him to institute this Sacrament. It was love that brought Him down to earth and put Him in the hands of sinners; it is love also that brings Him back again and puts Him in the same hands. There was no other cause for this Great work but love on His part and need on our part. Therefore, this Sacrament is a common remedy for the just and for sinners.   This is what they do not understand who stay away from this Sacrament. They do not realize tha...