Harvesting The Fruits of Contemplation

 

"It is for us that...our divine Savior has remained day and night on our altars, that we may have recourse to Him in all our needs; and nothing so much afflicts His divine Heart as our ingratitude for such a favor, and our neglect to visit Him and ask His blessing. If we knew how profitable those visits are, we should be constantly prostrate before the altar. The Saints understood this truth; they knew that Jesus Christ is the source of all grace, and whenever they encountered any difficulty or wished to obtain any particular favor, they ran to Jesus Christ in the Blessed Sacrament.  St. Francis Xavier, St. Francis Regis and others spent whole hours during the day and, frequently, a great part of the night at the foot of the altar; it was in these long interviews with Jesus Christ that they advanced the good works they had in hand, converted sinners, and obtained success in all their undertakings for the glory of God and their own sanctification." (Blessed J. B. Marcellin Cha...

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. Rev. Father Raymond, O.C.S.O. “We need God.  Without Him we can do nothing. But God also needs us. He needs us to bear witness to the fact that He exists; that God became man; that God died; that God rose again; that men can become like God. God needs us to be animated Gospels and give the world the almost unbelievable ‘Good News’ that God is our Father, and we are heirs to all that almighty God possesses.” (From God. A Woman and the Way )     Father Jean-Pierre de Caussade, S.J. "The divine activity permeates the whole universe, it pervades every creature; wherever they are it is there; it goes before them, with them, and it follows them; all they have to do is to let the waves bear them on. Would to God that ... all men could know how very easy it would be for them to arrive at a high degree of sanctity. They would only h...

 

(Image Source: Wikimedia Commons ) “We have forgotten that there is eloquence in the silent simplicity of doing one’s ordinary duty. We have forgotten that there is power and terrific impact in example. A child of six was about to undergo a tonsillectomy. The surgeon, a fallen away Catholic, to ease all tension, playfully and paternally told the little girl that he was going to help her go to sleep for a while. Whereupon the child knelt on the operating table saying: 'If I’m going to sleep, I must first say my night prayers.’ In all simplicity and with the full charm of innocent childhood she folded her hands and said what you and I have said again and again in our youth. Now I lay me down to sleep; To God I give my soul to keep. And if I die before I wake, To God I give my soul to take. That night a fallen away Catholic came back to Christ.   We forget that silence speaks, that our mere presence gives testimony to the truth – or evidence of our untruth!”  (Rev. ...

(Image Source: Hands at Mass ) "A Christian on leaving the holy place moved by the holy thoughts that have been aroused in him by the sight of the ceremonies he has seen, and the prayers that he has said, ought to say to himself: 'I have just come from assisting at Holy Mass, a God has immolated Himself for me; He has shed His Blood for the salvation of our souls; what more could He do?'  Oh! how miserable I am, I who for so many years have refused Him my heart, which He has created for Himself and which He asks of me only in order to make it happy. I have just celebrated the praises of God with this same mouth that I had often sullied by all sorts of sins. Oh! my God, shall I always then beg from creatures the peace they are powerless to give me! My tongue shall it serve sometimes to praise You, sometimes to mispraise You.  No, Lord, I now wish only to bless and to love You.  Any Christian who has not, in going over these thoughts in his heart, assisted at the Holy Mass ...

“How tightly should we hold on to our wills,” you ask Lord? How often have we mouthed the words or expressed the desire to surrender our wills to Yours, to accept whatever happens to us each day as Your will for our lives and that which is best for our salvation? How often Lord have we prayed for the grace to let go and let You direct our every thought, word and deed? - a lifetime! But most of us have failed in surrendering even a smidgen of our wills. We hold on foolishly and sinfully to them. We become more stressed, more prone to anger. And the more we realize that failure, the more entrenched in despair and discouragement we become. We do what we claim we do not want to do and fail to do what we know we should. Lord, unleash the grasp the evil one has on our hearts, minds, souls and wills. Let us Lord accept ourselves as we are. Help us Lord to resign ourselves to the things we cannot change. Release us Lord from the anxiety we harbor for the spiritual well-being of those o...