Eucharistic Reflection - Go To The Tabernacle
The answer to these
heartfelt questions can be found in one word: Go to the Tabernacle! Priests go
to the Tabernacle! Let us draw power from the Tabernacle! Nobody goes to the Father
except through His Son, Jesus. He is the Way, the Truth and the Life. We do not
journey along this Way, this Truth and this Life of God merely by speculative
intellectual studies of Jesus, but by living faith in Him, by constant contact
with Him in His present state on earth, which is His sacramental state: the Real
Presence.
Is there a disoriented
piety, coldness in charity, an absence of justice? That means the Eucharist is
unknown and untasted. Are there errors, darkness, doubts, ignorance, lack of
knowledge? That means that people are not being guided by the sanctuary light
of the Tabernacle. It is the most clear and illuminating light of all the
lights on earth! Is there spiritual anemia, agony, death, and souls who are
wasting away? That means they are poorly fed or poorly ‘digesting’ the Eucharist
!”
(From
The Bishop of the Abandoned Tabernacle)
Eucharistic Reflection - He Looks At Me
"The Heart of Jesus in the tabernacle looks at me. He looks at me always. He looks at me everywhere. He looks at me as if He doesn't have anyone else to look at but me. Why?
Because He loves me. When two people love each other they yearn to look at each other. Inquire of the mother who, without talking and barely breathing, spends hours next to her son as he sleeps. Why does she do this? She will answer, 'I just want to look at my son.'
Why? Because she loves him with all her heart, and her love prevents her from getting tired of looking at him...
The Heart of Jesus loves us. He loves me and everyone with a love as great as His power, and His power does not have limits! It is an omnipotent love!
Yes, He follows me with His gaze, as my mother would do if she could. Soul, stop for a moment and ponder these words: 'The Heart of Jesus is always looking a me'.
How does He look at me? In the world there are looks of fear, of persecution, of vigilance, of love. How does the Heart of Jesus look at me from His Eucharist?
Above all, I tell you that His look is not that of a judging eye, the eye of Cain, the bad brother. It is not the frightened look, of remorse without hope, or of constant judging. No, that isn't how He looks at me now.
How, then, does He look at me? The Gospel gives me the answer: There are three looks of the Lord. One is a look upon the friends who have never fallen away. Another one is for the friends who are falling or who have just fallen away but who want to rise. The third one is for the ones who have fallen and will not rise because they do not want to."
(From The Bishop of the Abandoned Tabernacle)
Monday Musings - Go There and Receive His Gift For You!
Some very wise advice:
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"Believing soul, you can read books that enlighten and give you knowledge; you can look for preachers and counselors who, with their words, can illumine and prepare you for the way of your sanctification. But more than the word or the book of man, search and look for the Word that is just for you. Jesus in your tabernacle has it reserved in His Heart for each circumstance of your life.
Go there to receive His gift for you. Sometimes it will be a word from Sacred Scripture or from the saints that you already know, but it will have a new meaning. Other times it might be a warning, an impulse, a direction, a correction. The only thing you have to do is to say these two words from the depths of your heart: 'Speak, Master'."
(From The Bishop of the Abandoned Tabernacle)
Pondering Tidbits of Truth - March 9, 2023
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.
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"For meditation the ear of the soul is more important than the tongue: St. Paul tells us that faith comes from listening. Most people commit the same mistake with God that they do with their friends: they do all the talking." St. Manuel Gonzalez Garcia “My faith was looking at Jesus through the door of that Tabernacle, so silent, so patient, so good, gazing right back at me…His gaze was telling me much and asking me for more. It was a gaze in which all the sadness of the Gospels was reflected; the sadness of ‘no room in the inn’; the sadness of those words, ‘Do you also want to leave Me?”; the sadness of poor Lazarus begging for crumbs from the rich man's table; the sadness of the betrayal of Judas, the denial of Peter, of the soldiers slap, of the spittle in the Praetorium, and the abandonment of all. All of this sadness was there in that Tabernacle, oppressing and crushing the sweet Heart of Jesus and drawing bitter tears from His eyes. Blessed tears from those eyes! The gaze of Jesus in that Tabernacle was a gaze that pierced the soul, and one can never forget it. I was trying not to cry, so as not to make Jesus even more sad. His gaze expressed the sorrow of One who loves, but who does not find anybody who wants to receive that love.” |
Father Donald Haggerty
“Truth was nailed to a cross at Calvary in Jesus Christ. And it should be equally evident that the crucifixion of Truth continues throughout the course of history…. What God asks us to accept is that, if we are worthy of it, Christ will be mocked and scourged within our own life, even in trying to love and save souls.”
Eucharistic Reflection - Let Him Live and Abide In You
"In the Eucharist, this divine Heart governs us and loves us by living and abiding with
us, so that we may live and abide in Him, because in this Sacrament... He offers and
gives Himself to us as victim, companion, viaticum, and the pledge of future glory."
Pope Benedict XV
Eucharistic Reflection - My Lord and My God!
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"O marvelous Sacrament! How can I find words to praise You! You are the life of the soul, the medicament healing our wounds, our comforter when we are overburdened, the memorial of Jesus Christ, the proof of His love, the most precious precept of His testament, our companion in the pilgrimage of life, the joy sustaining us in our exile, the burning coal kindling the fire of divine love, the instrument of grace, the pledge of eternal bliss and the treasure of Christians,"
Ven. Louis of Granada, O.P.
Monday Musings - Dying In Peace
On Ash Wednesday we are asked to remember that "we are dust and until dust we shall return."
Lent is a perfect time to reflect on the current condition of our souls and the end of our lives- if we are to better prepare ourselves to stand before the Throne of Justice when God summons us there.
Let us never forget the horror of so many souls who died during the worse of the COVID restrictions without the benefit of the Last Rites and without their loving family at their bedsides.
We must also remember that so many in our own families know not what to do spiritually as a loved one approaches the end of life.
It is for all these reasons, that a Lay Dominican I know asked to share some basic directions that anyone can easily follow as death approaches a loved one. That they be prepared spiritually to help is even more crucial given the fewer number of priests available to be present at death beds.
This post and the following directive were prompted in large measure after their authors read The Art of Dying (Ars Moriendi), an “immensely popular and influential text of the Middle Ages,” translated with Introduction and Notes by Br. Columba Thomas, O.P., M.D. and a Forward by Mother Agnes Mary Donovan, SV. - a book both highly recommend:
Dying In Peace
To my beloved wife and family:
I love each of year dearly. Each
of you have been the treasures of my earthly
life. Thank you for the blessing each of you have been to me. It was my privilege
to be your husband, Father and Pop Pop. I tried my best – that is all one can
do. I thank God that He gave each of you to me. I am sorry that I failed you in
so many ways but mostly by my poor example. I know there were too many times
where my actions, inaction and words were not consistent with what I professed
to believe. Forgive me for failing to fully form you in your Catholic Faith –
the most important task God gives a soul.
Please demonstrate your love for
me and your forgiveness for all the ways I may have failed each of you, by being sure you honor these wishes and
make sure my spiritual (not physical) well-being is priority number one.
Call
the priest for Last Sacraments as soon as it appears I am in serious illness.
He is more important that a doctor.
Do
everything you can to see that I receive the Last Sacraments. Be sure you ask
the priest to extend an Apostolic Pardon to me. If no priest is available
or you expect a long-delay before one can come, place a crucifix in my hand and
you recite aloud in my presence the Apostolic Pardon prayer (see attached).
Our lives here on earth are
intended to be a temporary journey towards the eternal life God offers each of
us - an undeserved gift which we are free to accept or reject. Suffering is a
part of physical death and preparation for eternal life. Any suffering God
sends at my last days is for my eternal benefit. I accept that suffering. It is
better to suffer for a short time here on this earth than for an extended
time in Purgatory. Accept and respect my belief in that Truth.
Recite aloud in my presence, the Nicene Creed, especially if I am in pain.
Recite aloud in my presence, the Chaplet of Divine Mercy as many times as you can.
Recite
the Rosary aloud in my presence frequently.
Upon my
death, arrange for a Gregorian Series of Masses for the repose of my soul.
Several
times a year have a Mass offered for the repose of my soul.
Please do as I ask. I am totally dependent on your praying for God’s mercy on my soul.
Finally, please accept God’s ever-present invitation to return to and authentically live out your Catholic Faith. He awaits each of you with open arms. This loving send-off must be followed at the time of your mother’s passing as well.
I will dearly miss you all. I love each of you so very much.
Though none of us are worthy, may we be blessed to share eternity together in the Presence of Almighty God.
For the Glory of God and the salvation of souls!
Pondering Tidbits of Truth - February 23, 2023
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.
Venerable Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen
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“If you have never before
prayed to Mary, do so now. Can you not see that if Christ himself willed to
be physically formed in her for nine months and then be spiritually formed by
her for thirty years, it is to her that we must go to learn how to have Christ
formed in us? Only she who raised Christ can raise a Christian.” |
Father Donald Haggerty
“Many times in her life Mother Teresa repeated that the presence of Jesus Christ in the Eucharist was inseparable from His presence concealed in the poor. The presence is one presence, she constantly affirmed. The same Jesus who hides in the Sacrament is disguised in the distressing appearance of the poor man. As she prayed on her knees before that Host in Kolkata, one wonders what may have passed through her heart and mind. In her saintly awareness, Jesus Christ on the floor of the Chapel was the same Christ lying sick and abandoned on dirty street corners and alleyways throughout the world. Our love for the Eucharist can only deepen as we receive Him in Mass only to go in search of Him in His concealed presence among the poor. This truth can be a great provocation after a conversion. A rhythm of seeking and finding Him in His Real Presence can extend outside the Mass to many unsuspected moments of the day if we open our eyes differently to the poor - in all the disguises of isolation.”
(From Conversion: Spiritual Insights
Into An Essential Encounter With God)
Catherine Doherty, Servant of God
“When we are in pain—physical, psychological,
spiritual—we lift our pains into the Lord’s cupped hands (the pain of rejection
is the hardest). It is like the water that is added to the wine in the sacrament
of the Eucharist. The Lord takes our pain, especially the pain of rejection,
and He uses it to help others across the whole earth.”
(From Cross of Rejection)
Eucharistic Reflection - Imagine His Gaze
“…whenever we pray it is
good to begin by calling to mind the presence of God and how God looks at us.
Try and imagine His gaze, His face. Spoiler alert: His gaze is always and only
one of love. It is possible that His gaze of love will cause us pain if we are
stuck in sin, or if we are conscious of any of our many betrayals. However,
this feeling says more about us than about God. His gaze is one of love. His
gaze can be one of purifying love if we allow it to be (cf. Luke 22: 61).
Perhaps His gaze prompts us to go to confession so that we can hear the voice
that accompanies that look of love: ‘I absolve you from your sins.’
We can also see the gaze
of love and be comforted. Looking at our Eucharistic Lord and imagining His
gaze should console us. What we see explicitly is the gift of Himself to us.
The gift that reveals what love is. “Greater love has no man than this that a
man lay down his life for his friends’ (John 15:15) I lay down my life... no
one takes it from me, but I lay it down on my own accord (John 10:17-18). “Take
eat... this is my body which is given for you’ (Matthew 26:27; Luke 22:19).
Father Justin Kizewski from Face to Face and Eye to Eye: A Reflection on Eucharistic Adoration, Adoremus Bulletin, January 2023 issue
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