Harvesting The Fruits of Contemplation

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. Paul Thigpen “If we have been baptized into the Catholic faith as infants and have spent our Sundays attending Mass, perhaps we have missed what many converts are so ecstatic about. We are prone to a certain “house-blindness,” going through the motions of the Faith without bothering to scratch the surface. But for those who are brave enough to venture farther than surface-skimming, an entirely new chapter of their lives begins to unfold when the true reality before us is realized: The same Jesus we read about in the Bible, hear about in the readings of Mass, and watch movies about (if they are trendy enough) is the very same Jesus we receive and adore in the Most Blessed Sacrament, Body Soul and Divinity.”   (From Manual for Eucharistic Adoration )     Father Jacques Philippe "In...

  “Faith in the Eucharist opens out the whole invisible world to us. Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament is nothing less than radiation therapy for our cancer of the eyes.  When we gaze upon the Eucharist the healing graces that come from it are the same as the grace that Jesus unleashed upon all of those blind men He healed in the Gospels.  It is the same healing, the same mercy, the same compassion, the same transformation that He offers to us in adoration of the Blessed Sacrament. ‘Do this in memory of Me.’ … the Eucharist gives us a deep gaze into the invisible world and we can trust God Who has told us it is true.”  (Monsignor James Shea at the Eucharistic Conference, Fargo, ND, September 2022, as posted on Perpetual Eucharistic Adoration,com)   ·          

 

"Certainly, I think that if we were to approach the most Blessed Sacrament with great faith and love, once would be enough to make us rich. How much richer from approaching so many of times as we do. The trouble is we do so out of routine and it shows.” St. Teresa of Avila

No doubt there are current-day Jeremiah's in our midst to who m we, like our Jewish ancestors, have turned a deaf ear... "[The Lord telling Jeremiah] to speak to the people of the cities of Judah whatever I command you, tell them, and omit nothing. Perhaps they will listen and turn back, each from his evil way, so that I may repent of the evil I planned to inflict upon them for their evil deeds. Say to them: Thus says the Lord: If you disobey me, not living according to the law I placed before you and not listening to the words of my servants the prophets whom I send you constantly though you do not obey them, I will treat this house like Shiloh, and make this the city to which all nations of the earth, shall refer when cursing another."   (From Jeremiah 26:4-6 )

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. Father Jacques Philippe “When a problem has robbed us of our peace, the most important thing is not to resolve the problem in the hope of regaining our peace, but to regain a minimum of peacefulness, and then to see what we can do to face the problem. We will avoid making irrational choices for all the wrong reasons. How do we get back this minimum level of peace? Essentially through prayer, listening to the Word, and believing that God will never abandoned us.” (From Fire & Light: Learning to Receive the Gift of God )   Msgr. Romano Guardini "[Some people], when they [receive Holy Communion], strive with all their might for sensible sweetness, instead of worshipping in humility and praising God within themselves. So much are they given to this, that they think when they derive no sensible sweetness, they have done nothing, so m...

"In our self-center ed culture and classic American emphasis on work, we often feel we have to accomplish something during our times of prayer before the Blessed Sacrament. We rate our experience by how 'good' our prayer was, how heartfelt our devotion was, or how focused we could remain. Yet prayer and contemplation are fundamentally God's work, in which we are invited to participate. We need only to give Him the opening, and He will do the rest. By coming to adoration, we are handing Him the keys to our hearts, allowing the rays of His love and grace to bathe our souls in the light of His Presence, as the rays of the sun bathe our bodies in light. If we can take the time to pull away from the busyness and distractions of life and just sit at His feet, He will lead us."   (From Manual for Eucharistic Adoration -  Poor Clares of Perpetual Adoration )