Harvesting The Fruits of Contemplation

Please pray for my brother-in-law who is in critical condition and for his wife, my sister- that God's will be done and for the strength and faith to accept His will.

Let this be our prayer.

Still trying to rediscover a sense of awe and amazement in the Eucharist?  Perhaps our beloved St. Thomas Aquinas, the Angelic Doctor, has just what you need this Corpus Christi .  There are arguably no more beautiful and moving hymns than the three he composed for this great feast day:  Pange Linga , Tant um Ergo and Adore te Devote . But they are in Latin, you say, and you don't understand that language. But your heart can, if you just let these hauntingly beautiful melodies penetrate it. Your mind can certainly "rap itself around" the English translations of these classics if you would but invest some time pondering and reflecting on these heavenly lyrics. Settle down. Close your eyes for a few minutes. Be silent for a time. Cast aside the trials and tribulations of this day. Ask God to allow the words you are about to ponder, the melodies you will hear, and the images you will see penetrate your entire being and bring this great...

Although polling information varies, there is likely somewhere between 68 and 70 million Catholics in the U.S. and (shockingly) another 30 million or so who identify themselves as being "former" Catholics. Other polls claim that more than 70 per cent of those who claim to be Catholic no longer attend Sunday Mass and 70 percent of those who do attend Mass no longer believe that Jesus is really, truly and substantially present, Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity, in the Sacred Eucharist. What a tragedy, if true, that so very few people who identify themselves as Catholics believe an essential dogma of their faith.  What an affront to our Lord who remains far too often an ignored and unappreciated prisoner in the tabernacles of His Churches. Instead of cursing this darkness, ignorance and disbelief, let's do something affirmative this Corpus Christi (Feast of the Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ) to console Our Lord, to reinstate a sense of the "sacred"...

While showing St. Margaret Mary His Sacred Heart, Jesus said: “Behold this heart, which has loved men so much that it has spared nothing, even to exhausting and consuming itself, in order to testify to them its love. In return I receive from the greater number nothing but ingratitude by reason of their irreverence and sacrileges, and by the coldness and contempt which they show Me in this sacrament of love. But what I feel the most keenly is that it is hearts which are consecrated to Me that treat Me thus. Therefore, I ask of you that the Friday after [the] Octave of Corpus Christi be set apart for a special feast to honor My heart, by communicating on that day and making reparation to it by a solemn act, in order to make amends for the indignities which it has received during the time it has been exposed on the altars. I promise you that My heart shall expand itself to shed in abundance the influence of Its divine love upon those who shall thus honor it and cause it to be honored.”...

Though I am not a frequent flyer, I understand that being a passenger in a commercial airliner these days is not always pleasant or comfortable. I needed a good chuckle . With thanks to Father Phil, OP at Dominie, da mihi hanc aqua

Enough is enough! I picked up the local paper recently and saw (not for the first time unfortunately) another headline broadcasting Governor Andrew Cuomo’s on-going aggressive support to legalize gay marriage in New York State . As an individual, he is free to support and believe anything he wishes. As one who purports to be Catholic, however, he can not support legislation which is contrary to God’s law without jeopardizing his eternal soul and potentially the souls of many others. While one can only pray that his Bishop has privately shared this truth with him, it appears that the Governor has ignored that advice.    Sadly, recent polls show that a majority of those professing to be Catholic in New York State concur with the Governor and see no reason to oppose gay marriage. Many do so out of a false and confused understanding of compassion, justice   and tolerance. How can this be? This issue has been around for years. The reasons why Catholics must enter ...

During my time of adoration I was quite full of the thought that it was impossible for me to enjoy a more blessed privilege. Is it not, indeed, a foretaste of Paradise to find oneself in the presence of Jesus Christ in the Blessed Sacarament? St. Eugene de Moazenod

With thanks to LifeAction.org for creating this image and In Spiritu et Veritate for sharing it:

It is a shame that some Catholics have succumbed to the falsehood that any spiritual book written prior to Vatican II is antiquated and of no value for the souls of contemporary Catholics hungering for spiritual nourishment and guidance.   Nothing could be further from the truth. Have you ever heard of The Little Book of Eternal Wisdom written by Blessed Henry Suso, O.P., a fourteenth century Dominican priest and mystic? I just discovered this gem and will be spending a great deal of time mining the wisdom contained in this forgotten book. While its language needs some updating (which I have attempted to do in the following excerpts), its insights are eternal. It’s a little lengthy but worth the read. The book sets forth an on-going dialogue between God (Eternal Wisdom) and a man (the Servant) who is searching for Wisdom and Truth. In Chapter XXIII (How We Ought Lovingly To Receive God) the Servant comes to a life-changing realization of how he has taken the Eucharist ...

By means of the angels,   Jesus calls the poor and simple shepherds, in order to manifest Himself to them. He calls the learned men by means of their science. And all of them, moved by His inner grace,   hasten to adore Him. He calls all of us by divine inspiration, and   communicates with us by means of His grace.   How many times has He invited us, too? And how readily have we responded? My God, I blush and become embarrassed   when I have to answer such a question." St.Padre Pio