Harvesting The Fruits of Contemplation

We “know” that God made us to be with Him eternally. We “know” that He will give us all the graces we need to get to our heavenly home. We "know" that we are free to accept or ignore those graces.  We “know” that we must ever be prepared to meet Him when He calls. We also “know” that He will come like a thief in the night. Yet how often do we act like we have all the time in the world to reorient our lives and to make them one with His? How foolish can we be?

You can start here . Then you might consider giving him this , or this , and even this ! I have no financial interest in any of these books or companies. I just have a heart and love for our priests. Let's treasure and encourage them as we ought!

Let me repeat some obvious truths. God is more powerful than any of us. He draws each of us to Himself. He wants to excite our hearts. He longs to fill our minds and souls with the Truth. He desires that we yield ourselves totally to His will. We are often reluctant to do so because we know we may be mocked, laughed at and persecuted. In truth, our fidelity to God and His Word may bring us pain and suffering. It is so difficult to follow Him. At times we don’t want to do as He asks. What He wants from us sometimes seems too painful, too difficult, and too burdensome. We want to flee and hide from Him.   But we can’t. He is everywhere. He has given us Himself.   Our salvation and that of others hinges on our sharing and living this Truth. So we must go on - imperfectly and inconstantly no doubt - but we must go on, trusting that God will be at our side. One of the reasons we don’t always trust Him is our failure to understand the necessity and value of the suffering He ask...

Today we remember St. Rose of Lima , the first canonized Saint of the Western hemisphere. She was born in Peru in 1586 and died there at the age of thirty-one. Like many who have felt a call to the Dominican Order over the centuries, Rose initially faced opposition from her family. They refused to let her enter a convent. Rose’s response was to become a Lay Dominican and to live a life of solitude and penance within the confines of her family’s home. She had a great attraction to St. Catherine of Siena , a great love for the Blessed Sacrament, and limitless compassion for the elderly, homeless and the sick, whom she would eventually care for in one of the rooms in her parents’ residence. “When we serve the poor and the sick,” she tells us, “we serve Jesus. We must not fail to help our neighbors, because in them we serve Jesus.” Rose enthusiastically embraced a life of penance and physical suffering since she also understood that “Apart from the cross, there is no other ladder by ...

What Is Hell and How Do I Get There?

That all of us would have such faith and trust in the God who loves us!

"But I hear You complain, O my Sacramental Jesus:  I was a stranger, and you took Me not in (Matt. xxv. 43); that You came on earth to be our guest for our good, and that we have not welcomed You. You are right, Lord, You are right; and I am one of these ungrateful creatures who have left You alone, without even visiting You. Chastise me as You please; but not by depriving me of Your presence, which is the chastisement I deserve. No, I will repair my fault, and the indignities which I have heaped upon You. From this day forward I will not only visit You often, but will remain with You for as long a time as I can." (St. Alphonsus Liguori) Open our ears Lord that we might hear and our hearts that we might respond!

When I travel and enter unfamiliar Catholic Churches, I don’t really ask for much: an atmosphere of reverent silence and a tabernacle in front of which I may momentarily kneel and worship my Eucharistic Lord. One would expect our Lord to be in "a distinguished place ... conspicuous, suitably adorned and conducive to prayer". But often His whereabouts are unknown. Far too often, instead of kneeling before the King of Kings and Lord of Lords, I have to assemble a search team to scour the Church building to find out where they have taken Him! This should never be! But it occurs far too frequently. My daughter and her family recently moved to a new town in a new State. We went to visit them. We also went to visit our Lord in the two Catholic Churches located in this town. He was no where to be seen! After searching for Him in the larger of the two Churches, I found Him in a chapel set apart from the area where the congregation gathers and celebrates Mass. I never did find wher...

A must read from Fr. Brian Mulcahy, O.P. Prior Provinical of the Province of Saint Joseph, for those who are tired of having their ears tickled. It's great to be a Lay Dominican! Read and pass this on if its Truth  resonates in your heart and soul!

We hit the trifecta of Eucharistic saints last week: St. Alphonus Liguori on Monday, St. Peter Eymard on Tuesday and St. John Marie Vianney, the model for all priests, on Friday. I wrote about the first two Saints, but my computer got zapped at the Catholic Writers' Guild Conference. My son-in-law just removed the bugs. What follows is what I had intended to share last week. Like Alphonsus and Peter, St. John Vianney gets to the heart of what it should mean to be a Catholic. Here is a sample of his wisdom on the Eucharist. "There is nothing, so great as the Eucharist. If God had something more precious, He would have given it to us." "We ought to visit him [Jesus in the Holy Eucharist] often.  How dear to Him is a quarter of an hour spared from our occupations or from some useless employment, to come and pray to Him, visit Him, and console Him for all the ingratitude He receives!  When He sees poor souls hurrying to Him, He smiles at them.  The...

Saint Peter Julian Eymard (1811-1868) founded the Society of the Blessed Sacrament, and the Servants of the Blessed Sacrament. He is often referred to as the Apostle of the Eucharist. His writings, including those on the Eucharist, are extensive and have been compiled into a 17 volume work . Even a cursory review of  quotations attributable to him should set any heart afire. Let me share a few of them:              “ Receive Communion often, and Jesus will change you into himself."   "Be the apostle of the Divine Eucharist, like a flame which enlightens and warms, like the Angel of His heart who will go to proclaim Him to those who don’t know Him and will encourage those who love Him and are suffering." “…we cannot consider the Most Blessed Sacrament attentively without concluding: ‘I must love Him and come to visit Him. I must not leave Him alone; He loves me too much’…”  “Unless we have a pas...

Today we commemorate St. Alphonsus Liguori (1698-1787). Tomorrow we will remember St. Peter Julian Eymard (1811-1868), not St. John Eudes (1601-1680) as I originally posted. These were two men who loved and centered their lives around the Living Christ, present in the Blessed Sacrament. St. Alphonsus was a Bishop, theologian, and founder of the Redemptorists. He encouraged daily visits to the Blessed Sacrament, especially where it was exposed. He was a prolific writer who left us a treasure trove of spiritual nourishment. Among these gems are: The Holy Eucharist, Visits to the Most Holy Sacrament, Etc., For Every Day in the Month: Aspirations of Love to Jesus In the Holy Eucharist, and (in more abbreviated form) Visits to the Blessed Sacrament and the Blessed Virgin Mary. What fruit for contemplation lies within these works! You can get a flavor for the feast that awaits you by sampling some quotations  from his many works. Let me share one. ...