Harvesting The Fruits of Contemplation

    If souls but understood the Treasure they possess in the Divine Eucharist, it would be necessary to encircle the tabernacles with the strongest ramparts for, in the delirium of a devouring and holy hunger, they would press forward themselves to feed on the Bread of Angels. The Churches would overflow with adorers consumed with love for the Divine prisoner no less by night than by day. (Blessed Dina Belanger)

A Bishop who has the courage to speak the Truth - unwlecomed as it may be: Think and pray about your vote in upcoming election from Diocese of Springfield in IL on Vimeo .

First of all I need to publicly praise and thank God for His unending and undeserved mercies, graces and blessings!   For those of you who have been folowing recent entries here, my twin sister has been fighting cancer since May. When the doctor’s examined her scan and x-ray last week following the end of initial chemotherapy and radiation treaments, they found none of the 3 tumors that had previously resided in her lungs! – Oh, the power of prayer and the great mercy of our God! Since the small cell cancer Jane had in her lungs tends to travel to the brain, the doctors have initiated another round of radiation in an attempt to thwart its arrival there. She has begun a round of radiation of her brain. This will require 10 sessions. She began this treatment on Tuesday. She is expected to be very fatigued during this process and will likely have some permanent short term memory loss. We continue to place Jane’s physical and spiritual well-being in our good Lord’s hands and welcome

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. From St. John Eudes “Our wish, our object, our chief preoccupation must be to form Jesus in ourselves, to make His spirit, His devotion, His affections, His desires and His disposition live and reign there. All our religious exercises should be directed to this end. It is the work which God has given us to do unceasingly.”                        ( The Life and Reign of Jesus in Christian Souls ) From Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen "Moral principles do not depend on a majority vote. Wrong is wrong, even 'if everybody' is wrong. Right is right, even if nobody is right." From Thomas Dubay, S.M.   In the view of St. Teresa of Avila and of St. John of the Cross, many think they are “listening to the Spirit”, whereas in fact they are hearing nothing other than their own ideas and desires. They baptize thei

                What is Meant by Devotion to the Sacred Heart of Our Lord Jesus Christ…   The particular object of this devotion is the immense love of the Son of God, which has induced Him to die for us, and to give Himself wholly to us in the Adorable Sacrament of the Altar, and this, although He foresaw all the ingratitude and outrages which He was to meet within this state of a victim immolated till the end of ages; preferring rather to expose himself daily to the insults and contempt of mankind, than to fail in showing us, by the greatest of all wonders, to what an excess He loves us.   This is what has enkindled the piety and zeal of many. Reflecting on the little gratitude that is shown for such an excess of love, the little love that is felt for Jesus Christ, and the little value that is set upon His love for us, they have been unable to endure to see Him daily so ill-treated, without protesting to Him their just grief and their excessive desire to repair, as far as t

It has been some time since I last ended a Sunday by sharing some musical comfort and inspiration. Thanks to Catholic Online and Fernando Ortega I will tonight.

Please join me and other Catholic bloggers at RAnn’s Place for Sunday Snippets - A Catholic Carnival where we share posts from the previous week. Here are my posts: What Is Impossible For One Man To Accomplish By Himself Becomes Entirely Possible With Your Help Eucharistic Reflection Pondering Tidbits Of Truth   While you are at it why not take a peek at the trailer for my book, Forgotten Truths To Set Faith Afire! - Words to Challenge, Inspire and Instruct:

Monday Musings If God used Balaam’s donkey to get that prophet’s attention, I guess he can use me to get yours. May these periodic Monday Musings generate fruitful discussion and faithful change.   [Question: Why are you posting the first installment of “Monday Musings” on Saturday? Answer: I won’t have internet access on Monday as my wife and I are leaving for a trip tomorrow. This needs to be acted on now) YOU HAVE GOT TO DO SOMETHING VITALLY IMPORTANT! At the end of this post, I am going to ask you to help get the poignant reflection of Father Mark set forth below into the hands of every Bishop and priest in this country. We can do it! But first I want to share a few thoughts that have long been embedded in my heart. That which is most essential for our sanctification and salvation is that which we most frequently ignore   – The Eucharist.   The late Apostle of the Eucharist, Father John Hardon, S.J., realized “that everything, everything , quote E

Contemplate it – the sanctuary lamp in your church…it is the silent friend of Jesus and of all Eucharistic souls.   The evening shades have fallen. The church is empty; there is no longer anyone kneeling before the tabernacle; but in God’s dear house that little lamp sheds its mild rays in all directions. Gently it lights up the tiny tabernacle door. It almost seems as if it were pleading for entrance there, in order that thus it might be permitted to say to the Divine Recluse within: “See, You are not alone – I watch with You.”   When the faithful, having satisfied their need of prayer and love, leave the sacred edifice and go their various ways, returning to life’s daily cares and struggles, the sanctuary lamp seems to give then this farewell as they cast one last lingering glance back at God’s altar throne: “Go faithful souls, return to your toil, your sweat and perhaps tears await you; I will remain here; and in your name I will keep watch for you.”   What i

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.   St. Catherine of Siena "We've had enough of exhortations to be silent! Cry out with a hundred thousand tongues. I see that the world is rotten because of silence." Father Frederick Faber If we hated sin as we ought to hate it, purely, keenly, manfully, we should do more penance, we should inflict more self-punishment, we should sorrow for our sins more abidingly. Then, again, the crowning disloyalty to God is heresy. It is the sin of sins, the very loathsomest of things which God looks down upon in this malignant world. Yet how little do we understand of its excessive hatefulness! It is the polluting of God's truth, which is the worst of all impurities. Yet how light we make of it! We look at it and are calm. We touch it and do not shudder. We mix with it and have no fear. We see it touch holy th

On June 9, 2012, I had asked my readers to pray for the spiritual and physical well-being of my twin sister Jane who was about to begin treatment for an aggressive form of lung cancer. It is long past time for me to let you wonderful people know the results of your prayerful support. So many have been praying for her and many of you mentioned her by name as Jesus processed past you on Corpus Christi . We are eternally grateful for all your prayers. She just completed five weeks of chemotherapy and seven weeks of radiation. God in His mercy spared her from the most dire and debilitating side effects she could have experienced from this treatment. Moreover, some preliminary testing midway through her course of treatment indicated the tumors were shrinking. Our God is great and merciful. Praise God! Tomorrow she is scheduled to have some scans and x-rays to determine to what extent her treatment has been successful in getting rid of the cancer in her lungs. She will have to w

“I have said that this body of his is a sun. Therefore you could not be given the body without being given the blood as well nor either the body or the blood without the soul of this Word; nor the soul or body without the divinity of me, God eternal. For the one cannot be separated from the other - just as the divine nature can nevermore be separated from the human nature, not by death or by any other being that you receive in that most gracious sacrament under that whiteness of bread. And just as the sun cannot be divided, so neither can my wholeness as God and as human in this white host. Even if the host is divided, even if you could break it into thousands and thousands of tiny bits, in each one I would be there, wholly God and wholly human. It is just as when a mirror is broken, and yet the image one sees reflected in it remains unbroken. So when this host is divided, I am not divided but remain completely in each piece, wholly God, wholly human. Nor is the sacrament its