Harvesting The Fruits of Contemplation

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.) The "New Evangelization" Must Begin With Us and In Our Homes This letter might be a good place for the conversation to begin or to start anew: For far too much time now, God has put it in my heart that I should write this letter.   I kept putting it off - that has become my specialty. Not a good thing to do.    Fortunately, our God is patient and persistent.   Even I can eventually catch on and do what He asks!   There is much that I have to share, but today I will be brief (maybe not quite as you would like) and to the point.   Ready?   I love you! I hope this is not startling news to any of you.   But I may never have clearly told you why.   It is simple - because God loved you enough to create you in His image and then to give each of you to me to

In order to see more clearly, we must sometimes close our eyes and surrender our hearts to God.     (Video credit: Michael W. Smith, YouTube)

"It cannot be over stressed that the presence of God in the soul by grace is a real and substantial presence. God is present in the tabernacle of the heart as really and truly and substantially as He is present in the tabernacle of the altar, although in a different manner. Christ's Real Presence in the Blessed Sacrament is a priceless gift, a pledge and prelude of that glorious presence of the Incarnate Word which will be ours eternally in Heaven. But the external pres­ence is meant to lead us to and be fused with the presence of the Word of God within our souls. So it will be in Heaven. The Son of God will be present outside us in the reality of the human nature He has assumed, the peak and glory of creation; yet that same Son of God will dwell substantially within us according to His divine nature. One presence is not opposed to the other, but complements it. That will be self-evident in Heaven. But here too devotion to the Incarnate Word present on the altar is n

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: Pondering Tidbits of Truth - October 25, 2012 Blessed Mother Mary - Eucharistic Reflection The Catholic Vote - Truth Clearly Proclaimed With your indulgence, an older but timely entry not previously shared here: Help Me Understand! Should Not The Salvation Of Souls Be Our Primary Concern?

Spiritual inspiration and nourishment instantly available to you any time you can steal a few minutes away from your daily routines. Travels well on your Kindle, Tablet, Android or I-phone - and only $2.99!    Your "Year of Faith" partner is just a click away .

  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 Garrigou-Lagrange, O.P.   The primary purpose of the priestly grace is the worthy celebration of the Sacrifice of the Mass…The secondary purpose of the grace which the priest receives at ordination is the sanctification of the faithful. If the priest has the care of souls, he has a special obligation to strive for holiness of life because of his duty toward the Mystical Body of Christ. In no other way will he be able to sanctify the souls committed to his charge or avoid the dangers of the world…   (From The Priest In Union With Christ )   Madeleine Delbrel, Servant of  God   From a sand dune, dressed in white, the missionary overlooks an expanse of lands filled with unbaptized peoples. From the top of a long subway staircase, dressed in an ordinary suit or overcoat, we overlook, on each step, during this bu

Aggie Catholics featured the following video posted by Patrick Madrid . I am passing it on to you. Please take the time to view this astounding homily and to share it with others. It is well worth your time. This priest may very well have saved many souls.

"...Mary continues to stand alongside her Redeemer-Son in the sacrament of the altar. It is consoling to recall that she who bears the title 'Mother of Fair Hope' keeps perpetual vigil before the Blessed Sacrament, ever ready to encourage her pilgrim children en route to the glorious world of the resurrection. In the Salve Regina we 'poor banished children of Eve' hail the New Eve, mother of the Eucharist, as 'our life, our sweetness and our hope.' And we implore her to 'show us, after this exile, the blessed fruit' of her womb.     "This our heavenly mother will certainly do, lovingly and graciously. But already here and now, that is, during our exile in this 'vale of tears,' she untiringly shows us the blessed fruit of her womb integrally present in the sacrament of the altar. As his handmaid and herald she urges us to draw ever closer to him. For not only is He the source of life and holiness; He is the pledge and patter

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 Do You See? On The Feast Day of St. Margaret Mary Alacoque A Sampling of St. Teresa of Avila's Spiritual Wisdom

Via 25000DayProductions,com and YouTube Thanks to Mary Lou for sharing it.

Sit back and enjoy a good laugh! (Video credit to Homeinsteadinc, YouTube and Karen Susko)

After reciting the Chaplet of Mercy and Sorrowful Mysteries outside the local Planned Parenthood abortion mill this morning as part of the 40 Days for Life prayer vigil, one of the men in our group excitedly told us to look up in the sky. This is what we saw in two different locations:

Via CatholicVote.org

  [Today's feast day is the perfect time to republish an earlier post].                                    When God created us, He inserted a heart within our chest, the mechanism that He made to pump blood and oxygen throughout our bodies. We all have one. Most of us rarely take notice of its rhythmic beats. It’s there but we pay little or no conscious attention to it –much like many of us have done to God – we know He’s “there” but ignore Him. We take Him for granted. Of course in the case of our physical heart that situation changes if something happens to it. In that instance, you bet we become much more attentive to and aware of it. We can’t live without it. So where am I going with this? Let me explain. The daily readings one summer day in 2008 included a passage from Ezekiel (3:23-28), in which God promised to transform the prophet and to give him a new heart and a new spirit so that Ezekiel would be able to lead others to Him. Through this Scripture

Today we remember St. Teresa of Avila , a 16 th century Carmelite nun, mystic, reformer and spiritual teacher par excellence. She and St. Catherine of Siena were the first two women named as Doctors of the Catholic Church.   One way of honoring this great saint this day would to be spend a few minutes reading and meditating on the great wisdom she has offered the Church and its members. The following gems, which are among the 1200 quotations included in my book, Forgotten Truths To Set Faith Afire! Words to Challenge, Inspire and Instruct , should provide much nourishment for fruitful meditation and reflection.     I am consoled to hear the clock strike, for at the passing away of that hour of life it seems to me I am drawing a little closer to the vision of God.   The Lord knows what he is doing better than [the soul] knows what it is desiring.   The person who knows God better does God’s work more easily.      Love increases in the measure the soul disco

"It has been said, and rightly so, that between contemplation and adoration there is so close a union, so mutual a relationship, that they cannot be separated. We adore while contemplating and we contemplate while adoring. The saints in heaven live in perpetual adoration, because their joy is derived from eternal contemplation. On earth, where in some manner we must imitate the life of heaven, Christian devotion has striven to make the Sacred Host the center of perpetual contemplation and adoration, as far as human frailty permits. And both adoration and contemplation have called for perpetual exposition of the Blessed Sacrament.     "The Sacred Host perpetually exposed on its Eucharistic throne, and, before it, day and night, loving souls in adoration and contemplation! Is this not truly heaven on earth?"                        ( From "The Holy Eucharist" by Jose Guadalupe Trevino )  

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: Eucharistic Reflection No Good Samaritan Here! A Glimpse of St. Louis Bertrand Pondering Tidbits of Truth - October 11, 2012

  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.         Mary Comm “We (the church) have been an unintentional accomplice to the millions of lives lost and to the multiplied millions of lives devastated by abortion. We didn’t want them to abort. We didn’t mean for them to abort. But, because of our lack of knowledge, because of our fear, we have continued to stand by and do nothing. We, God’s hands and feet in this dark and hurting world, have been unintentional, unknowledgeable accomplices, but an accomplice nonetheless.”                                          ( From In Our Midst Ministries, Inc.)     Dietrich Bonhoeffer “In New York, they preach about virtually everything; only one thing is not addressed, or is addressed so rarely that I have as yet been unable to hear it, namely, the gospel of Jesus Christ, the cross, sin and forgiveness, life and death.”

St. Louis Bertrand, O.P. (1526-1581)             His early years – On January 1, 1526, one hundred and seven years after the death of St. Vincent Ferrer, another Dominican saint was born in Valencia – St. Louis Bertrand.   He was actually baptized in the same Church and font in which St. Vincent had been baptized. Louis’s father, John, was related to and had an ardent devotion to Saint Vincent . He passed that devotion to his son – one which Louis treasured throughout his life.             Louis has been described as “a fretful child and nothing seemed to comfort him except the sight of the holy images in the churches”. (Wilberforce 15)   However, at an early age, he dedicated himself to the service of God and his studies. He learned to read and recite the Office of Our Lady before he was eight years old. As he grew older, he seldom spoke “unless the conversation turned upon spiritual matters”. (Wilberforce 17)             His entry into the Dominican Order – Lo

  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.)                     The parable of the Good Samaritan was the subject of today’s Gospel. I read it before leaving for early morning Mass.     As I was walking down the street, I thought I heard a voice. I heard it again and glanced toward the roadway. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw a disheveled gray hair man carrying a plastic garbage bag over his shoulder and heard him say something – not sure what he said or to whom his comments were directed. I avoided any eye contact with him. He made me feel uncomfortable. All I could think was to get to the other side of the street. As I hurriedly did so, I gave a quick glance over my shoulder but no longer saw the man from whom I fled. Where did he go? Like the priest and Levite in today’s parable, I ignored the need

My children, I am working through you. I am using you as healing instruments. Your world is sick and suffers from a disease far worse than any disease of the body. The very soul of your world struggles to find the source of healing it requires.   And I am here. I intend to heal your world. I want you to be joyful representatives of your Eucharistic Jesus. The Eucharistic Jesus calls out to His children in firmness. I call you each by name and I say to you, “It is time to return to Me.” Come to Me, waiting in the tabernacle, and I will reveal Myself to you in such a way that you will have no doubts. You will be glad in your heart and peaceful in your soul. Rest near the Eucharistic heart of your Savior and you will be granted everything you need.     Faith is a gift, My dear one. I wish to give this gift to you. But you must turn to Me so that I may. My heart beats only with love for you. I can promise you t

  In his blog entry this morning, Father Mark shares a report from an Irish parish where someone broke in and stole the Blessed Sacrament and all the sacred vessels. Father suggested we pray for those who committed this sinful act and to offer the following act of reparation:   Act of Reparation   Beloved Lord Jesus Christ, hidden in the Most Holy Sacrament of the Altar; silent, humble, defenseless, and motionless in the Sacred Species; handled by the faithless and, alas, even by those who having received the faith, have fallen into darkness and spiritual perversion; we offer ourselves to Thee in adoration, to make reparation for every sin of irreverence, sacrilege, blasphemy, and hatred of Thy Divine Person in the Sacrament of Thy Love. We further offer ourselves to Thee in adoration, believing for those who do not believe in Thee, hoping for those who have lost hope in Thee, loving for those who do not love Thee. Avenge this act of sacrilege, we pr