Harvesting The Fruits of Contemplation

Sadly, as noted by Father Croiset in 1863, the lack of appreciation for the gift of Jesus living physically among us is not a recent development: “There have been newly converted Christians, in the Indies and in Japan , who have traveled more than a hundred leagues every year, to have the consolation of once adoring Jesus Christ in the most Blessed Sacrament, of hearing one single Mass; and they thought nothing of the fatigue, of so difficult a journey, that they might have the happiness of spending half an hour with Jesus Christ.   My God! How many will rise up at the day of judgment and will condemn us! We have Jesus Christ in our town; religious persons have Jesus Christ in their own house; and this benefit is esteemed as nothing! And some value it so little, that they only visit Jesus Christ with indifference and even with repugnance, and almost all without devotion.”        (From Devotion To The Sacred Heart by Father ...

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.     Spend a few minutes reflecting on these fundamental Truths of your Catholic Faith:   Is It Time To Change?   God loves you!   He made you in His image and likeness.   He wants to spend eternity with you!   But He will not force Himself or His plan on you.   He invites you to become a saint - to become holy as He is holy.   You must freely choose whether or not to accept His invitation.   He longs to be one with you right now during your earthly journey - physically uniting Himself (Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity) with you every time you receive Him in Holy Communion.   He remains physically present in the Sacred Hosts that are reserved in the tabernac...

  THE VOICE OF CHRIST : “Come to Me, all you that labor and are burdened, and I will refresh you.”   “The bread which I will give is My Flesh, for the life of the world.”   “Take you and eat: this is My Body, which shall be delivered for you.   “Do this for the commemoration of Me.”   “He that eateth My flesh, and drinketh My blood, abideth in Me, and I in him.   “The words that I have spoken to you are spirit and life."     THE DISCIPLE: These are all Your words, O Christ, eternal Truth, though they were not all spoken at one time nor written together in one place. And because they are Yours and true, I must accept them all with faith and gratitude. They are Yours and You have spoken them; they are mine also because You have spoken them for my salvation. Gladly I accept them from Your lips that they may be the more deeply impressed in my heart. Words of such tenderness, so full of sweetness and love, encourag...

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 - Mendicant Divine Pondering Tidbits of Truth - November 22, 2012 How Strong Is Your Faith!

Just a reminder - today and tomorrow you can get a free Kindle copy of Forgotten Truths To Set Faith Afire! Words To Challenge, Inspire and Instruct by clicking here . Do not pass up this opportunity to let God touch your heart and stir your soul!

Happy Thanksgiving - an ideal time to reflect on, and give God thanks for, His many blessings.  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. Blessed Teresa of Calcutta   “If you are discouraged it is a sign of pride because it shows you trust in your own power. Your self-sufficiency, your selfishness and your intellectual pride will inhibit His coming to live in your heart because God cannot fill what is already full. It is as simple as that.”   (From 7 Steps To A Holier Life )   Scripture   “ From Him [God] no creature can be hidden, everything lies bare, everything is brought to face to face with Him this God to whom we must give our account.”   (From Hebrews 4:13 )   Leo Rudloff, O.S.B. The existence of hell brings home to us with terrifying clarity the fact that God is just, and that His justice is not to be separ...

DON'T MISS OUT ON YOUR FREE KINDLE COPY OF  -  Forgotten Truths To Set Faith Afire! - Words To Challenge, Inspire and Instruct. GO TO AMAZON.COM ON NOVEMBER 23 or 24  to get a free Kindle version. It is a perfect companion for this "Year of Faith" and recipient of the Catholic Writers' Guild's Seal of Approval .  If you do not have a Kindle, you can simply download the appropriate and free Kindle Book App and put Forgotten Truths on your desktop, laptop, tablet, android or I-phone - making s piritual inspiration and nourishment instantly available to you any time you can steal a few minutes away from your daily routines. May God use this book to touch hearts and stir souls! Please tell you family, friends and fellow  parishioners and bloggers of this offer in time for them to obtain their free copy as well.  

Thanks to Mary Fredal for sharing this eductional and inspiring story The issues of conscience and the right to freely practice one's faith are now under attack. Thank God for these women who put God and His law above their employment. I suspect more us will be facing this challenge in the days and weeks to come - may we have the courage and faith of these Christian warriors. (Via AllianceDefends and YouTube)

“O my Savior, what a revelation of conscience to me! With hellish insistency Your sworn enemy and mine demands of me each day that I bring him sacrifice, at the cost of virtue!...and alas! It is sadly true that seldom, very seldom, does he not get a bit of impatience, vanity, pride, self-love from me; seldom, very seldom, is it that he fails to entice me to curious glances, uncharitable words, dangerous thoughts, sinful inclinations! And to You, O God of my soul, to You I refuse the very alms of a prayer, of an act of contrition, of a purpose of amendment!...I dare to refuse You one quarter of an hour’s adoration, the hearing of Holy Mass, the reception of Holy Communion…How lamentably considerate I am as regards my unruly passions; only in Your regard am I inconsiderate and hard of heart! O Jesus, would that I could pay you back for Your great poverty and for all that You suffer for me – pay You back with the riches of my love! O would that, after the countless humiliati...

  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 - An Invitation From Jesus! Monday Musings - November 12, 2012 - Where Is He? FREE BOOK GIVEAWAY -  GO TO AMAZON.COM  ON NOVEMBER 23 or 24  AND get a free Kindle version of my book, Forgotten Truths To Set Faith Afire! - Words To Challenge, Inspire and Instruct.  It is a perfect companion for this "Year of Faith". Spiritual inspiration and nourishment instantly available to you any time you can steal a few minutes away from your daily routines. If you do not have a Kindle, you can download the free Kindle Book reader and put my book on your desktop, laptop, tablet, android or i-phone.  

Today is the feast day of St. Albert the Great (1206-1280). Who was this noted Dominican friar?    The following brief summary from the Lay Fraternities of St. Dominic ( St. Joseph ’s Province) highlights some of his accomplishments; “German Bishop, theologian of renown, philosopher, scientist, diplomat, inventor, teacher of St. Thomas Aquinas…crisscrossed his diocese on foot and so nicknamed “Doctor Boots by his contemporaries. “Universal Doctor’ of the Church…”   Today also marks the 11th anniversary of the opening of the chapel of Perpetual Eucharistic Adoration in my former parish.   Why not commemorate both of these great occasions by taking a look at what St. Albert the Great had to say about the Eucharist: “This sacrament [the Eucharist] is profitable because it grants remissions of sins; it is most useful because it bestows the fullness of grace on us in this life...Nor can we do anything more pleasant. For what is better...

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.) It happened again!   I wanted to scream! I wanted to cry!   We arrived early to the only Catholic Church in the town we were passing through on our way to be with family. We were looking forward for a few minutes to adore our waiting Lord, to spend time in His Presence, and to silently pray and prepare for the holy Sacrifice of the Mass. Little in this mammoth structure would lead anyone to sense they were entering a sacred place and holy ground. Two thirds of this structure had nothing to do with adoration, prayer and worship. The majority of this structure was dedicated to a huge cafeteria/auditorium area and a cavernous vestibule/library/lounge area.    As we entered the actual “Church” portion of this complex, we were overwhelmed with the sound of ...

                  “My child, if My true presence on the altar were limited to one place alone, many people from all parts of the world would try to visit that place at some time or other in their lives, Yet, now, that I have made it easy for all to come to Me, see how many visit Me only when they are obliged!     Many people are so cold toward me. Like children they are impressed only by what they can touch and see. I have given them the greatest treasure in the Blessed Sacrament. Through My Apostles and their successors, I have promised to be personally present wherever the Blessed Sacrament is. Make every effort to be deeply impressed by this greatest of all earthly gifts.   It is not enough for you to believe in My real presence upon the altar. I placed Myself there for love of you. I wanted to be near you in some visible way, so that you might visit Me as often ...

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 - Jesus the Beggar                                Pondering Tidbits of Truth - November 8, 2012

A Reminder : The Purpose of Pondering Tidbits of Truth We are all busy people. Many of us have convinced ourselves that we simply do not have the time to read, ponder and reflect on the Scriptures and the wealth of spiritual wisdom our Church has accumulated over the centuries. Yet, we owe God and ourselves this reflective time. If we spend little or no time, pondering the truths and mysteries of our Faith, we are not going to progress spiritually - a growth essential to our eternal well-being and that of those around us. 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. Rarely will they share a common thread. Today is an exception. Every other Thursday, I will offer some quotations for your reflection. This is my challenge to you. Read and ponder them. Invest at least five minutes of your time on each of them over the course of two weeks, asking God to let you understand what He wants...

Consider listening to these two videos before you go into the voting booth tomorrow.

“Jesus loves poverty with a very special love – so much so, indeed, that, because He could not find it in heaven, He came down and sought it here on earth. He took nothing along with Him from heaven. The tiny bit of glory that He gets on earth is the free gift of the few generous hearts that are trying to show how much they love Him. He is at His lovers’ mercy! Were merely a little wafer of bread denied Him, He could not remain in our midst on earth – He, the Lord of the Universe!... Jesus begs. I wonder for what?   He [Jesus] begs for one little word of kindly considerate greeting when I pass by a church… for a short ejaculatory prayer from time to time…for at least one loving aspiration when the bells ring out from the church towers…for a thought, one only thought, when I am alone. A word surely…at least a word I would not even refuse the most despicable criminal. But for Jesus?...Have I a word for Jesus?...How many? He begs for a little company. For hou...

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: The Presence of God - Eucharistic Reflection St. Martin de Porres Monday Musings - The "New Evangelization" Must Begin With Us And In Our Homes

Today is the feast day of another Dominican Saint, St. Martin de Porres (1579-1639). The monthly listing of Dominican Saints and Blesseds whose feast days are celebrated in November, describe St. Martin as "first a Lay Dominican, then a Cooperator Brother, infirmaries, barber, worker among the poor, remarkable wonder-worker, and Church appointed patron of social justice, cooperator brothers and hair dressers".   The Dominican Supplement to the Liturgy of the Hours tells us that "[in] his life of prayer Martin was especially devoted to the Blessed Sacrament and to the passion of our Lord".   Excerpts from the homily of Pope John XXIII at the Saint's canonization set forth in today's Office of Readings provide more detail of this humble servant:   "Whenever he would contemplate Christ's terrible torture he would be reduced to tears. He had an exceptional love for the great Sacrament of the Eucharist and often spent long hou...