Harvesting The Fruits of Contemplation

This is a great time to visit This, That and the Other Thing where RAnn invites Catholic bloggers to share their blogposts from the previous week. I have no doubt you will read something there that God wishes you to see. Here are my Holy Week offerings: Eucharistic Reflection - March 26, 2013 Pondering Tidbits of Truth - March 27, 2013 Of Priests, the Eucharist, and the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass Good Friday Reflection How Great It is To See You. Please Come Back! He Is Risen! He's Alive!

       

Easter and Christmas are the two times during the course of the year when many Catholics come to Mass who do not regularly do so. As Christ's representatives on earth, we need to welcome every one who enters His Church. But if we really love our absent brothers and sisters and care about the salvation of their souls neither we nor our priests would allow them to leave without lovingly challenging them. What follows is an older post with a new name and introductory sentence that attempts to do just that. Imagine entering Church, sitting down in a pew and in your heart, hearing Jesus say:   "I am always here – 24 hours a day, seven days a week, 365 days a year - waiting for you. But generally I am alone, abandoned and ignored.   So when I looked out from behind the closed doors this morning, I was overjoyed to see you ! While there were many familiar faces among those filling the pews, there were a good number whom I have not seen in some time. I...

When Jesus told His followers that unless they ate His Body and drank His Blood, they could not have eternal life, large numbers left and never returned. Their initial repulsion to this direction was understandable: who would want to eat the flesh and drink the blood of another living human being? Yet, many had come to believe that Jesus was the long-awaited Messiah. They had either heard of or actually witnessed countless miracles evidencing His Divine nature.   Jesus is the Way, the Truth, and the Life. Why did they not realize that He would never ask the impossible of them or fail to provide them the means with which to fulfill His command? His apostles had no greater understanding of, or fondness, for what Jesus was commanding them to do. But when Jesus asked them if they too would leave, Peter, answering for himself and for the other apostles save for Judas, replied: “Lord , to whom shall we go ? You have the words of eternal life . ” So they stepped ou...

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. Since this is Holy Week, I am posting this a day earlier than I normally would. Let’s ponder some of the things that Servant of God, Fulton J. Sheen, had to say about Suffering, the Eucharist and Priests:   Suffering   “All men are born to live; He (Jesus) was born to do the Father’s business which was to die and thereby save.”   “God could never let you suffer a pain or a reversal or experience sadness if it could not in some way minister to your perfection. If he did not spare his own Son on the Cross for the redemption of the world, then you may be sure that he will sometimes not spare your wants that you might be all you need to be: happy and perfect children of a loving Father. He may even permit us to wage wars as a result of our selfishness that we may learn there is no peace except in Goodness and Truth.” ...

First just with words: "My people! What have I done, in what way have I offended you? Answer me. I gave you the water of salvation which flowed from My sorrow to drink and you gave Me honey and vinegar. My people what have I done to you?"   (From Good Friday Liturgy)       Then with an image and words:            

“Contemplate Me in the prison where I spent the greater part of the night. The soldiers came and, adding words to injuries,   insulted Me, mocked Me, outraged Me, and gave Me blows on My face and on My whole body.   Tired of their sport, at length they left Me bound and alone in the dark and noisome place, where, seated on a stone, My aching body was cramped with cold. Compare the prison with the Tabernacle, and especially with the hearts that receive Me. "In the prison I spent only part of the night…but in the Tabernacle, how many days and nights? In the prison I was insulted and ill-treated by soldiers who were my enemies. In the Tabernacle most often it is they who call Me their Father who treat Me thus, but how unlike that of children is the treatment!   In the prison I endured cold, sleeplessness, hunger and thirst, solitude, and desertion. And there passed before My mind’s eye all the tabernacles where in the course of ages I should lack the shelter...

It's Sunday and time to join an interesting group of Catholic bloggers at RAnn's place where you are sure to find something that will speak to your soul. Take a few minutes and visit! Two Impressions of Our Holy Father On This Feast Day of St. Joseph I Went to Mass Today. It Was Unlike Most Other Days Little Girl Stumps Legislature by Asking:"Which Parent Do I Not Need?"

This stearling example of the power of Truth when expressed through the lips of a child comes via Creative Minority Report . View it HERE ,  pass it on, and then ask yourself why are our religious and secular leaders unable or unwilling to speak with such clarity?

To receive a free Kindle copy of "Forgotten Truths To Set Faith Afire! Words To Challenge, Inspire and Instruct" just click HERE .

Just a reminder - today and tomorrow (March 21 and March 22, 2013) are the last two days to get a free Kindle copy of Forgotten Truths To Set Faith Afire! Words To Challenge, Inspire and Instruct by clicking here . Let your family and friends know of this great offer!   Take a quick look at the back cover:       Help make this the number one Free Kindle Christian Inspiration Book on Amazon this week! Put it on your Kindle, your tablet, your laptop, your android or i-phone. Have spiritual nourishment at your fingertips wherever you may be. This is not a one-time read. This is a book that you can draw inspriation from for years to come. Do not pass up this opportunity to let God touch your heart and stir your soul!

My Dad was a Joseph. My deceased brother was a Joseph. My Confirmation name is Joseph. My only son is a Joseph. And as a Lay Dominican, I am a member of the St. Joseph Province of the Order of Preachers.   Guess it is incumbent upon me then to share something about St. Joseph today.   Let me start with the wisdom offered by our beloved Pope Emeritus, Benedict XVI, during an Address he gave on December 19, 2005:   “Let us allow ourselves to be ‘infected’ by St. Joseph ’s silence.   We need it greatly, in a world that is often too noisy, that does not favor meditation or listening to the voice of God.”   What follows are three Scriptural passages involving St. Joseph .  Three times an angel told him what God was asking of him. Each time Joseph accepted what he was told. Is there a lesson there for us? Why not take some time before the end of this day to read, reflect and meditate on these passages? Hopefully that exercise will make thi...

  What a privilege it was to serve Mass this morning! It is not something I have had the honor to do more than 3 or 4 times in my adult life.   For someone who just recently received his Medicare card, today was both a day for gratitude and for awe – gratitude for the gift of life and awe for the privilege to be so close to the holy altar of sacrifice.   Who am I to have been privileged to unlock Jesus’ cell door this morning in anticipation of Father carrying Him out to be with those Whom He so dearly loves?   Or to have prayed with Father in the sacristy before we processed into the sanctuary and after we returned upon the completion of the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass?   I marvel at the undeserved honor given me this day to carry the chalice, paten and unconsecrated host to its altar home prior to Mass.   (Not My Parish But St. Vincent Ferrer, NYC)   How can I ever explain the overwhelming sense of unworthiness...

Here are two impressions of our Holy Father. Thanks to  Aggie Catholics  and   The Telegraph  for the first video: This second video is from the St. Joseph Province of the Order of Preachers (the Dominicans)

Happy St. Patrick's Day! In betweeen bites of corned beef and cabbage, why not join some gifted Catholic bloggers at RAnn's Place and supplement that good physical nourishment with some substantive spiritual sustenance and inspiration? My contributions this week: Pondering Tidbits of Truth - March 14, 2013 Eucharistic Reflection - Communicating Worthily Five Days To Get Free Kindle copy of "Forgotten Truths To Set Faith Afire! Pray for our Holy Father Francis!

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 BETWEEN MARCH 18 AND MARCH 22, 2013  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.

    "Of ourselves, we cannot communicate worthily. We need the help of the Holy Spirit. Even though we approach the altar free from mortal sin, He must sharpen our spiritual apprehen­sion and inflame our love to intense ardor, that Christ may find in us a more beautiful habitation every time we receive Him. The sacramental God has a divine right to expect on our part after each Holy Communion an intensification of our gradual growth into His likeness. As often as we receive Him, He would have us burn with the desire for greater progress in virtue that will manifest itself in an irrevocable detachment from the world and a more unselfish love of Him, grounded on the conviction of our nothingness and consequent sore need of Him.   With greater joy will He abide in us if He beholds us by degrees assimilating His life, resembling Him in virtue by more complete conformity to His will. Christ will unite Him­self most intimately with us if we are constant in ...

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. Servant of God Madeleine Delbrel   “To the extent that our world tries to break itself away from God, that people believe that they can get by without God, that they can organize things apart from God, God becomes for the world something new, and the living God of the Gospel once again becomes news.”    (From We, the Ordinary People of the Streets )   Benedict XVI Today…it is particularly important to clarify the criteria used to distinguish the authentic s ensus fidelium from its counterfeits. In fact, it is not some kind of public opinion of the Church, and it is unthinkable to mention it in order to challenge the teachings of the Magisterium, this because the sensus fidei cannot grow authentically in the believer except to the extent in which he or she fully participates in the life of the Church, and ...

It's Sunday and time to join an interesting group of Catholic bloggers at RAnn's place where you are sure to find something that will speak to your soul. Take a few minutes and visit!   Here are two Eucharistic Reflections - one lengthy and challenging, and the other just as demanding  but short and to the point: Eucharistic Reflection - Stay Near the Sacred Host Eucharistic Reflection - Left Alone

God is the creator of all human life. He makes no mistakes. Who are we to subsitute our judgment for His? Who are we to so brazenly and illegitimately think we have the right to usurp His authority over the life He creates? The next time we think we  know better than Him as to the quality of life some disabled person may have or mistakenly think we are being compassionate when we are tempted to think or suggest that  a less than perfectly formed human being should not be allowed to live, remember Tim. Look at Tim! Look at the way he loves! Look at his joy and love of life! Doesn't he more closely resembles the God Who created him than many of us able bodied folk do? Look at Tim and see He Who created this jewel!     Thanks to Barb at Suffering For Joy for sharing this treasure. Visit her often. She has much to offer us in our earthly journey toward our heavenly home.

“If among those who read these words there be anyone suffering from painful, inexplicable feelings of which bind the soul, oppressing it and spreading over it profoundest darkness, if there be any one weighted down by weariness or dreadful temptations who feel that they are losing everything – Faith, Love, and Hope – that God Himself seems to be turning from them, that Heaven is closed to them and that death is in their souls, I implore you come to the Host. Throw yourself at His feet and cry out to him, “I have none but You, save me by Your love and by the Wound of your Heart.” Then abandon yourself to Him, Leave your soul in His hands, as the Canaanite woman confided to Christ her daughter who was possessed of an evil spirit…In His name I say to you: “No, you will not perish…” Never during His mortal life nor in His sacramental state has Jesus repulsed or abandoned anyone who had recourse to Him. However, terrible the state of your soul may seem to you, however unfort...

Come to RAnn's Place , thank her for hosting this site and then sample what some Catholic bloggers shared last week. Here are four of my posts: What Is Love? Pondering Tidbits Of Truth A Simple Man's Farewell to Our Holy Father Benedict Some Thoughts on Today's Gospel - Yes Mildred, You Are Both Rich and Poor! Very Hard To Commit A Mortal Son, You Think?

You have got to listen to this video. Father Z got it from P.P. of Blackfen and I must share it with you. You should share it with those you love.