Harvesting The Fruits of Contemplation

Words are not necessary to understand love...

(From the website of the Nashville Dominicans )     Why not join our Dominican family in praying a Novena to St. Dominic, our Father and founder of the Order of Preachers, as we prepare to celebrate his feast day on August 8? You can find the short form Novena here , or an expanded version here .

(© Michael Seagriff)     It's Sunday and time to join an interesting group of Catholic bloggers at RAnn's place , This That and The Other Thing,  where you are sure to find something that will stir your soul. May you find something of value in my offerings this week: Monday Musings - So When Can We Expect To Hear Humanae Vitae Preached at Sunday Masses? Lost The Sense of the Sacred? Eucharistic Reflection - Radiating Christ

Dear Jesus, "Help me to spread Your fragrance every­where I go. Flood my soul with Your spirit and life. Penetrate and possess my whole being, so utterly, that my life may only be a radiance of Yours. Shine through me, and be so in me, that every soul I come in contact with may feel Your presence in my soul. Let them look up and see no longer me but only Jesus!   Stay with me, and then I shall begin to shine as You shine; so to shine as to be a light to others; the light, 0 Jesus will be all from You, none of it will be mine; it will be You, shining on others through me. Let me thus praise You in the way You love best by shining on those around me. Let me preach You without preaching, not by words but by my example, by the catching force, the sympathetic influence of what I do, the evident fullness of the love my hearts bear to You. Amen."   (Prayer of John Henry Cardinal Newman – a favorite of           Blessed   Teresa of Calcutta and her community)  

Recent image from the General Chapter of the Order of Preachers taking place in Trogir, Croatia. This picture was recently posted on the website of  the Dominican Nuns at the Monastery of Our Lady of the Rosary in Summit, N.J. Visit the good sisters here .    

There is so much of spiritual value that is shared over the internet on a daily basis that goes unrecognized and/or unread - the sheer volume of such material is mindboggling. One of the contributions we Catholic bloggers can make toward advancing the cause of The New Evangelization is to share some of the spiritual treasures we discover while searching the web with those who might visit our blogs. Many bloggers already do so. I ran across one of those treasures some time ago at Traditional Catholic Priest . I should have shared this sooner. Are you among the many Catholics who wonder how it is that so many of our parishes have lost the sense of the sacred? Do you wonder if it is even possible to reestablish such a sense within our church buildings? Then you will appreciate the insight that Dietrich von Hildebrand  offers in this article . You will no doubt be amazed when you discover that he wrote this in 1966.

(Image from Biblebios.com) If God used Balaam’s donkey to get that prophet’s attention, I guess he can use me to get yours. May these periodic postings on the second and fourth Mondays of each month (God willing) generate fruitful discussion and faithful change.   I recently read a short but interesting article written by Father Michael Orsi. It is entitled How Same-Sex Marriage Won . You can read his article here at Catholic Exchange .  As I am wont to do, I simply passed it along to several social media sites with the same question I posed in today's post. That's all I did. What a stir it created.   

    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 stir your soul. Take a few minutes and visit! Here are my two contributions: Eucharistic Reflection - A Blood Transfusion Pondering Tidbits of Truth And here is a video worth watching: Remember this Video When Your Cross Seems Too Heavy to Carry

Click the link that follows to watch a video that New Advent recently posted. It is a must see for those of us who sometimes feel our crosses are too heavy. I am sorry I was not able to embed the video directly to this post.

 (Parish of St. Vincent Ferrer, NYC)   "We need a blood transfusion… There must be communication, union, between the Heart of Jesus and your heart–our heart–so that His divine blood will flow into us until little by little our blood is replaced by His. When this union, this total fusion between our will and His will takes place, then, to put it briefly, our will is replaced with the will of Jesus; our feelings are replaced with the feelings of Jesus. We live in Jesus–this is love! We are lost in Jesus. It is no longer I who think, it is no longer I who feel; it is no longer I who act. It is Jesus in me! It is Christ who lives in me!" (Blessed James Alberione as quoted by Sr. Marie Paul Curley, fsp on Windows to the Soul Blog )

 (Abbey at Genesee, Piffard, NY)  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. Thomas Aquinas   “If you are looking for an example of patience, behold there on the cross the most excellent example of patience. For great patience is shown in two ways. Either when anyone endures great pain with resignation or when anyone endures that which he was able to avoid and did not avoid.” (From The Aquinas Catechism: A Simple Explanation)   Pius X “Most of the evils which beset the Church and most of the problems with which the Catholic Church is plagued, are not due to bad will. No, they are mainly due to ignorance of Christ’s revealed truth.”   (From Acerbo Nimis , 1)   Venerable Fulton J. Sheen  “…Christ affirms that when a man marries a woman, he marries both her body and her soul; he marries the whole person. If he gets tired of the body, he may not thr

(Finger Lakes, NY © Michael Seagriff) It's Sunday (well almost) and time to join an interesting group of Catholic bloggers at RAnn's place  where you are sure to find something that will stir your soul. Take a few minutes and visit! Thanks RAnn for your continuing hospitality! Here are two of my posts from this past week: Monday Musings - Suffer the Little Children (and Sinful Prisoners Too) Eucharistic Reflection - What We Lose From Missing One Holy Communion With your indulgence, I will also offer two "plugs" - one for the upcoming Catholic Writers' Guild Live Conference and the other a shameless plug for my new Kindle book . If you are interested you can purchase a copy by  going here .

Direct from the Catholic Writers' Guild, Jennifer Fitz's most recent post:   Last Call for CWG Conference Registration The first week of August is nearly upon us. 9 Reasons Your East-Coast Friends Want to Know about This Two conferences of awesomeness, one convenient location.  You only need to register for one conference, and you get into the other on that same ticket.  Your registration fee covers the cost of renting the venue and lining up the entertainment, supplies, etc., but if you would like to attend the banquets sponsored by the CMN, make sure you purchase tickets when you register. Conference #1: The Catholic “Marketing Network” Conference . The title is not quite what it sounds like.  This is the trade organization for Catholic bookstores, and producers of Catholic books and goods. What you’ll get:

(Dominican Monastery of the Mother  of God, W. Springfield, MA) Consider what you lose when you miss one Holy Communion: – You lose a special increase in sanctifying grace, that grace which makes your soul more pleasing to God. You lose the sacramental grace which entitles you to special help in the time of temptation and in the discharge of your duties. You lose a precious opportunity of having all your venial sins wiped away. You miss the special preserving influence which each Holy Communion confers against the fires of passion. You miss the opportunity of obtaining remission of a part or of all the temporal punishment due to your sins. You lose the spiritual joy, the sweetness, and the particular comfort that come from a fervent Holy Communion. You miss a personal visit with Jesus, the Author of all spiritual energy and of all holiness. You lose a greater degree of glory that would be yours in Heaven for all eternity. You may lose: complete victory over some fault or passio

Excuse some shameless self-promotion. But if I do not let you know about my new book, Fleeting Glimpses of the Silly, Sentimental and Sublime , who will? It is my hope that the twenty personal stories and reflections contained in this book might bring you laughter at a time you feel forlorn, comfort when you are overburdened with the challenges of daily living, tears of joy when certain words you read or images they generate resurrect thoughts of those you loved and lost, greater appreciation for the gift of life, zeal for the salvation of your soul, and an increased desire to give to God and those He created what He and they deserve.   Award winning author and current President of the Catholic Writers' Guild, Ellen Hrkach Gable, had this to say after reading her review copy: 

(Image from Biblebios.com) If God used Balaam’s donkey to get that prophet’s attention, I guess he can use me to get yours. May these periodic postings on the second and fourth Mondays of each month (God willing) generate fruitful discussion and faithful change. I was prompted a few weeks back to go through and empty out my desk drawer. It had been far too long since I had de-cluttered it. I had forgotten the hidden treasures it contained. Then I saw them – about 15 of them. Suddenly, I realized how long it had been since I last went to prison.    Odd, isn’t it. The one place I visited where I was always immensely blessed is filled with men and women whom the majority of us would never voluntarily choose to have anything to do with - no matter that our Faith teaches that all of us, including the greatest sinners among us, were created in the image and likeness of God and that each of us, without exception, by and through the unearned and undeserved grace of Almighty Go

 (© Michael Seagriff) 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 stir your soul. Take a few minutes and visit!   My offerings this week:   The Catholic Writers' Conference Live! Pondering Tidbits of Truth - July 3, 2013   And two videos worth viewing - one of Dr. Peter Kreeft and the other of Ronald Regan as a 4th of July salute to our nation and to my brother:   Listen to the Prophets Among Us - Why the Simultaneous Rise of Islam and Homosexuality America! Let God's Light Shine On Thee!

Catholic Writers Conference Don't miss out on this great opportunity to meet and learn from some of the most gifted Catholic writers and bloggers in the world. They will inspire, teach and support you as you learn to write for the Glory of God! I have been to this conference two of the last three years. I recommend it without any reservation. It's not too late to join us.

All nations are composed of, and led by, flawed human beings. Only a few  have ever placed God as the cornerstone of their government. This country flourished when it did so. But as it turns its back on a loving and generous God, its greatness and that of its people are placed in great danger - financial ruin, earthly destruction and eternal damnation. Let's put God back where He belongs - in our hearts, minds and souls! This 4th of July let us fall to our knees in adoration of our Lord, in repentance for our individual and national sins, and in prayerful supplication that we will always be "one Nation, under God , indivisible with liberty and justice for all!" Today is a day to be especially proud of being an American. Enjoy this video, sent to me by one of America's heroes, my brother, retired U.S. Marine Gunnery Sergeant, Peter Seagriff. Semper Fidelis!

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. Vincent Ferrer   "...for when the soul is completely occupied by charity there is no longer any room in her for vanity. All that she thinks, says and does is inspired by charity...vanity finds no place in a heart filled with charity. What concern can he still have for temporal advantages, since he looks upon them as refuse? How can the desire for praise enter his heart, when he see himself before God as a vile dunghill, as a miserable sinner inclined toward every kind of sin and who would commit them all, did not the hand of the Creator constantly support him? How can he take pride in any good work when he sees clearer than daylight that he could do no  good if divine power did not impel him and constrain him, so to speak, at every moment?. How can he attribute anything whatever to himself when he has experienced not a hundred but

If you are trying to understand what is going on our in world and why our failure as Catholics to preach, defend and live our Faith has contributed to world upheaval, then click here to view this must see video . Thanks to LifeSiteNews.com for interviewing Dr. Peter Kreeft and for  Christopher's Apologies for passing this video on.