Harvesting The Fruits of Contemplation

“Sadness is looking at yourself; happiness is looking at God. Conversion is nothing more than shifting your gaze from below to above.” – Saint Carlo Acutis

“Let me always face life’s greatest fact – I live for Heaven or for hell.” Father Anthony J. Paone, S.J. from My Daily Bread

An Eight Year Old, a Twenty Dollar Bill, and an Absent Dad Who Would Be Most Proud of His Son

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March 10, 2014

If you only watch one short video clip, THIS IS THE ONE. Guaranteed!!!

Father and son Video

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A Glimpse of St. Louis Bertrand

October 09, 2012

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...

Monday Musings - Rosary Reflection - When Parents Pray The Rosary

October 20, 2025

"The faults of children are not always imputed to the parents, especially when they have instructed them and given good example. Our Lord, in His wondrous Providence, allows children to break the hearts of devout fathers and mothers. Thus the decisions your children have made don't make you a failure as a parent in God's eyes. You are entitled to feel sorrow, but not necessarily guilt. Do not cease praying for your children; God's grace can touch a hardened heart. Commend your children to the Immaculate Heart of Mary. When parents pray the Rosary, at the end of each decade they should hold the Rosary aloft and say to her, 'With these beads bind my children to your Immaculate Heart"'. She will attend to their souls." (St. Louise de Marillac)

Eucharistic Reflection - Sincere Contrition and Perfect Love

June 16, 2026

(Image Source: Hands at Mass ) "A Christian on leaving the holy place moved by the holy thoughts that have been aroused in him by the sight of the ceremonies he has seen, and the prayers that he has said, ought to say to himself: 'I have just come from assisting at Holy Mass, a God has immolated Himself for me; He has shed His Blood for the salvation of our souls; what more could He do?' Oh! how miserable I am, I who for so many years have refused Him my heart, which He has created for Himself and which He asks of me only in order to make it happy. I have just celebrated the praises of God with this same mouth that I had often sullied by all sorts of sins. Oh! my God, shall I always then beg from creatures the peace they are powerless to give me! My tongue shall it serve sometimes to praise You, sometimes to mispraise You. No, Lord, I now wish only to bless and to love You. Any Christian who has not, in going over these thoughts in his heart, assisted at the Holy Mass ...

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A PERMANENT QUESTION

"When we spend time with Jesus we become like Him. Why are we not encouraged to do so?"

DISCLAIMER

I am blessed to be a Lay Dominican. However, the ideas expressed on this blog are my own and do not represent the endorsement of or position of the Order of Preachers as a whole. I am neither responsible for, nor endorse content (e.g. banner ads, pop-up ads, etc.) that may be linked to this blog.

Spiritual Weapon Needed For Our Times - Chaplet of St. Michael The Archangel

LET US NEVER FORGET

"For there is nothing hidden that will not become visible and nothing secret that will not be known and come to light." - Luke 8:17

PRAYER TO BE PRESERVED FROM SUDDEN DEATH

MOST AMIABLE JESUS "I humbly implore Thee by Thy ignominious Scourging, The Crowning with Thorns, Thy Holy Cross, and by all Thy Goodness, not to permit me to pass out of this world without having received Thy most holy Sacraments." -Prayer of St. Vincent Ferrer

God's Magnificent Creation

A Glimpse of St. Louis Bertrand

October 09, 2012

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...

Eucharistic Reflection - Our Lady of the Most Blessed Sacrament

June 12, 2013

(Source: Missionaries of the Blessed Sacrament) "Mary devoted herself exclusively to the Eucharistic Glory of Jesus. She knew that it was the desire of the Eternal Father to make the Eucharist known, loved and served by all men; that need of Jesus’ Heart was to communicate to all men His gifts of grace and glory. She knew, too, that it was the mission of the Holy Spirit to extend and perfect in the hearts of men, the reign of Jesus Christ, and that the Church had been founded only to give Jesus to the world. All Mary’s desire, then, was to make Him known in His Sacrament. Her intense love for Jesus felt the need of expanding in this way, of consecrating itself - as a kind of relief, as it were - because of her own inability to glorify Him as much as she desired.

Eucharistic Reflection - Treasure The Holy Sacrifice of the Mass

November 19, 2024

(Image Source: Wikimedia Commons ) " … I will treasure more than anything else the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass. It is often said that it is the Mass that matters. This means that Mass is the most important thing in the world. It is very true. But I really think that sanctifying grace matters most of all. Still, where do I get that from if not through the Sacrifice of the Cross which is continued in the Sacrifice of the Mass. I am afraid. I do not think as highly of Holy Mass as I should. And this reminds me of a story I have often read about the Sacred linen in Greenland. It was in the sixteenth century. There had been a religious persecution in the island and all priests had been killed or driven out, so that for fifty years there was no Mass at all in Greenland. After fifty years, there were still some scattered Catholics left. They used to meet every year for a Christmas celebration in a lonely house almost covered by snow. On one such night they all gathered together in the...

Eucharistic Reflection - Look Up and See

August 26, 2025

What if the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass was always and everywhere offered in accordance with the dignity, reverence and obedience our God merits? If we truly worshiped Him as He deserves, do you think more Catholics would willingly and lovingly come to Mass and give their Lord the worship and adoration He ought to receive? May the following reflection help move us in that direction wherever there may be a need to do so. (Image Source: Hands at Mass ) When the Host is held on high and a chalice lifted…look up! Look up and see what Mary saw. See a naked man squirming as He bleeds against a blackened sky; see a battered human body, writhing on a tree, prisoned there by savage spikes that have torn through Sacred hands and feet; see thorn-tortured head tossing from side to side as anguished torso labors, lifts and strains; see the eyes of God roll towards heaven beseeching, as broken lips blurt out that soul piercing cry: “My God, My God, Why has Thou forsaken Me?” What is ...

Pondering Tidbits of Truth - October 11, 2012

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,...

Monday Musings - Rosary Reflection - When Parents Pray The Rosary

October 20, 2025

"The faults of children are not always imputed to the parents, especially when they have instructed them and given good example. Our Lord, in His wondrous Providence, allows children to break the hearts of devout fathers and mothers. Thus the decisions your children have made don't make you a failure as a parent in God's eyes. You are entitled to feel sorrow, but not necessarily guilt. Do not cease praying for your children; God's grace can touch a hardened heart. Commend your children to the Immaculate Heart of Mary. When parents pray the Rosary, at the end of each decade they should hold the Rosary aloft and say to her, 'With these beads bind my children to your Immaculate Heart"'. She will attend to their souls." (St. Louise de Marillac)