Pondering Tidbits of Truth - November 26, 2015

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.

But first a heartfelt prayer for a happy and blessed Thanksgiving!

Rev. M. Raymond, O.C.S.O.

"So long as God, who is all good, wills a thing, we are fools if we do not say Fiat – and thus will it with Him. The lone exception is sin."

(From God, A Woman and The Way)

 


Brother Benedict, O.P.

brother Benedict asked him why he said this Mass for sinners rather than a Mass for the dead. - See more at: http://lawrenceop.tumblr.com/post/132397374888/homily-for-all-souls-day-in-our-dominican#sthash.ltEcZEA6.dpuf

[Friar Bertrand used to say Mass for the conversion of sinners every day...Brother Benedict asked why he said Mass for sinners rather than a Mass for the dead. After getting the Friar's response, this is what Benedict had to say:]

“ 'Supposing there were two beggars in equal distress, one of whom was sound in all his limbs, while the other was a cripple. Which of the two would you help first?' Bertrand replied that he would 'undoubtedly help the one who could not help himself'. So, Benedict said to him: 'Such precisely is the state of the dead, for they have no mouths with which to make confession, no ears with which to hear sound preaching and calls to repentance, no eyes to shed tears of sorrow for sin, nor feet with which to walk to receive the sacraments. They can but cry to us to relieve them, and this is all they expect of us; while sinners on the other hand, because they are still alive on earth can always help themselves in the ways that I have named, as well as benefit from our prayers'.” 

(From Vitras Fratrum as quoted in Homily for All Souls Day by Father Lawrence Lew O.P.)

St. Vincent Ferrer, O.P.

 

"...If you compare, on the one hand, the beauty and splendor of the virtues, the nobility they confer upon the soul, and on the other hand, the ugliness and vileness of vice and sin, you will strive, if you are wise, to acquire the virtues to an even greater degree and to fly from all sin and vice."

(From A Treatise On The Spiritual Life) 

“Supposing there were two beggars in equal distress, one of whom was sound in all his limbs, while the other was a cripple. Which of the two would you help first?” Bertrand replied that he would “undoubtedly help the one who could not help himself”. So, Benedict said to him: “Such precisely is the state of the dead, for they have no mouths with which to make confession, no ears with which to hear sound preaching and calls to repentance, no eyes to shed tears of sorrow for sin, nor feet with which to walk to receive the sacraments. They can but cry to us to relieve them, and this is all they expect of us; while sinners on the other hand, because they are still alive on earth can always help themselves in the ways that I have named, as well as benefit from our prayers” - See more at: http://lawrenceop.tumblr.com/post/132397374888/homily-for-all-souls-day-in-our-dominican#sthash.MjHGsd77.dpuf

“Supposing there were two beggars in equal distress, one of whom was sound in all his limbs, while the other was a cripple. Which of the two would you help first?” Bertrand replied that he would “undoubtedly help the one who could not help himself”. So, Benedict said to him: “Such precisely is the state of the dead, for they have no mouths with which to make confession, no ears with which to hear sound preaching and calls to repentance, no eyes to shed tears of sorrow for sin, nor feet with which to walk to receive the sacraments. They can but cry to us to relieve them, and this is all they expect of us; while sinners on the other hand, because they are still alive on earth can always help themselves in the ways that I have named, as well as benefit from our prayers” - See more at: http://lawrenceop.tumblr.com/post/132397374888/homily-for-all-souls-day-in-our-dominican#sthash.MjHGsd77.dpuf

“Supposing there were two beggars in equal distress, one of whom was sound in all his limbs, while the other was a cripple. Which of the two would you help first?” Bertrand replied that he would “undoubtedly help the one who could not help himself”. So, Benedict said to him: “Such precisely is the state of the dead, for they have no mouths with which to make confession, no ears with which to hear sound preaching and calls to repentance, no eyes to shed tears of sorrow for sin, nor feet with which to walk to receive the sacraments. They can but cry to us to relieve them, and this is all they expect of us; while sinners on the other hand, because they are still alive on earth can always help themselves in the ways that I have named, as well as benefit from our prayers” - See more at: http://lawrenceop.tumblr.com/post/132397374888/homily-for-all-souls-day-in-our-dominican#sthash.MjHGsd77.dpuf