Harvesting The Fruits of Contemplation

May Mother's soul and the souls of all the faithfully departed through the mercy of God rest in peace. Amen.

W e thank Allison Gingras and Elizabeth Riordan for inviting Catholic bloggers to re-post their favorite articles on "Worth Revisiting” Wednesdays.  Do yourself a favor- go there now (and every Wednesday) and gouge yourself on a feast of spiritual treasures. Be sure to visit Allison at  Reconciled To You and Elizabeth at Theology Is A Verb during the rest of the week.  You will find much spiritual nourishment and encouragement there. Here is my contribution: Monday Musings - Good Prayer, Bad Prayer, The Better Prayer (Originally published September 28, 2015) There is always something more that a hungry soul can learn about prayer. I found this to be true during a brief presentation Father John Denburger, OCSO offered at a recent retreat I made at the Abbey at the Genesee in Piffard, New York. I hope I can do justice to the pearls he shared with us. The most important relationship we are called to develop in this life," Father began, ...

The Eucharist must be the source, summit and center of our Catholic Faith and our daily lives. Why do we doubt this Truth?

[What follows is a slightly revised poem I posted some time ago. May it provide some fruit for your contemplation on this most sorrowful of days] For far too many of us, today will likely pass much like any other Friday - a mad rush to get to the weekend. with little thought of He Who made us and whose sacrificial and brutal death redeemed us. Where is our gratitude? Unforgettable This the day so long foretold The day of justice lacking The day of man's ingratitude This the day of cowardice and fear The day of torture and sorrow The day of darkness and death This the day of horror and pain The day of weeping women The day of uncaring masses This the day sin prevailed The day of little light The day that mirrored night This the day so profound and tragic The day of death and new life The day with kiss betrayed (Image Source: Wikimedia Commons ) This the day Your apostles fled The day Peter knew You not The day the cock crowed twice ...

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. Catherine of Siena "How great is the stupidity of those who make themselves weak in spite of my strengthening, and put themselves into the devil's hands! I want you to know, then, that at the moment of death, because they have put themselves during life under the devil's rule (not by force, because they cannot be forced, as I told you; but they put themselves voluntarily into his hands), and because they come to the point of death under this perverse rule, they can expect no other judgment but that of their own conscience. They come without hope to eternal damnation. In hate they grasp at hell in the moment of their death, and even before they possess it, they take hell as their prize along with their lords as demons." (From T he Dialogue - Jesus to St. Catherine of Siena)

O nce again we thank Allison Gingras and Elizabeth Riordan for inviting Catholic bloggers to re-post their favorite articles on "Worth Revisiting” Wednesdays.  Do yourself a favor - go there now (and every Wednesday) and gouge yourself on a feast of spiritual treasures. Be sure to visit Allison at  Reconciled To You and Elizabeth at Theology Is A Verb during the rest of the week.  You will find much spiritual nourishment and encouragement there. Good Friday - Gazing Upon The Face of Christ It is only with much perseverance and undeserved grace that our meditation and contemplation will bear fruit - fruit which we should share with those around us. On those occasions when we are so blessed, most of us will resort to sharing our experience with written or spoken words. A rare few who ponder persistently the mysteries of our Faith and the life of our Savior Jesus Christ, and who have been blessed with artistic gifts, will receive a greater grace...

The most solemn moments of your life are those you spend in thanksgiving, when the King of Heaven and earth, your Savior and your Judge, is yours, fully inclined to grant all you ask of Him… (Image source: Wikimedia Common s) Devote half an hour, if possible, to this thanksgiving, or, at the very least, fifteen minutes. Rather than abridge your thanksgiving, it would be better, if necessary, to shorten your preparation instead; for there is no more holy, no more salutary, moment for you than when you possess Jesus in your body and in your soul. The temptation often comes to shorten our thanksgiving. The Devil knows its value, and our nature, our self-love, shrinks from its effects. Determine, therefore, what the duration of your thanksgiving is to be, and never subtract a moment from it without a pressing reason.

(Image source: Wikimedia Commons ) There is nothing, and should be nothing, more important to us individually and to the Catholic Church than the salvation of souls - our soul and the souls of every human being!   So how are we doing in this most vital fight for souls?  Not so good... Listen

No one should ever encourage, facilitate or condone sacrilege.  "Real sacrilege," according to the Catholic Encyclopedia,  "is the irreverent treatment of sacred things" and "can happen" by the reception of Holy Communion "in the state of mortal sin". Such "irreverence towards the Holy Eucharist is reputed the worst of all sacrileges". It follows then that if we care about the salvation of souls, we would instruct and fraternally correct the ignorant [the thousands who come to Mass only once or twice a year, as well as those public figures who by their conduct and words reject the teachings of Christ's Church] who approach our Eucharistic Lord in a state of mortal sin. Such conduct is an insult to and causes unspeakable pain and suffering to our Loving and merciful Lord. If left unconfessed, eternal damnation is the penalty for those who commit such a sacrilege and for those charged with the duty of teaching and saving such ...

Once again we thank Allison Gingras and Elizabeth Riordan for inviting Catholic bloggers to re-post their favorite articles on "Worth Revisiting” Wednesdays.  Do yourself a favor- go there now (and every Wednesday) and gouge yourself on a feast of spiritual treasures. Be sure to visit Allison at  Reconciled To You and Elizabeth at Theology Is A Verb during the rest of the week.  You will find much spiritual nourishment and encouragement there. When Was The Last Time You Really Looked At A Crucifix? (Originally posted August 2, 2015) There are still Catholics (albeit their numbers are dwindling) who attend Mass on Sunday, even though some of them often complain that Mass is boring and/or that they get nothing out of it.  Let me ask two questions. (Image Source: Wikimedia Commons ) When was the last time you really looked at a crucifix? I mean really gazed at one and pondered the realities it depicts. When wa...

St. Catherine of Siena reminds us that it is not enough to be "a good person" or a "spiritual person". We must be "trees of love" free from deadly sin: (Image source: Wikimedia Commons ) “All of you are trees of love: You cannot live without love because I made you for love. The soul who lives virtuously sets her tree's root in the valley of true humility. But those who live wickedly have set their root in the mountain of pride, and because it is badly planted it produces fruit not of life but of death. Their fruits are their actions, and they are all poisoned by a multitude of different sins. If they do produce one or another fruit of good action, it is spoiled because the root from which it comes is rotten. In other words, if a soul is living in deadly sin, no good that she does has any value for eternal life because it is not done in grace.”