Podcast - Suffer The Little Children (And Prisoners Too)

Do you really believe (as we Catholics must):

(Image source: Wikimedia Commons)

That all of us, including the greatest sinners among us, were created in the image and likeness of God? 

and

That each of us, by and through the unearned and undeserved grace of Almighty God, can become new creations in Him Who made us, despite what we might have become or done in the past?

and 

That these two Truths must apply to everyone one of us? With no exceptions?

Then listen here.

"Worth Revisiting" Wednesday - Don'T Ever Be A Hissing Candle!

Thank you, Allison Gingras and Elizabeth Riordan, for inviting an ever-expanding group of Catholic bloggers to re-post their favorite articles on “Worth Revisiting” Wednesdays.

Do yourself a favor- go there now (and every Wednesday) and let these authors bless and challenge you in Faith journey.

During the rest of each week. visit Allison at  Reconciled To You and Elizabeth at Theology Is A Verb. 

Here is what I am sharing this week:

Don't Ever Be A Hissing Candle!

(Originally posted on June 18, 2013)

[Wanted to share this now since I will be on the road April 29th when we celebrate the memorial of St. Catherine of Siena, Lay Dominican, Doctor of the Church, mystic and author of the spiritual treasure, The Dialogue.] 

(Adoration Chapel-St. Agatha's)

“But anyone who would approach this gracious sacrament while guilty of deadly sin would receive no grace from it, even though such a person would really be receiving Me as I am, wholly God, wholly human. But do you know the situation of the soul who receives the sacrament unworthily? She is like a candle that has been doused with water and only hisses when it is brought under the fire. The flame no more than touches it but it goes out and nothing remains but smoke. Just so, this soul brings the candle she received in holy baptism and throws the water of sin over it, a water that drenches the wick of baptismal grace that is meant to bear the light. And unless she dries the wick out with the fire of true contrition by confessing her sin, she will physically receive the light when she approaches the table of the altar, but she will not receive it into her spirit. 

If the soul is not disposed as she should be for so great a mystery, this true light will not graciously remain in her but will depart, leaving her more confounded, more darksome, and more deeply in sin. She will have gained nothing from this sacrament but the hissing of remorse, not because of any defect in the light (for nothing can impair it) but because of the water it encountered in the soul, the water that so drenched her love that she could not receive this light.”

(God the Father to St. Catherine of Siena, The Dialogue)

Eucharistic Reflection - It Is Not Burdensome!

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"Far from us be disgust, negligence, and frivolity. Alas! Is it possible that it should be burdensome for us to converse with our Sovereign Lord? Where is one better than close to one’s Father, to one’s Spouse, to one’s all? To live with Jesus, is this not to begin to live on earth the life that we are called to live in heaven? Ah! Can we say that we have faith if we complain of the length of time that we spend before the Most Holy Sacrament?"

Mother Mectilde de Bar

Monday Musings - Don't Leave!

Eucharistic Adoration - God Deserves It! He Invites Us! He Awaits Us!

Pondering Tidbits of Truth - April 21, 2016

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.

Blessed Henry Suso, O.P. 

"Lord, some complain that you give them suffering. Ah. Blessed is that suffering which unites the soul to you. Lord, my cherished Spouse, a pure soul finds such delight in one spiritual embrace from you that she forgets all suffering…"

(From The Exemplar: Life and Writings of Blessed Henry Suso, OP Vol. Two)

"Worth Revisiting " Wednesday - Blessed Henry Suso, O.P. and The Eucharist

(Photo©Michael Seagriff)

We thank Allison Gingras and Elizabeth Riordan for inviting Catholic bloggers to re-post their favorite articles on "Worth Revisiting” Wednesday. 

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: 

 Blessed Henry Suso, O.P. and The Eucharist 

(Originally posted on January 23, 2016)

[Today] we remember Blessed Henry Suso, O.P. (1290-1365) a German Dominican priest, mystic and spiritual writer.

Some suggest that it is difficult to separate fact from fiction when discussing  this gifted Friar. He had as many critics as he did followers. There is a brief but interesting account of his life in Sister Mary Jean Dorcy, O.P.'s classic St. Dominic's Family - Lives of over 300 Famous Dominicans. You can also get a glimpse into his life and writings at New Advent.

His best known work, A Little Book of Eternal Wisdom, is one well worth reading and pondering. Here is a Eucharistic prayer from that book for your use and reflection:

A Prayer To Be Said When  Thou Goest To Receive Our Lord

(Image Source:Willing Shepherds.org) O Thou living fruit, Thou sweet blossom, Thou delicious paradise apple of the blooming fatherly heart, Thou sweet vine of Cyprus in the vineyard of Engaddi, who will give me to receive Thee so worthily this day that Thou shalt desire to come to me, to dwell with me, and never to separate from me!

Eucharistic Reflection - The Gift of Awe and Wonder

If we are to restore a sense of the Sacred to our Churches and rediscover a sense of awe and wonder in the Eucharist as Father  Richard Heilman recently suggested  [and we must], we have a long way to go.

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"Man should tremble, the world should quake, all Heaven should be deeply moved when the Son of God appears on the altar in the hands of the priest."

St.  Francis of Assisi

Love and Holy Fear - Rediscover It - Cherish It

Holy fear is one Gift of the Holy Spirit we must rediscover and cherish:

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 The law of fear was the Old Law that I gave to Moses. It was built on fear alone: Whoever sinned suffered the penalty.

The law of love is the New Law given by the Word, my only-begotten Son. It is built on love. The Old Law was not dissolved by the New, but fulfilled. This is what my Truth said: "I have come not to destroy the Law but to fulfill it." He thus joined the law of fear with that of love. 

The imperfectness of the fear of suffering was taken away by love, and what remained was the perfectness of holy fear, that is, fear simply of sinning, not because of personal damnation but because sin is an insult to me, supreme Goodness. So the imperfect law was made perfect by the law of love.

(Jesus to St. Catherine of Siena in The Dialogue)

Podcast "Holy Spirit" vs "Spirit of Vatican II"

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Ever wonder why so very few Catholics believe that Jesus Christ is really, truly and substantially present, Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity in the Blessed Sacrament? 

Many have. I am among that number and wish to share these simple thoughts with you today. Click here if you are interested.

What do you think?

"Revisiting Wednesday" - Monday Musings – Mary My Mother – Be at My Side

Thank you Allison Gingras and Elizabeth Riordan for inviting Catholic bloggers to re-post their favorite articles on "Worth Revisiting” Wednesdays.
 
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.

I am sharing the following post:

Monday Musings – Mary My Mother – Be at My Side 

(Originally published January 4, 2016)

(Photo©Michael Seagriff)

[The great value of retreats is that the guidance and insight gained during those intense times of prayer and silence never stop giving. Every time I re-read my notes from past retreats I gain additional direction and encouragement. Let me share an example of what I mean.]

On the second day of my retreat, I found myself distracted particularly at Communion. This upset me and I asked God to show me why I felt distant from Him. I asked for the gift of intimacy and stayed after Mass to further give Him thanks for the great gift I had just received and to explore these feelings more thoroughly.

It was my intent to ponder the reflection set forth for the second day in A Novena of Holy Communions, written by Father Lawrence G. Lovasik, S.V.D.  But the chapel lights were quickly turned off making it impossible to see the words in my little booklet.

I was immediately struck with this thought: “Now you have to use your own words and not those of others”. After doing so for too brief of a time, I got up to leave, intending to go right to my car and check to see if my blog post for that morning had been automatically posted as I had scheduled before leaving home.

Right in the front of the monastery is a statute of our Blessed Mother (Our Lady of the Genesee) holding the infant Christ child in her arms. There is a concrete bench directly in front of her. I had actually taken a picture of this statute years ago and have used it as a Christmas card. 

Eucharistic Reflection - A Tragically Forgotten Truth

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“It became obvious why Catholics had built such beautiful cathedrals and churches throughout the world. Not as gathering or meeting places for Christians. But as a home for Jesus Himself in the Blessed Sacrament. Cathedrals house Jesus. Christians merely come and visit Him. The cathedrals and churches architecturally prepare our souls for the beauty of the Eucharist.”

(Allen R. Hunt, from Confessions of a Mega Church Pastor: How I Discovered the Hidden Treasures of the Catholic Church)