Harvesting The Fruits of Contemplation

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. Dom Eugene Boylan, O.C.R. "We have our own plans for our happiness, and too often we look upon God as someone who will help us to carry them out. The true state of affairs is invariably the reverse of this. God has his own perfect plans for our happiness, and is waiting for us to help Him carry them out. And let it be clear that we can in no way improve on God's plans." (From This Tremendous Lover ) St. Augustine "We cannot keep ourselves on the road to perfection and prevent ourselves from failing except by efforts to climb higher. As soon as we begin to stop, we regress, with the result that, if we do not wish to fall back , we have to run ahead always, without slowing down." (From Instructions for Novices by Blessed Hyaacinthe-Marie Cormier, O.P.)  St. Josemaria Escriva "It looks as if...

Time again to thank Allison Gingras at  Reconciled To You and Elizabeth Riordan at Theology Is A Verb for hosting "Revisiting Wednesday" each week and those Catholic bloggers who re-post their favorite articles there.  Go there now. (and every Wednesday). You will be inspired by the variety of spiritual insights these authors share. I thought I would share the following: A Simple Reflection on Mary's Fiat  (Originally posted December 8, 2014) Image Source: Wikimedia Commons ) [I am recycling this simple reflection which got lost amid an earlier and lengthier post.] In Luke's Gospel (1:26-38) we hear the angel Gabriel’s familiar greeting to our heavenly Mother Mary: “Hail full of grace”. We repeat that salutation every time we pray the “Hail Mary”.  As a result, we sometimes forget the significance of those words and the rest of this Scripture passage.  When told by the angel that she, a virgin, would conceive the G...

Never forget it! Jesus wishes to be our closest friend, our companion along the way.                                                   (Image source: Wikimedia Commons ) You have, certainly, so many friends, but you cannot always be with them and they cannot always help you, listen to you, console you. Jesus, on the contrary, is the friend who never abandons you. Jesus knows you one by one, personally, He knows your name. He follows you, accompanies you, walks with you every day. He participates in your joys and consoles you in moments of grief and sadness. Jesus is the friend we cannot do without when we have met Him and understood that He loves us and wants our love. You can speak and confide in Him, you can address...

[What follows pretty well describes our current culture. This clear thinking and prophetic Bishop saw this coming more than 30 years ago. Yet, the majority of his brethren remained silent over the ensuing decades. Even now, some have still not found their voices.]   “…contemporary paganism is characterized by the search for material well-being at any I cost, and by the corresponding disregard- or to put it more accurately, fear and genuine terror – of anything that could cause suffering. Image source: Wikimedia Commons )  With this outlook, words such as God, sin, Cross, mortification, eternal life…become incomprehensible to a great number of people, who are ignorant of their meaning and content. You have witnessed the incredible fact that many people began by putting God in parentheses, in some aspects of their professional lives. But then, as God demands, loves and asks, they end up throwing Him out - like an intruder - from their civil laws and from th...

(St. Vincent Ferrer Parish, NYC) That the real Body and Blood of Christ is present in the Sacrament is something that cannot be perceived either with the senses or with the intellect, but only with faith, which is supported by the authority of God. Because of this, when commenting on the passage in Luke 22:19: "This is my body which is given up for you," St. Cyril says: "Do not cast doubt on the truth of this, but rather accept with faith the words of the Savior: because He, being the Truth, does not lie." St. Thomas Aquinas, S. Th ., III, q. 75, a.1

The key is not worldly power, possessions and prestige. It is interior:

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. Henri Dominic Lacordaire, O.P. "What is difficult is to carry the cross each day, the cross which is not blood-stained but which bruises the skin a little without making it bleed, and which is composed of restraint, tediousness and languor. If one could only mount Calvary once and for all, and give one's body once an for all to the executioners, what pleasure! But no, the torment is in detail; a little cut of  the whip, a little slap in the face, a little humiliation." (From St. Dominic's Family by Sister Mary Jean Dorcy, O.P.) St. Augustine "Remember this. When people choose to withdraw far from a fire, the fire continues to give warmth, but they grow cold. When people choose to withdraw far from light, the light continues to be bright in itself but they are in darkness. This is also the cas...