Pondering Tidbits of Truth - January 26, 2017

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. Alphonsus Liguori 

"There will be those who say: 'that is exactly why I don't go to Communion more often, because I realize my love is cold...' If you are cold, do you think it sensible to move away from the fire? Precisely because you feel your heart frozen you should go 'more frequently' to Holy Communion, provided you feel a sincere desire to love Jesus Christ. 'Go to Holy Communion', says St. Bonaventure, 'even when you feel lukewarm, leaving everything in God's hands. The more my sickness debilitates me, the more urgently do I need a doctor."

(From The Practice of Love for Jesus)

St. John Chrysostom

"Is it not ridiculous to be so meticulous about bodily things when the feast draws near, as to get out and prepare your best clothes day ahead...and to deck yourself in your very finest, all the while paying not the slightest attention to your soul, which is abandoned, besmirched, squalid and utterly consumed by desire...?

(From Homily 6)

Blessed John Henry Newman

"Seek His face Who ever dwells in real and bodily presence in His Church. Do at least as much as the disciples did. They had but little faith; they feared; they had no great confidence or peace, but at least they did not keep away from Christ...Do not keep from Him, but, when you are in trouble, come to Him day by day, asking Him earnest and perseveringly for those favors which He alone can give...So, though He discerns much infirmity in you which ought not to be there, yet He will deign to rebuke the winds and the sea, and say: 'Peace, be still.' And there will be great calm."

(From Sermon for the Fourth Sunday after the Epiphany)