Harvesting The Fruits of Contemplation

Thank you Allison Gingras  (Reconciled To You) and Elizabeth Riordan ( Theology Is A Verb ) for hosting Worth Revisiting . Be sure to stop there every Wednesday . You will enjoy your visits. Here is my contribution: Help Me Understand! Should Not the Salvation of Souls Be Our Primary Concern?  [Originally published July 3, 2012 - We may have dodged a bullet temporarily. But sadly, nothing much has changed since I first posted this.] I understand that in a democratic society, the Catholic Church and its members must try to shape social and political policies and to have their voices heard on the pressing moral issues of the day. There is no doubt that an increasing number of recent actions (beyond the HHS contraception and sterilzation mandates) taken by the Obama administration pose real and imminent threats to our God given and constitutionally recognized fundamental right - freedom of religion. Freedom loving people of all religious persuasions and those of ...

(Image source: Wikimedia Commons ) "As mountain hares become white in winter because they neither see nor eat anything but snow, so by adoring and feeding on beauty, purity and goodness itself in the Eucharist, you will become altogether beautiful, pure and good." (St. Francis de Sales from Introduction to the Devout Life )

There is a crisis in the Church - I Thirst for Your Love is trying to do something it!

Photo©Michael Seagriff 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 Father Federico Suarez "If there are so many Christians who today live aimlessly with little depth, and hemmed in on all sides by narrow horizons, it is due, above all, to their lack of any clear idea of why they, personally exist...What elevates a man and truly gives him a personality of his own is the consciousness of his vocation, the consciousness of his own specific task in the universe." (From Mary of Nazareth)

Thank you Allison Gingras  (Reconciled To You) and Elizabeth Riordan ( Theology Is A Verb) for hosting Worth Revisiting .   Be sure to stop there every Wednesday . You will enjoy your visits. Here is my contribution:   Just Eat The Pork Under Protest!  (Originally posted on June 30, 2013) (Image source: Wikimedia Commons ) One of my favorite characters in the Old Testament (2 Maccabees 6:18-31) is Eleazar, a ninety year old Jewish scribe, a “teacher of the Law.” He was ordered to eat pork in violation of the Mosaic Law or be killed. He preferred death rather than offend God.

(Image source: Wikimedia Commons ) Dearest daughter, contemplate the marvelous state of the soul who receives this bread of life, this food of angels, as she ought. When she receives this Sacrament she lives in Me and I in her. Just as the fish is in the sea and the sea in the fish, so am I in the soul and the soul in Me, the sea of peace. Grace lives in such a soul because, having received this bread of life in grace, she lives in grace. When this appearance of bread has been consumed, I leave behind the imprint of My grace, just as a seal that is pressed into warm wax leaves its imprint when it is lifted off. 

As our parish journeys through its fifteenth year of Perpetual Eucharistic Adoration, I marvel at, and give God thanks for, the hundreds of faithful Adorers who have spent time in His Presence over the years. It is hard to believe that sixty-seven of them have passed on into eternity.  Many of their names and faces pop into my consciousness from time to time – a reminder of the impact their lives and examples have had on me and countless others. With each passing year, I become increasingly aware of my own approaching death – at a time and under circumstances fully and solely in God’s hands. Although modern sensitivities discourage reflection on our immortality as a morbid and useless effort, nothing could be further from the truth , as you will glean from these words of Father Winfrid Herbst, S.D.S. from his book, The Way of God: “So it is wise for me always to remember that I must die and that I ought always to be ready. This reminds me of a story told abou...

Assuming you are fighting against a properly formed one:

Thank you Allison Gingras  (Reconciled To You) and Elizabeth Riordan ( Theology Is A Verb ) for hosting Worth Revisiting . Be sure to stop by every Wednesday . You will enjoy your visits. Here is my contribution this week: Monday Musings - The New Evangelization Is Not So New  (Originally published on October 18, 2013 in a slightly different version) (Photo©Michael Seagriff) The call to evangelize has been an essential part of our Catholic nature and fiber since the time our blessed Lord walked this earth. He told His apostles to “go make disciples of all nations baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit”.  He did not then, nor does He now, teach that one Church is as good as another. Jesus has called all of us to be members of His One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church.  Over the ensuing centuries, we Catholics have frequently failed to heed His command, even in current times mistak...

"The most powerful thing we can do on this earth with our time is to spend it in Eucharistic Adoration. Nothing can do more to change the world, to bring about peace,  to convert hearts, , to make reparation for the many evils committed.  (Image Source: Wikimedia Commons ) Spending time in prayer may seem, on the outside, to be a passive thing; however, it is anything but! Our world is in desperate need  of hope, of renewal, of a "turning back" to the things of God. By visiting our Lord in the Blessed Sacrament, we take up the best weapon for the battles of our age and contribute to the healing of our culture. " (From Manual for Eucharistic Adoration )

(Image source: Wikimedia Commons) Contemporary commentators often report that there is not much difference between the manner in which the majority of Catholics act with respect to such issues, for example, as the active homosexual life style, abortion, cohabitation, contraception, euthanasia, and fetal stem cell research, and how the rest of the non-Catholic population acts. How tragic!  Has it been the poor example of Catholics that have led others astray? Or have Catholics simply abandoned their faith in order to fit in? An affirmative answer to either of these questions is a damning admission. Alas, we have forgotten who we are, whom we are called to be,  how we are to live our lives, and where we are going. May these words of Father Winfrid Herbst, S.D.S. stir us to be “every inch a Catholic”. The salvation of our souls and the souls of all those with whom we interact hinges in our doing so: “In the Gospel it is said of Jesus ...