Pondering Tidbits of Truth - June 28, 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.

Catherine Doherty, Servant of God

"One has to begin at the beginning. The beginning is to finally acknowledge your own immense poverty. Now you have to fully, deeply realize that all that you are, all that you have is from God! From this follows that you have and are nothing.

Once you make this truth of your own poverty before God the very marrow of your thoughts, your life, your love, your body, in a word, your very being, then you will become truly humble. Then you will walk in truth, walk in and with God..."

(From How Poor Can You Get? by Father David May)

Saint Maximilian Kolbe

"You [Jesus], however, did not stop with this [dying for love of us], but foreseeing all that would happen across 19 centuries from the moment of these outpourings of Your love to my appearance on earth, You desired to make provision even for this! Your heart was not satisfied that I should be nourished only with a memory of Your infinite love. You remained in this vale of tears in the most holy and singularly miraculous Sacrament of the Altar!"

(From For the Life of the World – St Maximilian and the Eucharist by Jerzy Domanski, O.F.M. Conv.)

 Cardinal Pietro Parolin

"In the midst of great concern and uncertainty about the future, what does Fatima ask of us? Perseverance in the consecration to the Immaculate Heart of Mary, shown by the daily recitation of the Rosary? And what if, despite our prayers, wars continue? Even though immediate results may not be evident, let us persevere in prayer. Prayer is never useless. Sooner or later, it will bear fruit…Prayer is capital in the hands of God: He turns it to good account in His own times and ways, which are very different from our own."

(From Homily at Fatima - May 12, 2017 Vigil Mass)

Worth Revisiting - If You Love God and His Priests

Thank you Allison Gingras  (Reconciled To You) and Elizabeth Riordan (Theology Is A Verb) for another opportunity to re-publish our favorite posts on Worth Revisiting.

Stop for a visit now (and every Wednesday). The gifted writers who post there each week will no doubt have much of value to offer you.

 

Here is my contribution:

Monday Musings - If You Love God and His Priests 

(Originally published January 23, 2017)

The tragic truth about our Catholic Church today and far too many of its bishops, priests, religious and lay people is the failure to make the Sacred Eucharist the center of our lives, as our Lord has commanded us to do.

In far too many parishes, we have, for all practical purposes, ignored and abandoned our Eucharistic Lord imprisoned in tabernacles behind locked doors. 

When we are in His Presence we often act irreverently and as if He were not there. Multiple surveys have concluded that few holding themselves out as being Catholics actually believe that our Lord is really and substantially present in the Eucharist.

We have lost the sense of the sacred, using our Church buildings not exclusively as places of worship, prayer and adoration but for such inappropriate activities as secular community events, pageants, slide shows of our graduating students, the viewing of secular movies, coffee cafes and socializing. 

For centuries, our Lord has been calling us “to come to Him in the Sacrament of His love.” His requests have fallen on deaf ears, hard hearts and cold souls.

Eucharistic Reflection - Heaven On Earth

"The saints in heaven live in perpetual adoration, because their joy is derived from eternal contemplation. 

(Image source: Wikimedia Commons)

On earth, where in some manner we must imitate the life of heaven, Christian devotion has striven to make the Sacred Host the center of perpetual contemplation and adoration.

…The Sacred Host perpetually exposed on its Eucharistic throne, and, before it, day and night, loving souls in adoration and contemplation! Is this not truly heaven on earth?"

 (Father Jose Guadalupe Trevino from The Holy Eucharist)