Harvesting The Fruits of Contemplation

Another week and an additional opportunity to t hank Elizabeth Riordan at  Theology Is A Verb  and Allison Gingras at  Reconciled To You for  hosting Catholic bloggers at  Worth   Revisiting . We appreciate sharing our work with them and their readers each week.  Stop by for a visit now .   Here is my contribution, soon to be included in Volume 5 of my book series entitled Pondering Tidbits of Truth. Pondering Tidbits of Truth (Originally published January 4, 2018) 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 . Jean-Baptiste Chautard, O.C.S.O. "A preacher endowed with learning but of only mediocre piety may be able to paint a picture of Christian Truth that will stir souls, bring them a little closer to God, even increase their faith. But if one is to fill souls with the life-giving savor of virtue, he must first...

“…Friendship is based on union, on a certain equality, two things that are found with God only in the Eucharist. Who, I ask you, would dare call himself the friend of God and believe himself worthy of His particular affection? A servant would insult his master in presuming to treat him as a friend; he must wait until his master grants him the right by first calling him by that name. (Image Source: Wikimedia Commons ) But when God Himself has come under our roof; when He has come to share with us His life, His possessions, and His merits; when He has thus made the first advances, we no longer presume, but with reason call Him our Friend. So, after the Last Supper, our Lord tells His Apostles, ‘I will not now call you servants. I call you friends. You are my friends, because all things whatsoever I have received of my Father I have given to you; you are my friends, because to you I have confided the secret of my majesty.’…

Sunday’s Gospel command (Matthew 8:16-20) to make disciples of all nations baptizing them in name of the Father, the Son and Holy Spirit prompts this question: Have we Catholics abandoned our Christ-given mission? For years, our Church has downplayed the importance of conversion and the salvation of all souls, choosing in their stead the promotion of social justice and worldly objectives. We act as if the solution to the world’s problems remain in the secular realm when in fact it can be fought and defeated only on the spiritual plain.  (Image Source: Wikimedia Commons ) Our silence in light of such misguided efforts slays souls and emboldens Satan. We have limited our ineffective evangelization efforts (for the most part) to just those calling themselves Catholic, thereby reinforcing the secular belief that one religion is just as good as another. Most Catholics do not know their faith and few live it – because they have often not been taught it. Even thoug...

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 Bryant “ No one can truly say he loves his Savior if he does not feel ready to embrace the sufferings God sends him, in order to lighten the load that the Savior had to bear in the Agony in the Garden.”

Another week and an additional opportunity to t hank Elizabeth Riordan at  Theology Is A Verb  and Allison Gingras at  Reconciled To You for  hosting Catholic bloggers at  Worth   Revisiting . We appreciate sharing our work with them and their readers each week.  Stop by for a visit now .  May you find the following worthwhile: A Painful and Upsetting Truth (Originally posted on April 13, 2018) Let's be frank: If we really believe that Jesus Christ is truly and  substantially present, Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity in the tabernacles of our Churches, we would be there with Him. We would do everything in our power to spend some time with Him and to encourage others to do so as well.  But we don't really believe this essential Truth. We have abandoned our Loving Lord to his prison-tabernacle and locked the doors of His Churches so that even the few drawn to be with Him are unable to get in. Stop for a...

"St. Mother Teresa of Calcutta, an exceptional religious who no one would dare regard as a traditionalist, fundamentalist or extremist, whose faith, holiness and total gift of self to God and the poor are known to all, had a respect and absolute worship of the Divine Body of Jesus Christ. Certainly, she daily touched the 'flesh' of Christ in the deteriorated and suffering bodies of the poorest of the poor.  (Image Source: Wikimedia Commons) And yet, filled with wonder and respectful veneration, Mother Teresa refrained from touching the transubstantiated Body of Christ. Instead, she adored Him and contemplated Him silently, she remained at length on her knees and prostrated herself before Jesus in the Eucharist. Moreover, she received Holy Communion in her mouth, like a little child who has humbly allowed herself to be fed by her God." Cardinal Robert Sarah 

T hank you, Allison Gingras at  Reconciled To You   and Elizabeth Riordan at  Theology Is A Verb for  hosting Catholic bloggers at  Worth   Revisiting . It is a privilege for us to share our work with you and your readers each week.  Stop by for a visit now .    Here is my contribution:   Monday Musings – Flock To Him  (Originally published January 22, 2018) Scripture reports many instances where people flocked to Jesus like metal to a magnet. One example is set forth in the Gospel of Luke (6:12-19).  Everyone in the crowd,” the evangelist tells us, “sought to touch Jesus because power came forth from Him and healed them all.” (Image Source: Wikimedia Commons ) Oftentimes, we muse what it might have been like if we could have been there in the crowd reaching out to touch Jesus. We ignore the fact that He is still here among us, locked as a prisoner in the tabernacles of His Churches....

“How painful it is when a man or woman takes their spouse for granted? There is no longer love and appreciation for the one who should be loved most in the world. Indeed, this could be the start of a desire to actually separate: when one does not feel loved or appreciated.                                                       (Image Source: Wikimedia Commons ) Likewise, it is all too common to simply take Jesus for granted and fail to appreciate who He is, what He has done for us and where He is to be found. This nonchalant, flippant, “take for granted” type of attitude pierces the Sacred Heart of Jesus to the very core and center of His loving Heart. Let us never fail to appreciate this most sublime gift of Jesus in Mass and Holy Communion. Receive every Hol...

Have we been selling ourselves short on the importance of prayer and our need to persevere in prayer? St. Teresa of Avila warns us against doing so: “You must believe that if you give up prayer, you are, in my opinion, courting danger.” Who among us is not distracted during prayer? How many of us feel like our prayer time is lifeless and useless? Why do so many give up on prayer and never reach the point where God gives them the undeserved blessing and gift of infused contemplation? What is infused contemplation and how does it differ from meditation? Why are we not taught about this form of prayer? What are the origins of this type of mystical prayer? Who is called to such prayer? How many have abandoned their prayer life just when they might be on the precipice of real communion with the Lord they love? David Torkington, noted Spiritual Theologian, Author and Speaker, answers these questions and countless others in his easy to read, instructive and inspiring book, Wisdom...