Harvesting The Fruits of Contemplation

Thank you once again, Allison Gingras at  Reconciled To You  and Elizabeth Riordan at  Theology Is A Verb   for hosting Worth Revisiting each week. It is a privilege to share our work with you and your followers . Musings on Sin and The Salvation of Souls (Originally published May 13, 2013) (Image Source: Wikimedia Commons ) If one un-confessed mortal sin will result in eternal damnation, then how can we be so complacent about sin and about the salvation of souls? Why are so many in the Catholic Church lightening quick to voice their public support for favored legislative proposals like immigration and health care reforms, international treaties, global warming initiatives or gun control, but virtually silent on the teachings of  Humanae Vitae ,  or when the military seeks to prohibit a soldier or his chaplain from sharing their faith, or when self-identified Catholic politicians persistently and obstinately s...

(Image Source: Wikimedia Commons ) "This is your mission, O adorers: to weep at the feet of Jesus despised by His own, crucified in so many hearts, and abandoned in so many places; to console the Heart of this tender Father Whom the devil, His enemy, has robbed of His children. A Eucharistic Prisoner, He can no longer go after His lost sheep, the prey of ravenous wolves. Your mission is to beg forgiveness for the guilty; to pay their ransom to Divine mercy, which needs suppliant hearts; to become victims of propitiation with the Savior Jesus Who, no longer able to suffer in His risen state, will suffer in you and through you." (St. Peter Julian Eymard,  from the Real Presence - Eucharistic Meditations )

Despite the fact that Jesus has told us over and over that we should not be afraid or anxious about anything, most of us continue to be Martha's, forgetting His Truth the minute some challenge or trial enters our life. We are all flawed and sinful creatures. We need constant reminders to trust Him at all times and under all circumstances.  Admittedly, this is easier said than done. Most of us find it difficult to run away from anxiety and fear. Left to our own devices, we are not likely to outrun or outsmart these devilish inclinations. We should never attempt to go it alone.  Thanks to noted Catholic author, Anne Costa, we will not have to go solo in this unending spiritual battle. She has gifted us with another gem, Encouraging Words to Live By - 365 Days of Hope for the Anxious and Overwhelmed. We can now begin each day - less like Martha and more like Mary - with a Scripture passage, an inspiring reflection and a prayer. By gifting God with our undivided attentio...

(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. Saint Theophan the Recluse When your mind does wander during prayer, bring it back. When it wanders again, bring it back again. Each and every time that you read a prayer while your thoughts are wandering (and consequently you read it without attention and feeling,) then do not fail to read it again. Even if your mind wanders several times in the same place, read it again and again until you read it all the way through with understanding and feeling. In this way, you will overcome this difficulty so that the next time, perhaps, it will not come up again, or if it does return, it will be weaker. (From Homily I Beginning to Pray )

Thank you once again, Allison Gingras at  Reconciled To You  and Elizabeth Riordan at  Theology Is A Verb   for hosting Worth Revisiting each week. It is a privilege to share our work with you and your followers . Apostle of the Eucharist (Originally posted on August 2, 2011) (Image Source: Wikimedia Commons ) Saint Peter Julian Eymard (1811-1868) founded the Society of the Blessed Sacrament, and the Servants of the Blessed Sacrament. He is often referred to as the Apostle of the Eucharist. His writings, including those on the Eucharist, are extensive and have been compiled into a multiple volume work . Even a cursory review of quotations attributable to him should set any heart afire. Let me share a few of them:              “ Receive Communion often, and Jesus will change you into himself."   "Be the apostle of the Divine Eucharist, like a flame which enlightens and warm...

Each time we look upon Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament, He raises us up into deeper union with Himself, opens up the floodgates of His merciful love to the whole world, and brings us closer to the day of His final victory ‘where every knee will bend and proclaim Jesus Christ as Lord’. The reign of God is already in your midst.  The coming of Jesus to us in the Eucharist is assurance of His promise of final victory: ' Behold, I come to make all things new. ' Saint Teresa of Calcutta

The Catholic Church exists for the salvation of souls. The charism of the Dominicans (the Order of Preachers) is "the salvation of souls by preaching, living and sharing God’s Truth" - all of it, even the more difficult ones.  I am blessed to be both a Catholic and a Lay Dominican. Let me hasten to offer this disclaimer: the ideas expressed in this post are my own. (Image Source: Wikimedia Commons ) Certainly, we must strive to be Christ-like in order to attract others to the Lord we love and seek to serve. And clearly, we must treat every person with dignity and respect and try to accompany them as they seek to learn and follow that Truth. And we must also acknowledge that we are all sinners in need of God's mercy. But how do we save souls (others as well as our own) if we remain silent when some of our shepherds attempt to create ambiguity in Church doctrine where none had heretofore existed? 

Thank you once again, Allison Gingras at  Reconciled To You  and Elizabeth Riordan at  Theology Is A Verb   for hosting Worth Revisiting each week. It is a privilege to share our work with you and your followers . Zeal For The Salvation of Souls (Originally posted on July 24, 2011) (Image Source: Wikimedia Commons ) When I asked rhetorically  just a few days ago , “What happened to the zeal for the salvation of souls?” I was not intending to revisit that issue so quickly despite the fact that I and every one else reading this blog are sinners. Several recent experiences dictate that I do so. In 1946, Pope Pius XII warned us that “The sin of the century is the loss of the sense of sin.” Similar sentiments have been expressed by many, including Fulton J. Sheen, Blessed John Paul II and our current Pope. Their observations are verified by the simple and undisputed fact that relatively few Catholics go to confession anymore. Current pol...

...there are five graces we receive each time we visit Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament. By His glorious wounds we are the ones who are transfigured and changed through His healing love. Restoration, sanctification, transformation, reparation and salvation are the graces being poured out graciously upon us with each holy hour we make. (Father Vincent Martin Lucia and Monsignor Josefino Ramirez from Letters to a Brother Priest)

Are we who claim to love Jesus actually insulting Him? Listen to how St. Peter Julian Eymard answered that question.

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 .   Venerable Fulton J. Sheen “God does not love us because we are lovely or loveable; His love exists not on account of our character, but on account of His. Our highest experience is responsive, not initiative. And so, it is only because we are loved by Him that we are loveable.”   (From Rejoice ) Blessed Pier Giorgio Frassati "Each of you knows that the foundation of our faith is charity. Without it, our religion would crumble. We will never be truly Catholic unless we conform our entire lives to the two commandments that are the essence of the Catholic faith: to love the Lord, our God, with all our strength, and to love our neighbor as ourselves."  (From The Saints' Little Book of Wisdom: The Essential Teachings )  St. Faustina Kowalska "For there are three way...

Thank you once again, Allison Gingras at  Reconciled To You  and Elizabeth Riordan at  Theology Is A Verb   for hosting Worth Revisiting each week. It is a privilege to share our work with you and your followers . I would like to share this post from 2011:   Eucharistic Reflection - He Is... (Originally published on July 21, 2011) (Image Source: Wikimedia Commons ) “He is my only thought, my memory, my Paradise, my Heaven on earth! He is my Eucharist, my ideal, my very breath, my good and my drink! He is melodious music to me, sweetness itself, the nectar and scent of my soul, my strength, my delight, my measure, my desire! He calls forth my love in deifying me. He gives me life while taking it away. He sets my heart on fire, inflaming it with his glances . . . his beauty . . . his smiles . . . his love." Blessed Concepcion Cabrera de Armida

(Image Source: Wikimedia Commons ) "How is it that we do not die of love in seeing that God Himself could do no more than shed His Divine Blood for us drop by drop? When as man He was preparing for death, He made Himself our food in order to give us life. God becomes food, bread for his creatures. Is this not enough to make us die of love?"  Saint Teresa of the Andes

There is so much truth packed in the few words that follow:

Prayer is the primary method by which we establish a real and loving relationship with our Lord – wherein we talk to Him and He with us – one heart to another.   Prayer takes on many forms and serves a number of diverse purposes. Sometimes we use the words of others, sometimes our own and on other occasions we simply listen to the silent promptings that stir our souls. But prayer can become complicated and even unsettling. What is mental prayer? What is contemplative prayer? How does one progress from one form of prayer to another? How would one know which contemporary prayer models, even those popular among Catholics, are not really authentic forms of prayer? Many of us - prayer novices and veterans alike - are searching for answers to these and a myriad of other questions. Nearly everyone can use guidance as to how to pray, how to discern what they experience during prayer and how to know if it is really God who is speaking to their hearts. Some may not know where to t...

Thank you, Allison Gingras at  Reconciled To You  and Elizabeth Riordan at  Theology Is A Verb   for hosting Worth Revisiting each week. It is a privilege to share our work with you and your followers . My contribution this week follows: Imagine (Originally posted on  May 28, 2011)   (Image Source: Wikimedia Commons ) Imagine what we, our families, our priests, our Church, our communities and our world would be like if the Eucharist was, in fact, the source, center and summit of our daily lives! The following two men have something significant to share with all of us, be we lay men and women, priests or religious, about the value of Eucharistic Adoration. May our spiritual journey and desire for holiness be enriched by reading and reflecting on what they have said. Father James M. Sullivan, O.P. – “Adoration is not just one more thing to do, like going to the store, the doctor, etc.   It i...

(Image Source: Wikimedia Commons ) "When we see that Savior before our eyes of faith as the Scriptures portray Him, then our desire to receive Him in the bread of life increases. The Eucharistic bread, on the other hand, awakens our desire to get to know the Lord in the written word more and more deeply and strengthens our spirit to get a better understanding."                                Saint Teresa Benedicta of the Cross

(Image Source: Wikimedia Commons ) At times, we are so close to something, or so obstinately attached to our own view of things, that we do not notice, or refuse to see, what is actually happening around us. I believe that is the case among many Catholics today. But that was the not the case of a Czech priest who, after having served a dozen years in a Communist prison, shared his concerns about the shocking condition of the Western world and the Catholic Church he discovered after his release from incarceration. This faithful priest “who wished to remain anonymous” shared his observations with Cardinal Robert Sarah who in turn disclosed them during a presentation the Cardinal recently made in the Netherlands. Jeanne Smits included this priest’s words in an article entitled “Jesus Never Created Bishops’ Conferences or Local Churches” which was published in the June 27, 2019 issue of The Wanderer . I was profoundly challenged by what this priest said and knew I had ...