Book Review - Let Him Stir Your Soul!

A fellow Lay Dominican was kind enough to write this review of Stirring Slumbering Souls - 250 Eucharistic Reflections. I wanted to show her my appreciation by sharing it with you:

"This book is the most useful one I know to help transition from worldly distractions to a heart to heart visit before the Blessed Sacrament. I take it with me, and I open it to any page, read it, then put it down and my visit is enriched by the thoughts author Seagriff has provided. He has researched extensively to provide the best reflections available. One can only grow closer to God in the Blessed Sacrament by purchasing and reading this book. It is not meant to be read all at once, just slowly in short sections as food for reflection."

Would you pass this post on to family, friends and loved ones? For the many souls who have already read this book and have told me how valuable you found it to be, would you consider posting a brief review on Amazon as well?

Stirring Slumbering Souls - 250 Eucharistic Reflections must find its way into many more hearts and homes.

Eucharistic Reflection -The Only Source Of True Peace and Happiness

Photo by James Coleman on Unsplash

"...I say that the intelligence finds its supreme happiness in Communion and that the more often one receives, the happier one is spiritually. God is the only source of happiness; happiness is in Him alone, and He has reserved the right to bestow it through Himself. And well it is for us that we must go to God Himself to find happiness! In this way we do not devote ourselves to creatures nor find in them our highest good.

Happiness is not even in the bestowal of the priest. He gives you a share in the fruits of the Redemption, cleanses you from your sins, and gives you the peace of a clear conscience; happiness and joy he cannot give you.

Mary herself, who is the Mother of Mercy, will lead you back to the right way, will appease the anger of her Son Whom you have offended; God alone will give you joy and happiness. The Angel said to the shepherds: 'I bring you good tidings of great joy; He Who is its cause and its source, your Savior and God, is born to you!'

Oh, come let us rejoice! This Savior is still on the altar waiting to flood our hearts, upon His entrance therein, with as much joy and happiness as we are able to bear, in anticipation of the unspeakable and everlasting delights of the homeland of heaven."

(St. Peter Julian Eymard from Holy Communion)

Monday Musings - It Is So Hard…It Is So Heart-Wrenching…It Is So Painful

(Photo by Laura Allen on Unsplash)

What is so hard, so heart-wrenching and so painful?

The lack of belief in, and reverence for, Our Lord and Savior, really and substantially present in the Blessed Sacrament!

So relatively few Catholics believe this fundamental and essential Truth of our Faith.

Only a scant minority treasure this most Precious Gift.

For the most part, we have abandoned, ignored and disrespected our imprisoned Lord.

(Image Source: Wikimedia Commons)

Many souls were denied access to Him from the outset of this pandemic. I, and many others, fear that few are the Adoration Chapels which chose to close, that will ever fully reopen.

Knowing this lack of belief to be true, should not our primary catechetical focus be on re-establishing a sense of awe, amazement, belief in, and excitement for, our Eucharistic Lord?

You would think so, wouldn’t you? But let me share just two recent experiences that shed some doubt on that expectation.

The first public Mass my wife and I were permitted to attend since the pandemic arrived on our shores happened to be in another state where we traveled to celebrate our grandson’s high school graduation. Mass was still unavailable in my home parish at the time of this trip. This was the very first public Mass this parish celebrated since the Churches had been closed in March.

This Church had been rebuilt just a few years ago with a tabernacle centered in the middle of a clearly defined sanctuary. In less than a year, the tabernacle was removed and placed somewhere else in the Church complex (It was certainly not in a prominent place.) Nonetheless, my wife and I were grateful to attend Holy Mass, and on the feast of Corpus Christi no less. Sadly, the homilist uttered not a word on the gift of God’s Real Presence among us. He made no mention of what this great Gift meant to him or whether he even spent time in prayer before the Blessed Sacrament. He extended no invitation and offered no recommendation that his sheep come to visit our Lord. He simply read one section on the Eucharist from the Catechism of the Catholic Church.

There is nothing I heard or saw that morning that would have fostered in me or any of the other souls present there (so few in number though we were) a greater belief in, and reverence for, our Eucharistic Lord or would have encouraged any of us to stop in during the week to visit and spend time with Him.

A few weeks later, I received an e-mail that included a link to a diocese’s Office of Catechesis which left me dumbfounded.

Remember now how few are the Catholics who still believe in Jesus’s physical presence among us and how few have returned to Mass where it is being offered. The following excerpt (though literally truthful) demonstrates how little He is really appreciated:

“Did you know that Christ is made present in four ways during the Mass? You may already know that Christ is present (my emphasis) in the Eucharist, but Christ is also present as the Assembled People, in the Word Proclaimed, an in the person of the Priest.”

My response to the author of these words: No, most Catholics don’t know that Jesus Himself is really, substantially and physically present in the Sacred Eucharist and until they do, it is fruitless to discuss “the other ways” He may be present.

You may already know? But if you don’t, we will just move on to something else. Are you kidding me?

Oh, how my heart aches for the indifference and ingratitude I and others have shown our God. How tormented must be the Sacred and Pierced Heart of our loving Lord!