Pondering Tidbits of Truth - August 5, 2021

 

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 Bruno Lanteri

"At the offertory, when the gifts and the altar are prepared, ask for a heart that offers to God, in union with Christ's self-offering, the ‘living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God’ of your whole life with its joys and sorrows, its responsibilities and tasks - all that you are and all that you do."

(From Overcoming Spiritual Discouragement – The Wisdom and Spiritual Power of Venerable Bruno Lanteri)

 

Luisa Piccarreta

“Daily meditation on the Most Holy Passion of our Lord Jesus Christ produces priceless goods for those who practice it day after day. It fills us with love and gratitude and engenders real, precious repentance for one's sins - a repentance that is felt not out of fear of temporal or eternal punishments, but out of pure love for God.

It detaches us from earthly things and turns us away from sin, which cannot coexist with this holy meditation. It mortifies our passions without violence and through love; purifies the spirit; infuses knowledge and wisdom; arouses great longings for perfection; strengthens the soul in her sorrows; makes her generous in sacrifice; increases sanctifying grace day by day; and accelerates a perfect union with God. ‘Oh man’ - exclaims Saint Bonaventure - ‘do you want to keep growing from virtue to virtue, from grace to grace? Then meditate daily on the Passion of our Redeemer.’ The soul that meditates lovingly, daily, on the Passion of our adorable Redeemer, our hearts Highest Good, meditates, we should say, in the company of suffering Jesus. Jesus assists the soul, transports it, fills it with regret, penetrates it, illuminates it, inflames it, and often communicates to it the precious gift of tears - a gift that forms one of the eight beatitudes on this earth, since our Lord Jesus Christ said: ‘Blessed are they who mourn'."

(From The Hours of the Passion of our Lord Jesus Christ)

 

Father Jacques Philippe

"The real excellence of the Eucharist lies in the fact that God not only gives us His love but gives us the gift of loving in return. Through it, He empowers us to respond to His love little by little, to love just as we have been loved by Him. Here is a reminder of an essential property of love, ever expanding toward full reciprocity: to love someone is to give him or her the possibility of loving us back. The greatest gift we can give someone is the power of self-giving, to experience the happiness of giving ourselves through love, since ‘it is more blessed to give than to receive’ (Acts 20:35; cf Lk 6:34)."

 (From Fire and Light -Learning to Receive the Gift of God)