Harvesting The Fruits of Contemplation

 

(Image Source: Wikimedia Commons) "Catholic Churches are intended to be sacred places – different from all other structures in which we spend time – a silent prayerful oasis of quiet, comfort, solace and grace. The stark reality that we have lost that sense and our belief in the Real Presence, is enough to make Our Lord cry." (From I Thirst For Your Love )

  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.     Antony The Great “Antony said, ‘Just as fish die if they stay too long out of water, so the monks who loiter outside their prayer chambers or pass their time with men of the world lose the intensity of their inner peace. So, like a fish going toward the sea, we must hurry to reach our prayer chamber. If we delay outside, we will lose our interior watchfulness’.” (From The Wisdom of the Desert Fathers and Mothers )   Father Peter Hannah, O.P. "[Pope Benedict XVI reminds us]: Truth should be spoken with charity; but charity demands that one is actually speaking truth. Charity, Benedict wrote,   ‘is of fundamental importance in human relations’, but ‘without truth, charity degenerates to sentimentality…more or less   interchangeable with a pool of good feelings, helpful for social cohesion but of little relevance’ ( Caritas in Ve

“Many priests who have set up perpetual adoration in their parish testify to a growing demand for the sacrament of reconciliation as a fruit of Eucharistic adoration. The growth is not only in quantity but also in quality. One cannot stay before the Blessed Sacrament without the light of Christ profoundly illuminating the soul and enlightening the conscience.”  ( Father Florian Racine f rom Could You Not Watch One Hour With Me? )  

[I wrote this more than 10 years ago. It seems both appropriate and necessary to share this post again today, the Solemnity of the Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ.]   Too often we have taken God for granted. So sometimes He asks others “to shake things up.” Today may be one of those days. Here is a question worth pondering now and in the days to come: “What if God loved you only as much as you loved Him?” ( Father Francis Hudson, S.C.J.) Have you ever loved someone so much that you could hardly wait to hear from them, to speak with them and to see them? How often have you looked forward to a visit from someone you deeply love only to have that person not come? How hurt have you felt when you were ignored and your love not returned? Imagine then how God - Who is Love – Who loves us more than words can describe - feels when we fail to demonstrate our love for Him? He waits in our churches hour after hour just to hear our voices and to see our faces. Yet, few o