Harvesting The Fruits of Contemplation

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.       Brother Finbar Kantor, O.P. "Saint Barnabas urges us in the midst of ‘evil days’ to look first to that problem which is most intimate to us—the salvation of our eternal soul. Before worrying about political policy or ecclesial bickering, the state of our soul should be our first concern. What is my relationship like with God? With my family? With my neighbors? ( Mt 22:37-40 ) These are the things that should really matter to us because they affect our salvation. If we get this hierarchy wrong and seek to gain the world rather than our salvation, we risk a terrible loss ( Mt 8:36-38 )." (From Dominicana - The Things That Matter )    Venerable Louis of Granada, O.P. "When you feel the promptings of this shameful disorder [gluttony] subdue them by the following considerations: Call to mind  that it was a sin o...

( Image Source) Why dilute your love in an unceasing flow of words? Why destroy the charm of intimate communings with Him by childish loquacity? May the silence of the Eucharist teach you silent recollection! But, while your lips are still, let your eyes speak. Yes, tell it all to Jesus with a long gaze full of adoration, love, and pleading.   Put all   your tenderness in that look, all your desires, your sorrows, your disillusions - in a word, your whole soul. Stir up your faith and seek the eyes of Jesus through the Eucharistic veils. May His gaze and yours meet, be united, and form together one and the same light and one and the same fire of love. Why do you look for more? Ask Him only to deign to look upon you. Tell Him with entire confidence: 'Look upon me and have mercy on me' (Ps 118:132). Remembering that, as soon as Jesus had looked on that young man who came to Him, He loved him, fear not to tell Him also: 'Look upon me and … love me!'   ( The Holy Euchari...

 

 

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.       Frank Sheed “A really frightening test of how much value we attach to [Christ] lies in how we feel about friends who never seem to give Him a thought. Do we feel it as unbearable that they should not have the gifts of light and nourishment that He has given us? If not, we should ask ourselves how much those same gifts do actually mean to ourselves. If there were a famine and people lacked bread, we should work hard to relieve it. But if they lack the Bread of Life and it causes not the faintest stirring in us even of care much less of desire to aid their destitution–we have to ask ourselves what that tells us about ourselves. How much does their starvation matter to us? Do we even think of it as starvation?” ( From The Hidden Manna by James T. O’Connor )     St. John of...