Pondering Tidbits of Truth - September 29, 2022

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 of gluttony which brought death into the world, and that it is the first and most important passion to be conquered, for upon the subjugation of this vice depends your victory over all others."

(From The Sinner's Guide)

 

St. John of the Cross

"Endeavor to be inclined always: not to the easiest, but to the most difficult; not to the most delightful, but to the most  distasteful; not to the most gratifying, but to the less pleasant; not to what means rest for you, but to hard work; not to consoling, but to the unconsoling; not to the most, but to the least; not to the highest and most precious, but to the lowest and most despised; not to wanting something, but to wanting nothing. Do not go about looking for the best of temporal things, but for the worst, and for Christ, desire to enter into complete nakedness, emptiness, and poverty in everything in the world." 

(From The Collected Works of St. John of the Cross)