Pondering Tidbits of Truth - February 9, 2023

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.

John Cardinal O’Connor

“I believe that suffering is of the essence of the priesthood. The priest is preeminently a man of sacrifice...It has always impressed me that even His risen body was scarred with the wounds of the crucifixion. I cannot imagine an unscarred priest, a priest without wounds, because I cannot imagine an unscared Christ.”

(From his September 8, 1989 Pastoral letter on the priesthood, titled, Always a Priest, Always Present)

Richard Rolle

 “If you will be well with GOD, and have grace to rule your life, and come to the joy of love: this name JESUS, fasten it so fast in your heart that it come never out of your thought. And when you speak to Him, and through custom say, JESUS, it shall be in Your ear, joy; in Your mouth, honey; and in Your heart, melody: for men shall think joy to hear that name be named, sweetness to speak it, mirth and song to think it. If thou thinks (on) JESUS continually, and holds it firmly, it purges your sin, and kindles your heart; it clarifies your soul, it removes anger and does away slowness. It wounds in love and fulfills charity. It chases the devil and puts out dread. It opens heaven and makes a contemplative man. Have JESUS in mind, for that puts all vices and phantoms out from the lover.”

(From The Form Of Perfect Living And Other Prose Treatises)

 

Father Donald Haggerty

“The priests who will not go a day without an hour in silence before a tabernacle seem always to be the vibrant, faithful priests carrying a love for souls in their own souls.”

(From Conversion: Spiritual Insights into an Essential Encounter With God)