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. Alice Von Hildebrand “The saint is precisely he who lives in constant and intimate communion with God, he who does not allow anything or anyone to separate him from God, he who victoriously links to God everything happening to him, sickness or health, poverty or wealth, infamy or fame from Solitude and Communion.   (From  Solitude and Communion )     Ven. Fulton J. Sheen “The forgiveness of sin is a greater manifestation of the power of God than the creation of the world. Creation makes something out of nothing. Forgiveness puts something into nothing. But the forgiveness that opens paradise is obtained as the thief obtained his, namely by asking for it.  " (From  Lord   Teach Us To Pray: A Fulton Sheen Anthology )   C hristine Watkins "Our Lady never shouldered any undertaking or spoke serious words with...

“From My tabernacles abandoned by my children, I see so many of them passing by My churches everyday. They don't look at Me but I look at them. I follow them that with My gaze everywhere just in case, by chance, they will turn to look at Me, encountering My gaze. ( Photo by  Josh Applegate  on  Unsplash ) Poor children! I see in their faces the weariness of carrying the heavy crosses. Even in the faces of those who pass by smiling, I can see the same weariness. The cross is very heavy! The incurable illnesses, lack of economic resources, the burden of debts, the suffering of family members, the torture of slander and false accusations, the passions, the remorse for their sins, and the thousands of difficulties of human life place much weight on such weak shoulders! Poor children! And when I see them pass by so overwhelmed, I say to Myself, ‘If they would see Me! If they could just see Me! How well we would understand each other.’ I would pick up the anxiety of their l...

 

"Very often I hear questions coming from wounded priestly and apostolic hearts. These questions are as follows: What can be done to turn those who are Christians merely in name into real Christians? How can we make them live their Christian faith and morals? What can be done to make them come back to a holy and fruitful Christian austerity? In a word, how can we convert this world which after twenty centuries of Christianity is obstinately going back to the most corrupt and degrading paganism? The answer to these heartfelt questions can be found in one word: Go to the Tabernacle! Priests go to the Tabernacle! Let us draw power from the Tabernacle! Nobody goes to the Father except through His Son, Jesus. He is the Way, the Truth and the Life. We do not journey along this Way, this Truth and this Life of God merely by speculative intellectual studies of Jesus, but by living faith in Him, by constant contact with Him in His present state on earth, which is His sacramental state: the ...

 

"The Heart of Jesus in the tabernacle looks at me. He looks at me always. He looks at me everywhere. He looks at me as if He doesn't have anyone else to look at but me. Why? Because He loves me. When two people love each other they yearn to look at each other. Inquire of the mother who, without talking and barely breathing, spends hours next to her son as he sleeps. Why does she do this? She will answer, 'I just want to look at my son.' Why? Because she loves him with all her heart, and her love prevents her from getting tired of looking at him... The Heart of Jesus loves us. He loves me and everyone with a love as great as His power, and His power does not have limits! It is an omnipotent love! Yes, He follows me with His gaze, as my mother would do if she could. Soul, stop for a moment and ponder these words: 'The Heart of Jesus is always looking a me'. How does He look at me? In the world there are looks of fear, of persecution, of vigilance, of love. How do...

Some very wise advice: "Believing soul, you can read books that enlighten and give you knowledge; you can look for preachers and counselors who, with their words, can illumine and prepare you for the way of your sanctification. But more than the word or the book of man, search and look for the Word that is just for you. Jesus in your tabernacle has it reserved in His Heart for each circumstance of your life. Go there to receive His gift for you. Sometimes it will be a word from Sacred Scripture or from the saints that you already know, but it will have a new meaning. Other times it might be a warning, an impulse, a direction, a correction. The only thing you have to do is to say these two words from the depths of your heart: 'Speak, Master'." (From The Bishop of the Abandoned Tabernacle )

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.       Ven. Fulton J. Sheen "For meditation the ear of the soul is more important than the tongue: St. Paul tells us that faith comes from listening. Most people commit the same mistake with God that they do with their friends: they do all the talking."   (From Go To Heaven)     St. Manuel Gonzalez Garcia “My faith was looking at Jesus through the door of that Tabernacle, so silent, so patient, so good, gazing right back at me…His gaze was telling me much and asking me for more. It was a gaze in which all the sadness of the Gospels was reflected; the sadness of ‘no room in the inn’; the sadness of those words, ‘Do you also want to leave Me?”; the sadness of poor Lazarus begging for crumbs from the rich man's table; the sadness of the betrayal of Judas, the denial of Peter, of the...

"In the Eucharist, this divine Heart governs us and loves us by living and abiding with us, so that we may live and abide in Him, because in this Sacrament... He offers and gives Himself to us as victim, companion, viaticum, and the pledge of future glory." Pope Benedict XV