Harvesting The Fruits of Contemplation

(Image Source: Unsplash ) "The night before [Jesus] died, He said, ‘This is my body – This is my blood’. Every day that we live, we are to hold out on the paten of our hands, our hearts, and minds, and wills, our all, and say: ‘This is my body - this is my blood.’ Take them. And what You do with wheat and wine and these awe-filled words, do with me! Let the outward appearances remain; my face, figure, height, and breadth; but the inner substance, change! Change it so that it will no longer be mine, but Thine. Change it so that I will always be what transubstantiated Wheat and Wine ever remain – Thee."  ( God, A Woman and The Way - Rev. M. Raymond, O.C.S.O.) [This is just one of 250 powerful Eucharistic Reflections you will find in Stirring Slumbering Souls  - a must read during this time of Eucharistic Revival]

 

“No human effort, however talented or generous it may be, can transform a soul and give it the life of Christ. Only the grace and the Cross of Jesus can save and sanctify souls and make the Church grow. Multiplying human efforts, believing that methods and strategies have any efficacy in themselves, will always be a waste of time. Christ alone can give his life to souls; He gives it in the measure in which He Himself lives in us and has completely taken hold of us. So it is with the saints. Jesus lives in their whole lives, in all their actions, in all their desires. The apostolic value of an apostle is measured solely by his sanctity and by the intensity of his prayer life." (Robert Cardinal Sarah from The Day Is Now Far Spent )

(St. Vincent Ferrer Parish, NYC Listen. Jesus is speaking… Being in heaven I came down to earth; and then I instituted the Blessed Sacrament in order to be with you always. In Holy Communion I really and truly come to you…  And you?...When do you come to Me? In Holy Communion I visit you; but, tell me, My child, when do you visit Me?  Perhaps our Sacred meeting in the morning  satisfies you; it does not satisfy Me. I long to see you here in My presence again before evening. My child. That is why I now invite you. Won't you accept the invitation? (From Eucharistic Whisperings by Father Winfrid Herbst, S.D.S.)

"Not only does our Lord in the Blessed Sacrament give us the courage to cope with our natural fears, He also gives us the ability to undertake great things for the sake of His name and the power to undergo great trials in our loyalty to His cause." Servant of God, Father John Hardon, S.J.